WSJ/ here"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said there won't be a new Palestinian uprising as long as he's in office, but warned the current calm might end once he steps down (of course...), as early as June....
Mr. Abbas said he would resume direct talks if Israel implemented a full but "undeclared" building freeze for five months. In his offer -- disclosed in an interview last week with Israel's Haaretz newspaper -- Israel could do so without any controversial declaration, giving its leadership political cover, he said.
A senior official in Mr. Netanyahu's office called the offer "unrealistic," a "total nonstarter."
Mr. Abbas, smoking Marlboro Reds in a leather arm chair inside the cramped office he keeps at the Palestinian embassy in Amman, cracked jokes and exuded what he said was a newfound calm since his announcement in early November that he would not stand for re-election (but he will let cronies & supporters 'force' him to stay) because of the lack of progress on peace talks....
"As long as I'm in office, I will not allow anybody to start a new intifada. Never, never," Mr. Abbas said. "But if I leave, it's no longer my responsibility and I can't make any guarantees."
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