21.   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood and has threatened to respond to a declaration of independence by annexing parts of the West Bank.

22.   Israel, whose new hardline government opposes Palestinian statehood, is lukewarm to the airport for the same reason.

23.   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood and has said he would respond by annexing chunks of the West Bank Arafat hopes to include in a future state.

24.   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu staunchly opposes Palestinian statehood, saying he will never grant the residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip more than limited self-rule.

25.   Labor incumbent Shimon Peres lost those elections to Benjamin Netanyahu, who strongly opposed Palestinian statehood.

26.   Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a sharp defeat when his party ignored his pleas and voted overwhelmingly to oppose Palestinian statehood.

27.   More than half the people of Puerto Rico oppose statehood for the island, a Puerto Rican independence leader told a Congressional hearing.

28.   Most of the justices on the Supreme Court were appointed by former governors who oppose statehood.

29.   Netanyahu again opposed statehood for the Palestinians.

30.   Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, and has said he would offer them only limited self-rule in a permanent peace agreement.