> Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2014
> Subject: Top Palestinians: Peace talks futile, we must return to resistance
>
> Top Palestinians: Peace talks futile, we must return to resistance
>
> Abbas associates say a Palestinian state is
> unlikely in next 20 years, but don't elaborate on
> what form of resistance to take.
>
> Jack Khoury
>
> Haaretz / January 26, 2014
>
>
> Senior Palestinian officials known to be close
> associates of Palestinian Authority President
> Mahmoud Abbas have come out against peace talks
> with Israel, saying that under current conditions
> they won’t see an independent state created in the next 20 years.
>
> In interviews over the weekend, Yasser Abed
> Rabbo, secretary general of the PLO's executive
> committee, and Tawfik Tirawi, a senior Fatah
> official, called the current peace talks futile
> and said they would not even produce the
> framework agreement U.S. Secretary of State John
> Kerry has been working to secure.
>
> Tirawi appeared on Al Mayadeen, a Lebanon-based
> TV channel, where he said that, under current
> conditions, a Palestinian state would not be
> established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the next two decades.
>
> "Anyone who thinks there will be a state is
> sorely mistaken," Tirawi said. "The negotiations
> won’t lead anywhere." He also said that
> Palestinians would not accept Kerry's framework deal.
>
> Tirawi called for the Palestinian leadership to
> return to the path of resistance. "We must go
> back to initiating and become part of a circle of
> action," he said. "If we become part of this
> circle, many things will change. I'm talking
> about all kinds of resistance, but within a
> unified Palestinian framework that is agreed to
> by all sides in Fatah and factions outside of it.
> As part of our plan, we will choose the correct
> form of resistance and act accordingly."
>
> Abed Rabbo echoed Tirawi's sentiments in a
> separate interview published over the weekend in
> a Palestinian monthly magazine. He said no
> Palestinian leadership can accept Kerry's formula
> for a framework deal, which he says is vague when
> it comes to issues important to Palestinians and
> detailed regarding Israeli concerns.
>
> "Israel revealed its cards during the talks, and
> all the illusions that existed in the beginning
> have since drowned at sea," Abed Rabbo said,
> adding that Israel wants to erase any element of Palestinian sovereignty.
>
> Abed Rabbo claims that Israel wants to complete
> constructing the separation barrier so that it
> encircles a future Palestinian state from the
> east, refuses to accept any Palestinian refugees
> and wants to retain sovereignty over Jerusalem.
>
> He also said that Israel wants to maintain
> settlements that exist outside of large blocs
> while also maintaining Israeli citizenship for
> their residents. He said zero progress has been
> made in peace negotiations thus far and that it
> would be pointless to extend them.
>
> According to Palestinian reports, chief
> negotiator Saeb Erekat and Majed Faraj, the head
> of Palestinian intelligence services, were
> expected to head to Washington this week for
> talks with Kerry. Erekat recently blamed Israel
> for undermining the talks by announcing
> additional construction in the settlements and
> for increased settler attacks against
> Palestinians and their property – including damaging the Al-Aqsa mosque.
>
> "We will tell the Americans to pressure Israel to
> stop its policy of aggression against Kerry's
> efforts," Erekat said. "Otherwise the entire process will collapse."
>