Reuters forgets a little something

Well, the Israelis and Palestinians met in Jordan on Tuesday for pre-negotiations on the particulars of a Palestinian state but neither side is especially optimistic about the talks evolving into actual negotiations and Reuters tells us that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is threatening suggesting the Palestinians might take unspecified "unilateral" steps if Israel doesn't surrender accept, in advance, certain conditions:

Abbas said before Tuesday's talks that Palestinians could take unilateral steps if Israel does not agree to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank and recognize the borders of a future Palestinian state.

What Reuters doesn't tell us, is that the borders the Palestinians are demanding Israel recognize in advance of talks, are the 1967 "borders", also known as the 1949 Armistice Lines, i.e., the point where Israeli and Arab forces ceased fighting following Israel's War of Independence.  Colloquially referred to by Israelis as the Auschwitz borders due to their incarcerating and indefensible dimensions, there isn't a prayer in hell of Israel accepting a Palestinian state on lines that would once again invite and facilitate an Arab invasion of the country.

Abbas of course, knows this, but is making the demand because he is intractable and has nothing to lose in making the demand, particularly after US President Barack Obama suggested, in May of last year, the 1949 armistice lines would be a good point upon which to begin negotiations between the belligerent parties.

Reuters too, knows that the lines are a non-starter for Israel -- after all, the agency reported as much -- but deliberately conceals the dictate issued by Abbas because, well because it is Reuters after all, and sound business practice demands the agency provide cover for Arab intransigence.