Head of the Palestinian negotiations teams, Ahmad Qorea’, stated on Monday at night that an unofficial meeting took place during evening hours between Palestinian negotiators and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni.Qorea’ added that this meeting came in protest to the recent statements by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, who said that Israel would continue settlement construction and expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
He stated that he told Livni that the Palestinian team was angered by these statements and expressed total rejection to them.
“We confirmed our rejection to any construction on any part of the Palestinian land either in the West Bank or in Jerusalem”, Qorea’ said, “these constructions come in direct violation to the Israeli commitments to the Road Map Plan, they also violate the peace process and what we agreed upon during the Annapolis summit”.
Qorea’ also said that he delivered a message to Israel rejecting the ongoing Israeli invasions and assassinations, and rejecting the roadblocks and closures.
“This is our position, and this is what we told them during the meeting”, Qorea’ added.
Meanwhile, and in an urgent press release, the Palestinian Presidency denied reports by some Israeli media agencies which claimed that President Mahmoud Abbas decided to stop peace talks with Israel.
The statement said that some media agencies in Israel claimed that Abbas decided to stop peace talks with Israel and “decided to resort to other means”, and added that these statements are fake and aim at undermining the commitment of Abbas to the peace process.
The statement also revealed that such claims aim at delegitimizing Abbas and smearing the commitments of the Palestinian negotiators.
“The Palestinian President is committed to a just peace, based on the Arab Peace Initiative and the Road Map Plan”, the statement reads.
