PNA PM addresses attendants with a warning:
"Hope is fading away and Israel is to blame"
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei
reiterated his rejection of unilateral approaches to solving the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, urging peace camps on both sides to accelerate their efforts
because "danger today is what we face today much more than hope. The
hope of our people is fading away because of the Israeli policies."
Qurei was speaking in a meeting on Sunday chaired by PLO Executive Committee Member and head of the Palestinian Peace Coalition, Yasser Abed Rabbo and Yossi Beilin, Chairman of Yahad Party in Israel.
The meeting focused on assessing the current political conditions and uniting the Palestinian and Israeli peace camps' positions during the coming period. It was attended by Knesset members and former high-ranking officers in the Israeli military and others. On the Palestinian side, PLC members and representatives of various civil society organizations attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Qurei slammed unilateralism as "a kind of policy that will not bring peace to Palestinians and Israelis... [And] cannot guarantee permanent agreement for a future for our children."
"The only settlement that can be guaranteed and protected by both peoples is an agreement that comes through negotiations. I'm afraid that with unilateralism, there will be no possibilities for peace on either side of the divide."
Abed Rabbo spoke of the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, saying it should be carried out within the framework of the "roadmap" peace plan and implemented simultaneously with the resumption of the permanent status negotiations between the governments of both sides.
"The path to peace is not possible without Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, an Israeli-Palestinian partnership and without a cessation to all colony-expansion measures," he emphasized.
Abed Rabbo reiterated that the most important goal to be achieved is "ending the Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, alongside the state of Israel."
Abed Rabbo, who along with Beilin co-authored the Geneva Initiative as a model for a permanent status agreement between the two sides, stressed that the Palestinians have started implementing positive steps, especially with regard to security, while Israeli colonization continued unabated.
Beilin, for his part, spoke of finding "a common denominator" between Palestinian and Israeli sides to help reach an agreement.
Beilin further said that the role of the peace camps was to convince both societies that "any interim agreements will only deter the solution and prolong the crisis."
"The idea now is to make Geneva Initiative move from having the support of the minority to the support of the majority," he highlighted, reminding those present that one of the Geneva Initiative's "fruits" is Sharon's plan for disengagement, according to what Sharon himself said about the reasons he had to launch his unilateral disengagement plan.
The Palestine National Authority (PNA)'s National Security Advisor, Brig. General Jibreel Rjoub, who was also present in the meeting, said that disengagement should be carried out only in part of an agreement between the two sides and not unilaterally.
An overall consensus existed among Palestinians and Israelis in the meeting that the disengagement plan should be coordinated with the Palestinians within the context of the "roadmap."
Many of the Palestinian attendants expressed frustration that the Israeli peace camp is not addressing issues of utmost importance for the Palestinians such as the Segregation Wall, the continuous Israeli colonization of Palestinian land, and the ailing Palestinian economy. "There is a need to embolden the Israeli peace camp to address such issues," said Terry Bullata, a peace activist from East Jerusalem.
Qurei had also addressed the issue of the Segregation Wall, which he said "will not be accepted to demark the borders." Qurie welcomed the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip, but emphasized that it "should not be at the expense of more colonization in the West Bank, which is the case at present." He cited the Israeli government's plan to build 3000 more settlement homes in Jerusalem as an example on how Israel is planning to enlarge its settlements in the Occupied Territories.
The Palestinian Prime Minister warned that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his authority could be in danger, should Israel not deliver on its promises and not implement the confidence-building measures that were agreed upon in Sharm Al Sheikh last February.
Palestinian Attendants (Alphabetically): Abdel-Qader Al-Husseini, Ahmed Qurei, Azmi Al-Shu'aybi, Gaith Al-Omari, Ghassan El-Masri, Ibrahim Khaishi, Jibreel Rgoub, Liana Bader, Nabil Qassis, Naser E'liwah, Nazmi Al-Jubeh, Reem Aboushi, Sa'ad Abdel-Hadi, Saji Khalil, Sam'an Khoury, Samih Shbeib, Samir Abdullah, Suheil Gadeon, Tayseer Arouri, Terry Bullata, Zouhair Manasrah
Israeli Attendants: Yossi Beilin, Yuli Tamir, Abu Vilan, Menachem Klein, Ron Pundik, Arie Arnon, Avraham Burg, Kolet Avital, Shaul Areili, Shlomo Brom, Ysraela Oron, Yossi Yona, Boaz Karni, Daniela Beilin, Daniel Levy, Dror Shternchuss, Gadi Baltianski.