PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas says his exchange of letters with Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is at a “dead end.” Abbas was quoted in a report published in the Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper as saying he expects the United States to reinstate negotiations based on the PA's precondition of setting the borders for its hoped-for state along the 1949 Armistice Line (also known as the “1967 border), and a complete freeze on Jewish construction in all areas claimed by the PA. The PA chairman also warned that he will attempt to gain non-member state recognition in the United Nations if the U.S. fails to accomplish the task set before it. The short-lived exchange of letters between Abbas and Netanyahu was used to great advantage by the PA leader as a means of extracting concessions from Israel just prior to the Nakba Day demonstrations, during which Arabs lament the establishment of the Jewish State. Abbas used the exchange to maneuver an end to a massive hunger strike being carried out by PA prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails. Through the exchange of letters, Abbas succeeded in convincing Israel to make significant concessions in talks with representatives of the terrorist organizations who met with officials for the prisoners.
