Saeb accuses quartet of succumbing to 'Israeli pressure'
The 'Palestinians' might have been better off if Saeb Erekat really had retired a few months ago. His temper tantrums are becoming an embarrassment. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused the Quartet of succumbing to Israeli “pressure.” He said that it was high time that the US Administration stopped treating Israel as if it were a state above the law.Let's not gloat too much. Someone tweeted last night that the reason they didn't issue a statement was because they couldn't agree over whether to say that Israel is a Jewish state. The quartet - or at least some of them - are not exactly in our court.
He added that the Israeli government alone bears full responsibility for the collapse of the peace process.
According to Erekat, the international community should now support the PA’s statehood bid in wake of the failure of the Quartet to issue a statement on the peace process.
Abbas said that the failure of the Quartet to issue a statement was a “bad sign because it shows that there are differences between them.”
Abbas, who was speaking to reporters after meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias, said that the PA wanted to see the Quartet members in agreement “so that we could go to our basic option, which is returning to the negotiations.”
Abbas added that the PA would return to the negotiating table once the Quartet agreed on the issues of settlements and the borders of a Palestinian state. “If they don’t reach agreement, we will then go to the United Nations,” he said.
He expressed hope that the US would then refrain from using the veto to thwart such a move. “We hope we will go to the United Nations in agreement with the Americans,” he said.
Abbas said that as of now the PA’s position remains that it will go to the UN in September to ask for recognition of a state on the pre-1967 lines “if efforts to resume the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations fail.”
The path of negotiations is facing many difficulties because of Israel’s refusal to accept the signed agreements and creating new illegal facts on the ground, the PA president said.
“These actions threaten and discredits the peace process,” Abbas charged. “Therefore we are looking forward to the entire international community to assume its role in pushing the peace process forward by emphasizing the need to abide by the two-state solution and rejecting Israel’s settlement policy.”
He said that in the end the Palestinians would triumph “because ours is a just cause and we will enjoy stability and prosperity in an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Labels: Israel is a Jewish state, Middle East quartet, Saeb Erekat
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:47 AM
3 Comments:
The reason the Palestinians are throwing temper tantrums is because the world is getting tired of them. When the Quartet doesn't jump when they scream, their reaction to take their marbles, sulk and go home.
The peace process is dead. The Palestinians killed it.
It was Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who objected to the paragraph defining Israel as Jewish state.
The Palestinians have advanced from their classic formula of "what's ours is ours--what's yours is negotiable" to "what's our is ours--we'll tell you what is left for yours". But maybe the Sovie...Russia can go back to supporting the PLO directly like the good old days.
Post a Comment
<< Home