Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei, also known as Abu Ala, on Wednesday expressed hope that an Israeli "withdrawal" from Gaza could revive peace, but added it must be accompanied by a pullout from the West Bank.
"The Gaza pullout proposal could be a chance [to revive peace moves] and we all should work together to seize this chance in a wise and courageous manner," Qurei told lawmakers in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Furthermore, the Palestinian premier said that Israel's Gaza "disengagement plan" could create further obstacles to peace without a full West Bank withdrawal, and called for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation to avoid falling "into a trap".
Israel should not move the Gaza settlers to West Bank settlements or use the Gaza withdrawal as a cover to annex West Bank settlement blocs, as some in Sharon's government have proposed, he made clear.
"For this pullout to be meaningful, it should open the way for resuming the peace process and completing it by fully pulling out from the West Bank as well," he said.
"If any of these conditions are not met, then a new obstacle will be placed in the path of peace and will not help take the sides out of the current vicious cycle of confrontation and rising violence," Abu Ala added.
In addition, Qurei stated any West Bank pullout should not replace the US-backed "road map" for peace, "but rather be a step on the way to implementing it."
Qurei said that as part of Sharon's plan, Israel needs to withdraw from all Gaza settlements and give up control of international border crossings, ports and airports there. It also needs to hand over control to the Palestinian Authority in a coordinated manner, he said.
Qurei also condemned Palestinian suicide attacks on Israeli civilians, saying they had damaged the Palestinian fight for an independent state by turning the international community against them. The attacks have also damaged the Palestinian economy and given Israel cover to continue building settlements and a controversial West Bank barrier, he added.
"Such attacks were used as excuses to continue the comprehensive aggression and impose collective punishments, including...the road blocks and incursions, which cause daily harm to the dignity of hundreds of thousand of innocent Palestinian citizens, especially children, women and the elderly," he said.
Meanwhile, five Palestinian delegations consisting of members of the Palestinian Leadership will deliver messages to Arab monarchs and presidents, a PLO executive committee meeting chaired by President Yasser Arafat decided on Tuesday, ahead of a visit by a trio of top US diplomats to Israel, Jordan and Egypt at the weekend.
Stressing the importance of reinforcing Pan-Arab unity and ranks, the Palestinian Leadership also confirmed the importance of convening the Arab summit meeting as soon as possible and decided in accordance with the directions of Arafat “to form five delegations consisting of members of the Leadership to convey important messages to Arab monarchs and presidents to brief them on the volatile regional situation,” WAFA reported on Wednesday.
The decision was taken by a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chaired by Arafat and attended by representatives of the Palestinian national groups in the West Bank city of Ramallah late Tuesday. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
