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PA rejects Sharon's 'three nos' [Palestinians Demand Jerusalem, West Bank and Return]
Jerusalem Post ^ | Aug. 12, 2005 | Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted on 08/12/2005 12:13:20 PM EDT by Alouette

Palestinian Authority leaders on Thursday strongly condemned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statements regarding the future of Jerusalem, the settlement blocs in the West Bank and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who was scheduled to meet with Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza City on Thursday night to discuss the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, criticized Sharon's remarks as unacceptable.

On the eve of the meeting, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Hindi said his group would continue to launch attacks even after the "escape" from the Gaza Strip.

"The Zionist retreat from the Gaza Strip won't end the resistance," he said. "The resistance will continue until the expulsion of the occupation from all our lands, including the West Bank, Jerusalem and all of Palestine."

He said that Islamic Jihad views the disengagement as a direct result of the "resistance" and rocket attacks over the past few years. "The pressure of the resistance, as well as the steadfastness of our people and the rockets of our fighters all led the enemy to take the decision to run away from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank," he said.

Commenting on Sharon's statements, Abbas told reporters: "We reject such statements and we do not accept what Sharon said yesterday. No one has the right to cancel issues from negotiations between us and them. These issues will be raised during final-status negotiations with Israel."

In an interview with Channel 1 on Wednesday night, Sharon said, "I will not negotiate on the subject of Jerusalem. The blocs will remain territorially linked to the State of Israel. At the same time, there will be no return of Palestinian refugees to Israel."

PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said after the weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah that the PA would not make any concessions on the West Bank, Jerusalem or the refugees.

"After Sharon's statements, what's left to negotiate with Israel?" he asked. "Has Sharon decided to apply the unilateral disengagement in the Gaza Strip also to the West Bank?"

Calling on the international community to clarify its position vis-a-vis Sharon's statements, Qurei said the PA still hadn't received enough answers from Israel regarding the pullout. He warned that disengagement would not mean the end of occupation as long as Israel continues to maintain control over all the border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for the PA, also dismissed Sharon's statements as unacceptable. "The Palestinian Authority is not bound by Sharon's three nos," he said. "They are in violation of the road map.

We can't accept any solution that is not reached through negotiations."

PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also lashed out at Sharon, saying the only solution is the withdrawal of Israel to the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem, and the implementation of UN Resolution 194 regarding the right of refugees to return to their homes.

"The peace process with Israel is based on the withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 borders," Erekat told the Palestine News Network. "There are no other peace equations. Sharon's noes will collapse just like Israel's refusal to recognize the PLO and the Palestinian state."

Meanwhile, following a spate of kidnappings involving international aid workers and journalists in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, Abbas on Thursday instructed the PA security forces to provide protection for all foreigners.

"It's our duty to protect all our guests," Abbas said. "It's the duty of all Palestinians to protect the foreign aid workers working in our territories."

His comments came in response to the kidnapping, earlier this week, of two UN employees in Khan Yunis.

The two, a Swiss and a Briton working for UNRWA, were abducted by Fatah gunmen. They were freed unharmed an hour later when a special PA police force stormed a house in the center of the city.

"Any attack on our foreign guests is an assault on the law," Abbas said. "We won't allow anyone to harm them in any way."

He added that he had issued instructions to the security forces to arrest all those behind the kidnappings and to bring them to court.

The latest kidnappings were carried out by a Fatah militia affiliated with Farouk Kaddoumi, the Tunis-based chairman of the Fatah's central committee. The kidnappers said they were reacting to the arrest of one of their leaders last Sunday by the Preventative Security Service in the Gaza Strip. In response to the arrest, Kaddoumi on Thursday issued an order expelling all members of the Preventative Security Service from Fatah.

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