A sovereign Palestinian state in temporary borders is still a sovereign state.

Dr. Aaron Lerner

A sovereign Palestinian state in temporary borders is still a sovereign state.

And once such a sovereign Palestinian state comes into existence, it continues to exist as a sovereign Palestinian state even if it opts to violate or ignore whatever term, conditions and understandings were tied to the creation of that sovereign Palestinian state.

Yes, Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly proclaimed that the Palestinians would not accept a sovereign Palestinian state in temporary boundaries, but keep in mind that in apparent sharp contrast to Israelis, the Arabs haggle at the negotiating table with the same skills and determination that Israelis seem to set aside when engaged in diplomacy instead of business. So it could very well turn out that Mahmoud Abbas might be willing to make the tremendous sacrifice of agreeing to the formation of a sovereign Palestinian state in temporary borders and without reaching a final agreement on various issues in return for a flood of Israeli concessions.

That sovereign Palestinian state would be potentially the worst case scenario for the Jewish State: a sovereign launching pad for an ongoing assault against Israel with much of the world readily accepting their explanation that that "struggle" continues since final status issues remain unresolved.

I am prompted to write this note about the dangers of a sovereign Palestinian state in temporary borders by both the frequency of references to the possibility that the talks will "default" to such an arrangement and the absence of vocal opposition to such an outcome.

It is as if Israelis are assuming that a sovereign Palestinian state in temporary borders is nothing more than a variant of the autonomous arrangement that's already been in place for close to two decades.

And it isn't.

Such a move would not even require a national referendum. If it did not require removing Jewish communities it could be accepted and implemented with tremendous speed.

There is no time to lose to make it clear that a sovereign Palestinian state in temporary borders would represent a potentially existential threat to the Jewish State.