Last resort, I'll ask Israel to take over: Palestinian President

Dismantling the Palestinian Authority would be a last resort, Abbas told Palestine TV in an interview broadcast yesterday.However, his comments marked the most explicit warning yet that he's considering a step that could crush lingering hopes for a Mideast peace deal.
If Abbas were to take such a step, Israel, as a military occupier, would have to assume full responsibility again for 2.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel was relieved of that financial burden with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, as part of interim peace deals.

Still, Abbas might face considerable domestic opposition to dismantling the Palestinian Authority, since it employs some 150,000 Palestinians, a large chunk of the work force.
The Palestinian self-rule government, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year in foreign aid, has limited authority over 40 per cent of the war-won West Bank, while Israel has final say over the entire area and exclusive control over 60 per cent of the land.
Palestinian leaders currently are threatening to quit peace talks with Israel unless it freezes construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.Israel so far has refused to do so.
Abbas has said that if peace negotiations collapse, the Palestinians might seek unilateral UN recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.