PLO Drafts 'Surprising' Statement on Peace Process
16:55 05/03/2012
GAZA, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) plans to issue a "surprising" statement to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the future of the peace process, Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper reported on Monday, citing Saeb Erekat, a senior PLO official.
Erekat, a member of the PLO Executive Committee assigned to negotiate with Israel, refused to disclose the contents of the letter, which is not ready yet, adding that it will be a key document for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Erekat expressed dismay with a speech U.S. President Barack Obama made to AIPAC, an influential pro-Israeli lobbying group, in Washington on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, the statement will give Israel "one more chance" to restart peace talks, he said. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has named a special committee to draft the letter, he said.
The Palestinian-Israeli talks stalled in September 2010 over disagreements on Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. Palestinians said they would not resume negotiations unless the construction stopped.
The Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and want Israel to pull out from the Palestinian territories occupied after the 1967 war.
Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to raise the issue of Jerusalem, which it says is the indivisible capital of the Jewish state.
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