Palestinian Myth

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office have made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. A chief Palestinian negotiator said yesterday, "there can be no agreement with Israel unless we get complete sovereignty of the Mount. Once Palestinian control over the [Temple Mount] is fixed, then we will make assurances for Jewish visits to the site."

The chief negotiator said aides from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization have been hammering out the parameters of a final status agreement for presentation in November at a U.S.-backed international summit regarding the Middle East. Issues already discussed between Israel and the Palestinians reportedly include the division of parts of Jerusalem and debates regarding permanent borders between Israel and the PA.

• JJ Commentary: Did you know that there never has been a Palestinian state? Did you know that Jews are also Palestinians? An area once called Philistine was renamed Palestine under Roman occupation. At that time there were many indigenous people in the area. The myth of Palestine refugees and a Palestinian state was cooked up by the Arabs over 50 years ago as a negotiating ploy.