Erekat Hails Qatar's Role in Uniting Palestinian Ranks

Doha, May 30 (QNA) - Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat confirmed that the State of Qatar is playing a major and pivotal role in hosting rounds of dialogue between Fatah and Hamas. In an interview with (Al-Sharq) Qatari newspaper issued Monday, Erekat hailed the unremitting endeavors undertaken by the brothers in Qatar under the leadership of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to unify the Palestinian ranks and end the state of division as well as to put aside their differences and achieve the Palestinian national reconciliation as soon as possible. Erekat said that the Palestinian people understand and appreciate the importance of Qatar's political role in supporting the Palestinian cause, which goes along with its humanitarian efforts and its continuous relief initiatives in Palestine. Regarding the French peace initiative, Erekat said that the French want to submit a draft on decision behalf of the Palestinians to the UN Security Council after they realised that there were an Israeli intransigence to resume the peace negotiations, adding that the initiative includes principles for resolving the Palestinian issue, such as establishing the borders of the Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with land swaps, making Jerusalem the capital of both Israel and Palestine, setting a timeline for ending the occupation and holding an international peace conference. He urged on he International Community to set a timeline for the negotiations and the implementation with mandatory mechanisms for the Israeli side and a new framework for the negotiations, calling for the adoption of a proposal to establish a group of "7+2" states, for instance. Erekat also called on the International Community to cooperate with France and all countries that are seeking to hold an international peace conference by specific references in accordance with the international law. He said that their references are fixed and specific and based on what has been set by the international law and the international legislation, such as the Security Council resolutions "242 - 338 - 252 - 1397 -1515 ", the related resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Arab peace initiative and the roadmap plan," adding that all this aim at ending the Israeli occupation in 1967, establishing the independent State of Palestine with its capital East Jerusalem, and resolving all final status issues, including the issue of prisoners and refugees. About FatahHamas reconciliation, Erekat told Al-Sharq that the Palestinian people live in great distress because of the absence of national unity, stressing that ending the division, removing its causes and achieving the Palestinian national reconciliation are considered a cornerstone of the Palestinian strategy. He emphasised that the state of Palestine will return to the map only if the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem become in one geographical unit, calling for an end to the division, the formation of a national unity government, the return to the polls, and resorting to the will of the people through free and fair general elections. On the developments of the current situation in the light of the continuing Israeli violations, Erekat said that the Israeli occupation authorities continue imposing collective punishment policy against the Palestinian civilians as well as assassinations, arrests and field executions policies. All these violations and crimes are documented and submitted to the International Community and the International Criminal Court as evidence of Israel's occupying policy against the Palestinian people and holy places, he said. He also said that there is no difference between ISIS extremist group who kill innocent people in the name of Islam, and the Israeli settler who killed the child Ali Dawabsh and his family in cold blood, saying that the first is a radical Muslim and the second is a radical Jewish, and both are the results of extremism and terrorism. The Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat demanded the International Community, which sees all these crimes and violations against the Palestinians, to stop treating Israel as a "state above the law". (QNA)