Labor Party Secretary General Ophir Pines-Paz: ‘the road map’s success depends on the sides turning the rhetoric into practice. The Palestinians must act with determination against terror and incitement, and Israel has to immediately evacuate the illegal outposts and freeze the settlements.’
Yossi Beilin, chairman of the Shahar movement: ‘ the greatest tidings of all to come out of the Aqaba summit. He said ‘while it is very good news, after two and a half years of violence, if the summit had taken place 32 months ago, we could have possibly avoided the cost in blood.’
Meretz MK Yossi Sarid: ‘for some reason, one thing missing from the Aqaba speeches was the total settlement freeze, including natural growth, that is explicitly mentioned in the road map document as an Israeli commitment in the first stage. even if the outposts
are removed, it will be impossible to conduct negotiations while the construction continues in the settlements.’
Meretz MK Ran Cohen: ‘Abu Mazen’s announcement to fight terror and incitement against Israel is a dramatic commitment.’
Palestinian reflections on Aqaba Summit:
Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantisi :’Mr. Abbas today said to the world that we are the
aggressors and the Israelis are the victims, ‘ As Palestinians, we will continue our resistance until achieving our goals. Believe me, we will not give up one centimeter of
Palestine,’
Abdullah Shami, leader of Islamic Jihad in Gaza: ‘Abbas in his speech ‘offered a free service to the enemy by helping them in targeting the Palestinian resistance and stopping our legitimate right to fight the occupation.’
Saeb Erekat, an adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat: ‘said the summit
failed because Bush did not put in place a timeframe for implementing the road map.’
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath: ‘Sharon reached out to the Palestinians more than was expected when he spoke in favor of an independent Palestinian state with ‘geographical contiguity’ – instead of pieces of disconnected territory in the West Bank – and promised to dismantle illegal Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank. I was surprised to hear what I heard,.I think we have the beginning. I don’t expect to hear from Mr. Sharon everything at once.’
The Israeli Settelement council: ‘what happened in Aqaba is humilating to Israel. The Israeli government celebrated the surrunder to Palestinian terror.’
Ariah Eldad, MK National union: ‘ The declarations of Aqaba summit planted the seeds for the violence that will lead to the destruction of Israel. The road map is nothing but a palestinian intrem plan, with an American mask, to destroy the state Israel’
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