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Palestinian PM Receives UK Envoy, Slams Settlement Plans in West Bank

Posted on: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Text of report by Palestinian news agency Wafa web site

Ramallah, 25 August: Prime Minister Ahmad Quray today condemned the Israeli government's recent decision to expropriate the land in the periphery of the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim and to set up a settlement bloc extending to the Jordan Valley and surrounded with a wall. During his reception of Lord Levy, special envoy of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in Ramallah in the West Bank, Quray said the Israeli decision will further divide the West Bank into Bantustans and cantons and will destroy the chances of establishing an independent and viable Palestinian state.

He said: We cannot remain silent over the Israeli measures in the West Bank, specifically inside and around the city of Jerusalem. These measures are taking the form of a colonialist expansion and annexation and are part of the official Israeli attempts to exclude the city from the negotiations by imposing facts on the ground.

The prime minister stressed that the Palestinian National Authority [PNA] rejects these measures, considering them a criminal act over which the Palestinians cannot at all remain silent. He emphasized that it will be impossible to talk about peace in the light of these Israeli schemes, indicating that the Palestinian people refuse to dance in the Gaza Strip and cry in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The prime minister denounced world silence over the Israeli plan, stressing that it is based on an official and clear policy declared by the Israeli prime minister and members of his government. He said the Israeli prime minister announced clearly more than once his intention to expand and intensify settlement activity in the West Bank and his intention not to negotiate over the issue of Jerusalem with the aim of imposing a fait accompli. The prime minister stressed that withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is totally meaningless in view of what is taking place in Jerusalem and the West Bank. He said: Jerusalem is a red line nobody should cross. No Palestinian will accept any harm done to this city or to the legal status of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, which are one legal and geographic unit.

On the latest developments related to the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, Quray said agreement has been reached on removing the rubble of the settlers' houses. He added that the basic issues related to the border crossings, particularly the Rafah crossing and the airport, and connectivity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, are still outstanding issues waiting for an Israeli response. In this regard, he said that any Israeli military presence at the international crossings will turn the Gaza Strip into a large prison.

Regarding the northern West Bank, the prime minister said the Israeli side did not provide the Palestinian side with any information other than saying that the occupation forces will stay in the settlements which will be evacuated and demolished. The Israelis, he said, will keep the area as Area C in accordance with the Oslo accords. This, he added, does not indicate any change. He said the PNA asked the US Administration to turn the northern West Bank area into Area A in order to give a ray of hope to our people that withdrawal is a step towards the termination of occupation. The prime minister stressed that the PNA has fulfilled its commitment to facilitate withdrawal from the Gaza Strip so that this can take place in a sound and calm manner

The prime minister emphasized that the PNA denies all rumours and reports about establishing a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and the remaining area east of the racial segregation wall Israel is building on the West Bank land.

Prime Minister Quray reviewed the results of his visit to Syria and his meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad and representatives of the Palestinian factions and political forces there. He described the visit as successful and said the Syrian president expressed full support for the PNA efforts to preserve national unity and avoid internal differences and conflicts.

The prime minister also stressed that the factions and forces support the PNA efforts and its concentration on the seriousness of what is taking place in the West Bank in the form of acceleration of the colonialist process, annexation of the holy city of Jerusalem and completion of the racial segregation wall. Within the same context, the prime minister said calm in the Palestinian territories will not hold out in front of the Israeli violations and the continuation of the Israeli expansionist colonialist policies and the policy of imposing a fait accompli on the ground.

The prime minister thanked the British government and Prime Minister Tony Blair for the aid they extend to the PNA and the aid extended within the framework of the G8. He hoped that this aid will continue and that political support will be reinforced through work with the United States and international community in order to put pressure on Israel to stop its violation of the road map and international laws and end its colonialist expansion and construction of the racial segregation wall and the imposition of facts on the ground in occupied Jerusalem.

Lord Levy said he would convey these positions and requests to the British prime minister, who is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the UN General Assembly meetings in New York next month. Lord Levy stressed his country's firm position on the two-state solution and establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state as the only peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He stressed that Britain will continue to extend aid on all levels and will continue to work with the international group to establish an independent Palestinian state.

The British envoy expressed the thanks and appreciation of the British prime minister and international community for the PNA and Palestinian government for the way they dealt with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.

In another development, Quray strongly condemned the Israeli massacre in Tulkarm, which led to the martyrdom of five citizens, including children. In press statements, he described the massacre "a vile and savage crime that stresses that Israel does not want to pursue the path of calm, especially since this crime coincides with the crime of building the wall and seeking colonialist expansion, particularly within the periphery of the city of Jerusalem". He indicated that all these factors emphasize that the situation is extremely serious.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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