Original: Wait. If the Palestinians have declared that any compromise on Jerusalem is quite literally treason...

The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council is pushing through a bill that would make it illegal to make any concessions on Jerusalem. The bill, which passed its first reading on Thursday, also defines such concessions as a crime of high treason. Presented by Hamas legislator Ahmed Abu Halbiyeh on behalf of two parliamentary committees - the judicial committee and the committee for Jerusalem affairs - the bill is expected to pass in second and third readings in the coming days... However, many Fatah legislators have made it known that they too support the law, which states that Jerusalem is a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic city and that it is totally forbidden to give up or conduct negotiations about any part of the city.

... then how could Blair possibly believe that there's a just around the corner?

A deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of next year is realistic but a fully functioning state will take longer, Middle East envoy Tony Blair said in an interview on Thursday. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed in Annapolis, Maryland last week to try to reach a peace treaty creating a Palestinian state by the end of 2008, although doubts remain over the plan's viability. "I think a negotiated settlement is possible in 2008," Blair told France 24 television. But he added: "It will take some time for that negotiated settlement to be put in place fully." Political negotiations could be concluded next year but work had to be done to transform the Palestinian areas from territories into a working state, he said.

Oh.

We do love how Western diplomats say that "both sides" need to make "painful concessions." As if the Palestinians are actually giving up something that they already have or could ever get on their own. The Israelis are expected to give up land and their stubborn insistence on bringing to justice people who have been engaged in a genocidal campaign of murder against their civilians for decades. The Palestinians are expected to give up their decade-long genocidal campaign of murder, in exchange for which they get amnesty for their past crimes and a whole lot of land that they never could have gotten themselves or from their Arab brothers. How painful.

Update: One of the Reuters pictures of the year, shamelessly ganked from this post at Boker Tov Boulder. The caption reads: "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas R and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal stand in front of the black stone inside the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, early February 9, 2007. (REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)"

Were we you, we would be expecting to see this as a slightly cropped headline pic pretty often from now on. Not because of the homo-eroticism - which we could honestly give a fuck about - but because two people who are this close are not going to come to blows when the alternative is to turn their guns on Jews. Cf. the time in January when Abbas begged the Palestinians to stop killing each other and instead turn their guns on Jews.

References:
* PLC passes law to make any concessions on J'lem illegal [JPost]
* Blair: Deal on Palestinian state possible in 2008 [Ha'aretz]
* Blair: Israelis Need To Make "Psychological Shift" By Giving Up Stubborn Insistence On History, Experience, Reality [MR]

Previously:
* Fatah: We're Going To Use Our New US And Russian-Supplied Weapons To Fight With Hamas Against Israel (Plus: Hamas Upgrades, Stockpiles Their Qassams)
* State Department Gets Bright Idea: Let's Screw Israel Even More By Bundling Syria Into The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
* Tuesday Headline Link Dump - Palestinians Set Peace Process Conditions And The Israeli Right Implodes (Plus: There May Be No One We Do Not Hate)