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The Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned yesterday against a plan by the Palestinian Prime Minister to establish a defacto Palestinian state within two years. The 65 page plan was announced last week by Salam Fayad and is the first of its kind by the Palestinian Authority. The proposal aims to go ahead with building a state infrastructure regardless of negotiations with Israel. Prime Minister Fayad is an American-educated economist and is reported to be widely respected in Israel. He hopes to see a democratic state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. The plan is viewed as a pro-active approach by the Palestinians to end the Middle East conflict, but is not necessarily endorsed by all political organizations. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are among those who oppose it, saying the only way to Palestinian independence is resistance. But Fayad, at last week’s press announcement of the plan in Ramallah declared, “”The world should also know that we are not prepared to continue living under a brutal occupation and siege that flouts not only the law, but also the principles of natural justice and human decency.”

GUEST: Daoud Kuttab, former Princeton Professor of Journalism, award winning journalist and TV producer and General Manager of the Community Media Network and Radio Al Balad

Read Daoud Kuttab’s blog about the plan here: http://www.daoudkuttab.com/?p=560#more-560