Temporary Palestinian state?

Rice in Middle East (Reuters)

"Of course part of our responsibility is to give the moderate Palestinians a political horizon while providing the Israelis security," Livni said.

She did not give details, but Israeli officials said Livni and Rice had discussed the possibility of creating a Palestinian state with temporary borders following the line of a barrier Israel is building in and around the occupied West Bank.

One senior Israeli official said Rice wanted to discuss some of the most sensitive issues, including the future of Jerusalem, with both sides "in order to see if there's space for progress on a Palestinian state in the next two years".

Abbas has repeatedly rejected the idea of a state with temporary borders. Palestinians fear such borders would become final, leaving them with a truncated state.

Even Xinhua and Egyptians (via AP) knows that "Palestinians are skeptical of the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders, fearing that the temporary borders would become the permanent one."

Personally, I find the idea interesting, but agree it would become another unilateral decision by Israel to make final borders. Negotiations would be out the window on East Jerusalem and the right of return.

More trouble in Iraq

Following the bombing in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, a lot of bad things have happened.

Al-Sadr loyalists took over a TV station. A crowd stoned the Prime Minister's convoy. A US military base caught fire thanks to mortars. The US figures the Iraqi insurgency can fund itself. And the UN reveals that Israel set mines in Lebanon during the last conflict, on top of the maybe one million cluster bombs. And on an unrelated note, the theft of polonium 210 and other weapons grade radioactive material is not encouraging.

Jordanian King Abdullah has made the observation that the region faces the prospect of three very destabalizing civil wars. This is, i think, a rational analysis deserving of some very immediate attention since all three situations are actually pretty close to the brink. This is of course in addition to the very strong possibility of Turkish intervention in Iraq's Kurdish north, (which could inspire Iranian entry or the entry of several neighboring countries).

On the positive side: The Israeli/Palestinian truce is mostly holding for now, and Israeli PM Olmert has said he's willing to do prisoner exchange and come to a comprehensive peace. I believe he is sincere on the first point, but I'm not sure about the second. Also, the upcoming report by the Iraq Study Group is likely to suggest that the US talk to Syria and Iran about how to stabalize the situation, but I'm not convinced either of them can really do much. I believe TIME is right to suggest Iraq is spinning out of anybody's control, even militia leaders'.