The Palestinian Authority negotiating team has found its way down from a weak limb on a tall tree by saying that they resignations are final but that they will continue “temporarily” until replacements are found.
Presumably, that will happen in around five months, when the nine-month period U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s Grand Plan for Middle East Peace expires.
However, Nabil Sha’ath, a senior member of Fatah’s central committee, denied reports that senior negotiator Saeb Erekat and his associate Mohammed Shteyyah would hang on until the bitter end.
Erekat announced last week they are quitting because of lack of progress in the talks with Israel as well as the Netanyahu government’s insistence on building for Jews in areas that the Palestinian Authority and the Obama administration consider to be part of a future PA state.