Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Fayyad tells Al Jazeera it is not enough for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to be ready to negotiate on borders. The Palestinian Authority's term "negotations" actually means that Israel must give "assurances” its demand will be met.
Fayyad said Prime Minister Netanyahu’s offers to negotiate on the temporary Armistice Lines of 1949, which existed until the Six Day War in 1967, is pointless because he is talking about “principles” and not “assurances” that the Palestinian Authority will exists as an independent state on what he says is 22 percent of Israel in the time of the British Mandate.
He said the PA will not accept a “Mickey Mouse” state.
Fayyad also dismissed Israel’s demands that the Palestinian Authority define it is a “Jewish state” as a departure from the Oslo Accords, which stated that the PA would recognize Israel’s right to exists in "peace and security."
The Palestinian Authority prime minister was not fazed by the U.S. Congressional threat to cut off funds if it goes to the United Nations for recognition.
However, although he made his case to Al Jazeera that the PA is prepared to become an independent country, it is suffering from a financial crisis because of delays in fiscal transfers from donor countries, particularly in the EU where bankruptcies loom over Greece, Spain, Italy and other nations.
Approximately 170,000 PA civil servants and workers received paychecks last week only after they threatened to strike.
"In light of the continued financial difficulties, the payment in full of salaries will significantly reduce the capacity of the government to meet other needs over the next month, and everyone understands that," Fayyad said Sunday.
Help from the Arab world also is thin. The Palestinian Authority had received only $79 million this year out of $330 million pledged by Arab nations six months ago. The paychecks for PA employees were made possible by money from the struggling European Union.
The PA also has imposed price controls because of a sharp rise in prices of basic foods.
The PA economic minister, Hassan Abu Lidbeh, placed its economic woes at Israel's doorstep because of restrictions, although the Netanyahu government has continued to open up major arteries linking Arab communities in Judea and Samaria with the rest of Israel, despite concerns by Jewish residents of a danger to their security.
United Nations officials have insisted that the PA can exist as a viable economic state, but the World Bank has warned that the PA economy lacks a "vibrant private sector.” However, it also blamed Israel for the situation because of what it said are “ Israeli restrictions on access to natural resources and markets.”