Top Palestinian Legislator Rules out Three-Way Summit SoonPalestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Speaker Ahmed Qurei Sunday ruled out the possibility of holding a three-way summit in the near future unless the Israeli government shows real flexibility in its negotiations with the Palestinians.Qurei, also known as Abu Ala, said in a broadcast interview that there are no negotiations on the final status issues at present. "The now and then bilateral meetings between Palestinian and Israeli officials only touched upon the interim period issues," he added. The speaker, who also leads the Palestinian team to the final status talks with Israel, stressed the Israeli side showed "no sign of flexibility" in the key issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees during last month's Camp David summit which failed to produce an agreement between the two sides. On the Palestinian refugees issue, Qurei said that "during the summit at Camp David, the Israeli side attempted to detour around by promising to permit hundreds of refugee families to return home without recognizing the U.N. Security Council Resolution 164 in this regard." He called upon the US administration to adopt a fair and neutral stand as a Middle East peace mediator and not to take Israeli interests as its own. Palestinian and Israeli leaders failed to hammer out a framework agreement on permanent peace during the 15-day three-way summit sponsored by US President Bill Clinton at Camp David near Washington last month. |
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