Palestinian Prime Minister Warns Israel

The Palestinian prime minister warned Israel against taking unilateral steps, such as seizing parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying that in such cases “the fire will burn, the terror will grow.”

The prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, spoke in an interview with the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv. Excerpts were published Thursday, and the full text was to be released Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top members of his government have repeatedly said in recent days that they planned to take unilateral steps if peace efforts fail.

Sharon and his deputy, Ehud Olmert, have said this would include dismantling some Israeli settlements, but they also have made clear that Israel would never withdraw from all the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the frontier that existed before the 1967 Mideast war.

Even before Sharon began floating the idea of unilateral steps, Israel began building a separation barrier that at points runs near the 1967 lines, but in other areas is to dip deep into the West Bank. The barrier is to keep out Palestinian militants who have killed hundreds of Israelis since 2000.

Qureia told Maariv that the current route of the barrier will only cause more resentment. “This will not help, this will not succeed, this will cause a disaster. You cannot build a fence on our land, to cage us like chickens and hope all will be well. If you want a fence, go ahead. Build it on the (1967) Green Line. In this instance we are prepared to contribute to the building costs,” he said.

The Palestinian prime minister said dismantling settlements is a positive step. “But if he (Sharon) wants to build a fence and use it to annex Palestinian land, this is unacceptable. The conflict will continue, the fire will burn, the terror will grow, no one will benefit from this,” he said.

“We will not accept this, the world will not accept this,” he added.

Qureia called for an immediate resumption of peace talks.