latest from the PA

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has just laid down his conditions for ending the Palestinians' bid for a U.N. General Assembly vote on full statehood: Total capitulation by Israel.

According to a Jerusalem Post report, Abbas told a Ramallah audience on Saturday that Palestinians would forgo the U.N. vote if they recieved "acceptance of the 1967 lines as the basis for a two-state solution and a cessation of settlement construction."

Such a concession would, in effect, decide the outcome of negotiations over borders before these negotiations have even begun, including the division of Jerusalem. All such issues have always been meant to be decided through bilateral negotiations.

Abbas denied this, however, saying that the Palestinians only

want to fulfill our dream of achieving official recognition of our Palestinian state with full sovereignty over the territories occupied in 1967 and a full membership in the UN.

It is unclear whether this statement, meaningless as it is, constitutes a stalling tactic or an act of desperation. Several European countries have expressed their distaste for the Palestinians' unilateral move at the U.N., and the U.S. has apparently made its displeasure known in no uncertain terms.

Although the story has been officially denied, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat claims that the U.S. consul-general informed him that, in the event of a unilateral declaration of statehood, all U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority will be cut off. The PA is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid from America and Europe.