Date: 29 / 05 / 2009  Time:  10:16
Ramallah - Ma'an -

The Palestine Liberation Organization's top negotiator said he was optimistic following US President Barack Obama's remarks in Washington on Thursday.

“Palestinians are encouraged by the commitment President Obama and his administration have shown to Middle East peace,” Dr. Saeb Erekat, the head of the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, said on Friday.

“Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is central to regional stability and peace. The establishment of a viable Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security with Israel, and a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue in accordance with UN Resolution 194, will create a more secure and stable Middle East,” he insisted.

“This is not only important to the region, but it is also in America’s own national interests. Palestinians and Americans share a common interest, and we share the same vision for peace based on the two-state solution,” Erekat said.

Erekat stressed that Israel needed to abide by its obligations under existing agreements, saying that the Middle East peace process would not survive another round of failed negotiations, and that failure would only lead to stagnation and further conflict.

“The peace process lives on borrowed time. Israel’s failure to implement its obligations under existing agreements has eroded its credibility, while Israel’s continued settlement activities are undermining the very viability of the two-state solution,” Erekat said.

“Palestinians have made great progress in fulfilling their obligations under existing agreements. We expect Israel to do the same. Implementing a comprehensive settlement freeze, including all ‘natural growth,’ and lifting all restrictions on Palestinian movement, are not Palestinian preconditions, but Israeli obligations,” he noted.

“They must be met if we are to salvage the peace process, restore its credibility and make genuine progress. Israel is not being asked to do anything it has not already agreed to do under existing agreements,” he said.

Erekat also insisted that “Israel must also immediately end its siege on Gaza, and the collective punishment of its people. Palestinians in Gaza cannot be allowed to suffer any more.”

“Peace is attainable. The Arab Peace Initiative provides a clear way forward. 57 Arab and Islamic states have extended a hand in peace to Israel. But this hand will not remain extended forever,” the PLO negotiator warned.

Abbas in Washington

Late on Thursday, Obama again pressed Israel to halt West Bank settlements following a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, in Washington.

Obama said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “each side has obligations under the Road Map. On the Israeli side those obligations include stopping settlements.”

Sitting alongside Abbas at a White House news conference, Obama also said that he was confident Israel would eventually accept the two-state solution, language rejected by the current Israeli government led by Netanyahu, who visited the US last week.

“I’m confident that if Israel looks long term, at its long-term strategic interests, it will recognize a two-state solution,” said Obama.

By standing his ground on settlements, although in milder terms than his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did on Wednesday, Obama was responding to Israel in what has become a political tug of war over settlements.

Obama also said that he called on Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, which holds power only in limited areas of the West Bank, to take steps to stop attacks and even verbal incitement against Israel.