Palestinian Chief Negotiator Comments on President’s US Visit, Peace Process

Text of report by Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam on 24 April

[Report by Abd-al-Ra'uf Arna'ut: "Abbas Meets Rice, To Meet Bush Today; Abbas Says: Gap Between Palestinian-Israeli Stands Still Wide, US Administration Must Adopt Concrete Stands To Make 2008 Year of Peace"]

President Mahmud Abbas told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday that there is still a wide gap between the stands of the Palestinian and Israeli sides on all final-status issues while the Israeli Government has not implemented the commitments under the first stage of the road map, which calls for an active and effective US intervention if an agreement is to be reached by the end of this year.

Dr Sa’ib Urayqat, head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, in a telephone interview with Al-Ayyam revealed that the US secretary of state will arrive in the region once again the first week of May, noting that contacts are under way for a meeting between President Mahmud Abbas and US President George Bush at the Egyptian Sharm al-Shaykh resort on 17 May.

Dr Urayqat said that the meeting with the US secretary of state yesterday was to prepare for the meeting President Abbas and President Bush are scheduled to hold at the White House today, Thursday. He added that the meeting focused on the three main issues of the peace process and the road map commitments, efforts to achieve calm in the Gaza Strip, and the Arab-Israeli peace. Urayqat said that President Abbas will meet once again with Rice today, Thursday following his meeting with the US President. He said that yesterday’s meeting with Secretary Rice was to prepare for today’s meeting with President Bush and Abbas will hold another meeting with her today after his meeting with Bush.

Urayqat said that President Abu-Mazin [Mahmud Abbas] had affirmed that the time is precious and time passes five months after the Annapolis conference while there is still a wide gap between the stands of the two parties on all final status issues. He added: As for the three-way Palestinian-Israeli-US mechanism chaired by General William Fraser to implement the commitments of the first stage of the road map, Israel has not implemented its commitments whether with respect to halting the settlement activities, reopening the closed offices and institutions in Jerusalem, releasing the prisoners, and other issues.

Urayqat added: Therefore, President Abbas called on the US Administration to adopt concrete stands to turn 2008 into a year for peace and substantiate President Bush’s vision into a pragmatic political course, and adopt serious and fateful stands to avoid wasting time because the ongoing Israeli settlement activities, dictates, and disavowal of the requirements of international legitimacy, particularly the termination of the Israeli occupation in 1967 are an obstacle to peace and pose problems.

Urayqat added: As for the second issue, President Abbas said that he asked Egyptian President Husni Mubarak to intervene for a simultaneous and comprehensive calm in the Gaza Strip and this is a high Palestinian interest that we forcefully support in addition to lifting the embargo on the Gaza Strip.

Dr Urayqat added: As for the third point, President Abu-Mazin affirmed that the peace we want is based on the Arab peace initiative and we support the brothers in Syria who want to resume the peace negotiations to regain the occupied Arab Golan Heights and we will not allow any tampering with the tracks.

The meeting also carried out a comprehensive assessment of the progress of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to reach an agreement and how to push the negotiations ahead to achieve the well- defined target before the end of this year.

On President Abbas’s meeting with Jordanian King Abdallah II who had met with US President in Washington yesterday morning, Urayqat said: King Abdallah came with a basic message that one must exploit the time to do something that renders the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations a success by achieving the vision of a two state and ending the Israeli occupation.

On the meeting President Abbas is expected to hold with US President Bush at the Egyptian Sharm al-Shaykh resort mid next month, Urayqat said: There is talk about the Sharm al-Shaykh meeting but Rice will arrive early in the first week of May and President Bush will meet with President Abbas in Sharm al-Shaykh on 17 May.

Ahmad Quray, Abu-Ala, head of the Palestinian team to the final- status negotiations; Yasir Abd-Rabbuh, secretary of the PLO Executive Committee; Dr Sa’ib Urayqat, head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department; and Nabil Abu-Rudaynah, President Abbas’s adviser, attended the meeting. Several US officials participated in the meeting on the US side, including David Welsh, US assistant secretary f state; and US consul general in Jerusalem.

Originally published by Al-Ayyam, Ramallah, in Arabic 24 Apr 08 pp 1, 21.

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