Never let it be said the PLO was not original

Moved possibly by the spirit of Kosovo, a Palestinian negotiator is threatening to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state reports the Jerusalem Post.

If negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority fail to produce a breakthrough, the Palestinians will take unilateral steps towards declaring an independent state, a senior member of the Palestinian negotiating team told Reuters on Wednesday. "If things are not going in the direction of actually halting settlement activities, if things are not going in the direction of continuous and serious negotiations, then we should take the step and announce our independence unilaterally," Yasser Abed Rabbo said.

Of course, there are a few 'however's' – this is after all the Palestinians. The first 'however' came as a reprimand to Rabbo by the Chief Palestinian negotiator:

"the chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qurei, quickly quashed the idea of a unilateral declaration, saying it was never brought before the Palestinian leadership. "Decisions should be taken and then declared, and not be declared and then be taken," Qurei told The Associated Press, in an apparent reprimand of Abed Rabbo."

The second 'however' comes from history. As in been, there done that and there was no t-shirt. On November 15, 1988, the PLO in Algiers unilaterally proclaimed the establishment of an independent state referred to as the "State of Palestine". Although, the PLO had no control of any territory outside their collective imagination - why should a little detail like that stop Arafat et al? The PLO defined the borders of the imaginary State of Palestine to encompass the entity which is commonly referred to as the State of Israel and the Disputed Territories.