[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Since when did the question of Palestinian compliance get in the way of the
photo-op peace agreement signing ceremonies Mr. Peres has been pushing for
decades?]

Peres: No chance of peace with Palestinians
By Yossi Verter Haaretz Last update - 08:09 04/07/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998836.html

President Shimon Peres believes there is no chance of an agreement between
Israel and the Palestinians.

Peres, the one-time proponent of a "new Middle East" made this statement
last Saturday at a dinner with the Jordanian and French ambassadors in
Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Tel Aviv apartment.

At the end of the meal an argument erupted between the Jordanian envoy, Ali
Ayed, and a well-known "dovish" attorney, who said Israel had no chance of
reaching an agreement with the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas'
leadership. Barak supported his guest's hawkish stance.

At a certain point, Peres intervened, surprising the participants by joining
the attorney's prediction. "It would be very hard to reach an agreement,"
Peres said, due to the Hamas-Fatah split.

He said Abbas had no support among his people, no power to carry out
security agreements and that any agreement Israel and the PA made crumbled a
day later due to the PA's weakness. Therefore there is no chance of
agreement, he summed.