Palestinian bluff

ISRAEL has warned the Palestinians that all agreements, including the Oslo accords, will be abolished if they unilaterally declare a sovereign state.

Urging the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared to make generous concessions in exchange for peace. "There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and any unilateral attempts outside that framework will unravel the existing agreements between us and could entail unilateral steps by Israel," he said.

In a weekend interview with Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian Authority might ask the United Nations Security Council to formally recognise a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian state's borders with Israel would match those of the West Bank and Gaza Strip before the 1967 Six-Day War, with its capital in East Jerusalem.

Under the 1993 Oslo accords, Israel gave the Palestinians autonomy over 40 per cent of the West Bank, including the major cities of Ramallah, Jericho, Nablus and Hebron.

Israel still maintains direct control over the other 60 per cent of the West Bank, and has indicated that one response to a unilateral declaration of Palestinian sovereignty could be to formally annex it.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said: "Whoever engages in unilateral measures takes a risk, such as jeopardising the future of the co-operation between the two sides.

"I don't want to talk about greater risks for such a move by the Palestinians," he said.

Transport Minister Yisrael Katz said: "Let them not threaten us with unilateral measures; we can also take unilateral measures such as annexing the settlement blocs."

Marking the 21st anniversary on Sunday of the symbolic declaration of Palestinian statehood by Yasser Arafat in Algeria in 1988, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said: "God willing, we will soon have an independent state with its capital in Jerusalem.

"Palestinian independence has become a tangible reality," he said.

The Six-Day War resulted in Israel winning control of the West Bank from Jordan, and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Later, Israel annexed East Jerusalem. It has continued to occupy the West Bank, where it has established more than 120 Jewish settlements that are home to about 300,000 Jews. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and relocated 9000 Jewish settlers.

Mr Erekat told Al-Ayyam that because peace talks with Israel had not eventuated since the Netanyahu Government was elected in February, the Palestinians had decided to enlist the support of other nations to seek UN recognition of Palestinian statehood.

He said Mr Abbas would be lobbying for support for the plan in visits to Europe and South America.

The Palestinians would need a vote of two-thirds of the UN General Assembly to be accepted as a UN member, but without the support of the United States it is unlikely that any such plan would succeed.

Most Israeli observers believe proposals to declare statehood are just a threat to pressure Israel to rejoin peace negotiations on Palestinian terms by freezing all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.