Is Israel is a vassal state?

What is Abbas doing about his office motto? What is Abbas doing about incitement? What was he doing to Egypt and Jordan while they controlled of the lands he wants?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to meet Obama at the White House on Thursday and Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the demand for a complete settlement freeze will be the main issue.

"Any attempt to maneuver on the implementation of the road map regarding settlement activities is unacceptable," Qureia told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "What does a peace process mean when settlements are continuing on the Palestinian territories?" he asked. "What we want is to immediately dismantle all settlement outposts and to stop what is called the natural growth in the settlements, and to stop all settlement activities."

Abbas has said there is no point to meeting with Netanyahu unless he freezes settlement construction and agrees to open negotiations on Palestinian independence. Netanyahu has agreed to renew talks, but has resisted U.S. pressure to voice support for Palestinian statehood.

The U.S. considers the settlements — home to nearly 300,000 Israelis — obstacles to peace because they are built on captured territory the Palestinians claim for a future state.

But Netanyahu and Barak both say the 121 existing settlements must be allowed to expand for "natural growth," the ill-defined term Israel uses for population growth in the settlements.

U.S. policy and the road map specifically oppose settlement expansion to account for natural growth.