Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad left a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon outraged on Tuesday following a dispute about terminology to be used in the meeting summary.If Ayalon's summary is accurate, this is a fascinating glimpse into even the so-called moderate Palestinian Arab psyche.
A press conference scheduled to take place in New York after the meeting, which was held as part of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) meetings, was subsequently canceled.
The dispute followed Ayalon's demand that the meeting summary refer to the notion of "two states for two peoples," rather than just "two states."
"I wanted that at theV very least it will note two states for two peoples. I demanded to know what they meant. One Palestinian state and one bi-national state, or another Palestinian state?," the deputy minister told Ynet. "I made it clear that we were out of the picture if the summary didn’t say two states for two peoples."
The terminology "two states for two peoples" was controversial when Netanyahu first announced support for that principle last year. It has been emraced for years by the far left, including Gush Shalom. It goes without saying that Western leaders like Tony Blair support that formulation as a given.
Yet this formulation, which "everyone knows" will be the solution, is anathema to the most "moderate" Palestinian Arab. Obviously they feel that Palestine is for Arabs - and that Israel is ultimately for Arabs as well.
I'm sure that the moderate Arabs, after they take over Israel and rename it to West Palestine, would generously allow Jews to live within the 1967 borders as "protected" second class citizens. Of course, this would only apply to those Jews who can trace their ancestry to Palestine from before 1880, because the rest of them are evil colonialists whose very existence is an insult to Arab honor and who cannot be tolerated if they ever want true peace in the Middle East.
After all, as these moderate Arabs will be the first to insist, peace is what they want.
And, as the media never tires of telling us, Fayyad is "moderate" par excellence.