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No immediate Sharon talks, Qureia says
Jordan Times, Sunday, November 30, 2003
RAMALLAH (Reuters) — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Saturday ruled out talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as long as Israel continued to construct a separation barrier in the West Bank. Qureia's comments appeared to forestall a quick meeting with Sharon, which is seen as crucial to injecting fresh momentum into a US-backed roadmap to peace that has stalled over an upsurge of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
"If the Israeli government says it will continue building the wall regardless of what happens, then there is no need for any meeting or talks to take place (with Sharon)," Qureia told reporters after a weekly Cabinet session in Ramallah.
Qureia spoke shortly before leaving for Jordan for his first meeting with US envoy William Burns since the Palestinian premier took office earlier this month.
A senior Israeli official said Sharon was ready to meet Qureia at "any time," but that Israel would not stop work on what it calls a "security fence" until the Palestinian Authority "fulfils its obligation and commitment to fight terrorism."
Israel has said it is determined to construct the barrier to prevent attacks. But Palestinians view the barrier of razor wire fences and concrete walls as an attempt to unilaterally annex occupied land. The barrier has raised controversy because it encircles Jewish settlements deep in occupied West Bank territory.
UN condemns barrier
It drew fresh condemnation from the United Nations on Friday when Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a report saying it could make "the creation of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state more difficult."
Israel responded to Annan's report by issuing a statement saying it would continue building the barrier "as long as there is no intense and effective effort by the Palestinian Authority to confront Palestinian terror groups."
Despite issuing conditions for a meeting with Sharon, Qureia said his top aide Hassan Abu Libdeh and Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat would meet the director of Sharon's office, Dov Weisglass, on Sunday to discuss a Sharon-Qureia summit.
No date has been set for such a meeting, Qureia said, adding the talks would not take place unless there is "prior preparation" and if "the outstanding issues are not resolved."
"We don't want meetings for the sake of meetings," he said.
Israel's Channel Two television reported on Friday that Sharon planned to uproot settlement outposts and ease a military choke-hold over West Bank cities to push the roadmap forward.
But the report said if Qureia refused to open negotiations with Israel, then Sharon would take unspecified "unilateral steps." "He's telling (Qureia), this is your last opportunity to negotiate with me," Channel 2 reporter Udi Segal said.
The roadmap calls for reciprocal steps, such as a halt to Jewish settlement construction and the dismantling of Palestinian groups, as part of a course it charts towards the establishment of a Palestinian state in 2005.
Qureia said he would tell Burns that Washington must get involved in reviving the roadmap "energetically" and "directly."
Burns is expected to meet Sharon in occupied Jerusalem on Sunday in his first visit to Israel since August, Israel Radio reported.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03. |
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