Palestinian Political Parties Expect Failure for the US-Planned Israeli-Palestinian Peace Conference for Lack of Israeli Commitment to Peace

Rice visits Israel and Palestinian territories in preparation for autumn summit

Date: 18 / 09 / 2007 Time: 10:35

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive in Israel for a visit of the Israeli and Palestinian territories on Tuesday.

The visit aims to encourage both sides to work towards preparations for the upcoming US-sponsored autumn peace summit.

Press sources reported that Rice plans to garner support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The question of a Palestinian state is expected to be one of the key issues to be discussed at the autumn conference.

Hamas: US-Planned autumn conference is doomed to failure

[ 17/09/2007 - 08:24 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Hamas Movement has confirmed Monday that it will remain steadfast on the path of resistance against the Israeli occupation government and against the crimes that occupation is committing against the Palestinian people on daily basis.

The Movement, in this context, deplored statements issued by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) and Fatah faction alleging that Hamas was planning "major" military attack to sabotage the upcoming peace conference which was called for by the USA, affirming that "the conference doesn’t need to be foiled as it is, doubtlessly, doomed to failure".

"It seems that the anticipated failure of the said conference has pushed the two parties (IOA and Fatah) to issue such statements in search for reasons at attach that failure on", a statement issued by Hamas and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC affirmed.

Hamas, furthermore, asserted that such "worthless" conferences will not retrieve the legal rights of the Palestinian people or grant them independence.

Moreover, Hamas warned that the Palestinian negotiator was in a "very weak position and couldn’t impose the Palestinian will and national legal rights on the conference due to the current political division in the Palestinian arena" prompted by PA chief Mahmoud Abbas's persistent rejection to heed Hamas's calls for national dialogue.

"It is about time for Abbas and Fatah faction to wake up and understand that Palestinian national unity and the legitimate resistance against the occupation are the two strongest cards the Palestinian people possess", the Movement underlined.

It also urged Abbas to answer calls for national unity, pointing out that "the one who turns his back to his own people and closes eyes on the enemy's crimes against his people while lashing out at his own brethren is indeed providing the enemy a golden opportunity to impose its political agenda on the Palestinian people".

Furthermore, the Movement called on Abbas and Fatah faction to focus on the heinous Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the West Bank instead of concentrating on blaming the Palestinian resistance fighters for firing "few" missiles on IOF troops' positions and Israeli settlements around Gaza Strip in retaliation to those crimes.

In this regard, the Movement affirmed that it wasn’t attaching hopes on the said conference, adding that the meeting was meant to implement the US and Israeli political agenda in the region.

Abbas had rejected several Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim calls to heed Hamas's invitation for national dialogue so as to bail the Palestinian people out of the current political impasse and national division. He (Abbas), instead, engaged in bi-weekly meetings with Israeli premier Ehud Olmert in the occupied city of Jerusalem since he (Abbas) politically boycotted Hamas three months ago on request of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.

Yet, the Abbas-Olmert meetings proved to be futile as IOF arrest campaigns against the Palestinian people and IOF military aggressions on the West Bank and Gaza Strip persisted.

Barghouthi affirms: The autumn conference will not bear fruit

[ 18/09/2007 - 10:52 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

MP Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, secretary-general of the Palestinian national initiative party, has considered Israeli premier Ehud Olmert's confession that the conference of next autumn will be only a meeting for "declaration of intent", as reaffirming the absence of an Israeli peace partner and that the conference will not bear fruit.

In a press release on Monday, Barghouthi stated that the Israeli government is unable to make peace or even engage in serious negotiations; instead, it keeps holding Palestinians responsible for its own inabilities.

The MP warned of falling into the trap of partial or transitional solutions, or succumbing to a bizarre concept calling upon an occupied people to provide security to their occupiers, warning at the same time of turning Fayyad's unconstitutional government into a security deputy for the Israeli occupation.

The MP urged all to wake up from their illusions as the number of military checkpoints keeps on increasing, the IOF troops still kidnap Palestinian citizens and the living conditions deteriorate as a result of the siege imposed by the Israeli occupation.

To overcome the hard conditions, the MP called for strengthening the Palestinian political structure through the restoration of national unity.

For his part, Dr. Mohamed Al-Madhoun, director of premier Ismail Haneyya's office stated in a press release that the autumn conference will serve as a "poisoned dagger" prepared to stab the Palestinian cause.

Madhoun added that the signs and statements affirm that the conference will kill the hopes of the Palestinian people to restore and to return to their lands and shrines, calling on the Palestinian people not to hold hopes on such a meeting because it is devoid of any content and it will inflict more loss on the Palestinian cause as earlier meetings did.

He called on PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and all Arab leaders not to accept the Zio-American dictates about the meeting's content and to unite in order to face the Zio-American project which threatens their unity and stability.

Khalid: “Fall Summit in the US could be a waste of time if no real peace process is launched

Tuesday September 18, 2007 00:03 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC saed at imemc dot org

Taiseer Khalid, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), called on the U.S Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, not to waste time and to be clear in the political maneuver of the Fall Conference on the Middle East called for by the U.S. President George W. Bush.

Taiseer Khalid

Khalid stated that the conference will be meaningless if no real peace process was launched, and that Arab countries must be part of any peace move.

He stared that Arab countries interested in implementing the Arab Peace Initiative, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Syria and Lebanon should be part of any political move in order to reach a political settlement which is based on the resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council, in addition to the Arab Peace Initiative.

Khalid added the current American political maneuvers and statements made by senior US and Israeli officials are indicating that US and Israel policies are maneuvers that aim at calming calming the atmosphere in the region without presenting solid initiatives and proposals that would lead to stability and real peace.

He called on the Arab countries not to participate in the summit, which will be held in Washington, unless all necessary arrangements were made, and unless that there receive assurances that the summit will lead to a real political process which will eventually lead to a full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab and Palestinian occupied lands captured in 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital.

The summit, he added, should provide a just solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees by implementing the international legitimacy resolutions, especially security council resolution number 194.

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