The Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser
Al-Kidwa on Tuesday was pessimistic about the chances for the upcoming
Sharon-Abbas summit meeting saying it he does not expect a diplomatic
breakthrough.
However, Al-Kidwa said that there might be progress
on the disengagement and the completion of the Sharm el-Sheikh
understandings reached last February.
Heading the Palestinian list of demands is a full
Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas occupied since the outbreak
of the second Intifada.
Al-Kidwa’s statements came ahead of the visits by
American envoys and the chief of Egyptian intelligence. These
visits are meant to prepare for the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and to restart Israeli-Palestinian coordination, in preparation
for Sharon-Abbas’s meeting slated for June 21.
Al-Kidwa said the Palestinian Authority does not
promise that resistance will lay down arms as long as occupation of the
Palestinian territories continue.
‘My position is based on international law and a
deep understanding of our responsibilities according to the Road Map,
and I will not retract my words,’ he said.
Resistance group expressed satisfaction to Al-Kidweh comments.
