Palestinians Ready to Put off Statehood Declaration

Chief of Palestinian Preventive Security Forces in Gaza Strip, Colonel Mohammed Dahlan, said Thursday the Palestinian side was ready to consider putting off statehood declaration in case there was a positive sign in the peace talks or a radical change in the Israeli positions.

Contacts are underway between the Palestinians and Israel to assess the results of last month's Camp David summit in the United States as a prelude to the resumption of the talks, Dahlan told reporters.

The two sides are looking forward to the solution of the final-status issues, especially the issue of Jerusalem, but they have failed so far to reach any solution, he noted.

The Palestinian side will never yield sovereignty over East Jerusalem, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War and later annexed, Dahlan added, adding that the Palestinian National Authority would allow the Jews access to their holy sites such as the Wailing Wall.

People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/