PA CONSIDERS NOT PARTICIPATING IN PEACE TALKS IN RESPONSE TO RENEWED SETTLEMENT

Gaza City, 5 Shawwal 1434/12 August 2013 (MINA) – Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that “the Palestinian Authority is currently considering the possibility of non-participation in the peace talks due to begin on Wednesday in response to continued Israeli settlement construction.

Erekat said in a statement to the Hebrew radio that “the PA is in contact with the international community to persuade them to go in the footsteps of the European Union with regard to investment outside of Israel,” Alray, Palestinian Media Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

He warned that if (Israel) decides deport any of the prisoners to be released to the outside, the American-sponsored agreement concluded between the Israeli and Palestinian sides on the issue of prisoners will be considered canceled.

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Spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Mark Regev said the plan approved Sunday to build new homes in East Jerusalem shall apply to the areas that are to remain under Israeli sovereignty in any future peace treaty.

The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government set off negotiating sessions with the aim of reaching a final status solution with the Israeli occupation not committed to halt settlement construction in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

Two senior PLO representatives say no for negotiations

Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Nayef Hawatmeh said Sunday that “U.S. pressure on the Palestinian leadership and the Arab Follow-up Committee led to the breaking of the Palestinian national consensus on the resumption of negotiations,”

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“No negotiations without a complete cessation of settlement construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank; no negotiations but on the basis of the 1967 borders of the State of Palestine,” Hawatmeh stressed during a meeting with Secretary-General of Socialist Party, Ahmed Shaaban in Cairo.

He demanded, according to a statement, to withdraw from the current negotiations as the Israeli occupation never cease to impose settlement expansions and so cut the road to an independent state of Palestine.

He called for popular movements in homeland and diaspora to urge stopping the negotiations until settlement is completely stopped.

Member of the Executive Committee of PLO Hanan Ashrawi commenting on the Israeli housing minister Uri Ariel’s decision to issue tender for 1,187 new housing units in east Jerusalem said that “only (Israel) that bears the responsibility of its announcement defying the will of the international community and the efforts aimed at the resumption of the political process.”

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“There is no need for the negotiating process between Palestinians and Israelis as (Israel) deals a blow after another to the international community and the U.S. administration, thereby emptying the negotiating process before its start.”

Ashrawi pointed to the Israeli government’s attempts to evade political entitlements giving priority to the radical program of its coalition at the expense of the rights of our people and the requirements of the final status solution. (T/P02/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)