Shaath: Israel stalling for time
PA vice Premier accuses Israel of postponing negotiations, says Israel not interested in reaching a settlement. PA hopes American president will pressure Israel into a settlement, Shaath says
Palestinian vice premier Nabil Shaath has expressed pessimism on prospects of further progress in negotiations between Israel and the PA in the near future.
"The Israeli side is uninterested in promoting the peace process, and does not want the PA as its partner," Shaath claimed on Thursday.
Following the postponement of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' summit, which was scheduled to take place Tuesday this week, Shaath accused Israel of lacking a sincere wish to hold "a serious diplomatic meeting."
"Israel merely wishes to continue with unilateral steps, like it did in the pullout," he said.
"I am convinced that the Israelis are not interested in reaching a settlement with us. A settlement would mean complete withdrawal from the West Bank, and therefore Israel would make every effort to further establish its hold on the West Bank," Shaath said.
"However, this is another campaign in which Israel will lose," he added.
High expectations from Bush
Shaath said that the PA has high expectations from Abbas' anticipated visit to the United States next week, and that the Palestinians hope the U.S. will play a part in facilitating a resolution to the issues in dispute.
"We hope that this visit will lead Bush to pressure Israel into standing by its commitments to the Palestinians," Shaath said.
The vice Premier further stated that he hopes Israel and the PA will reach an agreement regarding the Rafah border crossing shortly, but that he was however not optimistic such a settlement will transpire in the near future.
"Israel is doing its utmost to delay resolving the issue," he claimed.
PA Police deploys in Tul Karem
Despite Shaath's statements, the Palestinians have announced Thursday that for the first time in a long period, Israel has agreed to allow PA police officers to deploy in the streets of the West Bank town of Tul Karem wearing their uniforms and carrying weapons.
The police commander in the region, Youssef Dahla said that Israel agreed to permit officers of the local "blue" police, as well as the national "green" police, to patrol the streets armed.
"Israel has warned that if its forces detect a man carrying weapons and who is not affiliated with the police, they will fire at the man without giving notice," Dahla said.
The deployment of police in Tul Karem was enabled for the first time in months. Police operations in the area were banned after the Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Netanya, which was launched from Tul Karem.
