Senior Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said Sunday that the Palestinians may demand to become part of a binational state if Israel continued to reject the borders they propose for a separate country.
Qurei, who leads Palestinian negotiators in U.S.-brokered talks with Israel, told Fatah party members behind closed doors that a two-state solution could be achieved only if Israel met their demands to withdraw from all Palestinian territory in accordance with 1967 borders. "The Palestinian leadership has been working on establishing a Palestinian state within the '67 borders," Qurei said, according to Reuters.
"If Israel continues to oppose making this a reality, then the Palestinian demand for the Palestinian people and its leadership [would be] one state, a binational state," he added at the meeting held in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Qurei's remarks were carried in a statement issued after the meeting.
A Palestinian official said Qurei told Sunday's gathering he thought the peace talks had hit an impasse.
