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Palestinians Reject Barak's Proposal for Interim Peace Deal
The Palestinians flatly rejected November 30 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's proposal on an interim peace deal that would defer the core issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees for up to three years.
"Any interim agreement is rejected completely," Nabil Abu Rdeineh, advisor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, told reporters here.
And the Palestinian people could never accept any delay on reaching a final peace deal, said the Palestinian official, adding that Barak's proposal was only partial solutions.
He stressed that a just peace between Israel and the Palestinians should be based on comprehensive solutions to issues, including the status of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.
A peace accord without solving these two core issues would bring no peace and security to the region, he added.
Barak on Thursday proposed an extended interim deal, including transferring another 10 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians and recognizing an independent Palestinian state.
However, Barak told a press conference in Tel Aviv that the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, which are the major stumbling blocks on the way to the final-status peace accord, could be settled in an accord "within the next two or three years."
On Barak's offer to withdraw from a further 10 percent of West Bank, Abu Rdeineh said under the 1993 Oslo peace accords, Israel should pull out from 90 percent of the West Bank territories it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
He said that the Palestinians were still expecting a political decision from Israel to see "whether they are ready for peace or still wasting time and looking for excuses to waste time."
In the wake of a parliamentary vote on Tuesday for early elections, Barak is in dire need for reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians ahead of the new elections so as to save his political career.
On the violence raging in the Palestinian territories, the advisor said there were still efforts being made by the United States, European countries and Egypt to end the bloody clashes, which have killed over 290 people since its eruption in late September. The vast majority of the victims were Palestinians.
He called on Israel to withdraw its tanks from the territories and stop its attacks on Palestinians.
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