RAMALLAH, Nov 24: Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei told his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon on Monday that he must come up with serious proposals to kickstart the peace process, as Sharon sought backing for “unilateral measures”.
In an interview with AFP, Qorei said he hoped “that there will be serious and tangible steps, steps that will have a positive impact on the peace process and the whole situation and that it will not be mere public relations”.
Mr Qorei was responding to comments by Mr Sharon at his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that he “does not rule out unilateral steps”.
While Sharon has remained tight-lipped about the exact details of such measures, there have been widespread reports they would involve dismantling settlements on the Palestinian side of a controversial barrier being built by Israel across the West Bank, or in areas which are considered difficult to defend.
The Israeli leader was expected to meet members of his own right-wing Likud party on Monday in a bid to persuade them to support such measures.
Mr Qorei said that deadlock could only be broken if Israel halted construction of the separation barrier and stopped all settlement activity.
“First, they must stop completely the building of the wall and destroy every millimeter which has been built on Palestinian land,” he said.
Second, they must stop all settlement activity and evacuate all these settlement outposts which was agreed upon in the roadmap and to stop the process of isolating of Al Quds. We will not allow Al Quds to be isolated from its Arab and Palestinian surroundings, Mr Qorei said.
Mr Sharon and Mr Qorei have both expressed a willingness to hold bilateral talks but the date has been pushed back and is now unlikely to take place before next month at the earliest. Contacts between the two sides have been frozen for more than three months since a massive suicide bomb on a bus in Al Quds.
MEETING: Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Monday that a summit between the two was being lined up for next week. Talks between the two premiers’ offices would take place after Eid-ul-Fitr to arrange a date and venue.—AFP
