Ramallah: Israel's rejection of the 1967 borders as the basis of a two-state solution with Palestine, its continuation of building colonies on Palestinian lands and its insistence against the right of return for Palestinians abroad are all violating the principles of the peace process, according to Fatah.
The largest Palestinian political party, which controls the West Bank area, yesterday said the Palestinian position was based on international legitimacy and was not one of preconditions but of taking a fair position.
It demanded help from the international community to make Israel fulfil its commitments to previous agreements between the two sides.
In an official statement, Osama Al Qawasmi, a Fatah spokesman, also said that the Israeli rejection of East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state was a step to destroy the stability achieved in the region.
He said the Palestinians have chosen the path of peace and negotiations, and adopted a non-violent and peaceful mode of resistance — while the Israelis insist on missing historic chances to achieve peace and stability in the region.
No-compromise issues
Al Qawasmi said the Palestinian state should be a sovereign and viable entity, enjoying complete geographic continuity. He stressed that the right of return and East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state were two issues on which no compromise was possible.
Meanwhile, addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his total rejection of any Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the 1967 border lines, claiming those borders were indefensible from the Israeli perspective.
"(Any solution) must leave Israel with security, but the 1967 borders are indefensible ones," he said. "Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 lines."
Netanyahu insisted on full control of Jerusalem, saying "more than a million Muslims in Israel enjoy full democratic rights and that can be the proof that only Israel can be trusted to ensure freedom for all faiths in a united capital of Jerusalem".
Better treatment demand
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) yesterday started its official international measures to pressure Israel to treat Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails as prisoners of war, rather than as criminals, according them all rights due under the Geneva Conventions.
The PNA started with the Human Rights Council, and will move to the UN General Assembly and end up at the International Court of Justice.
The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees Affairs announced yesterday that the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails will be reviewed next month at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Eisa Qaraqe, Minister of Detainees Affairs, told Gulf News that the PNA will ask the council to recommend and support moving the files of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to the UN General Assembly to be discussed in the September session, during which the General Assembly will give a consultative opinion about passing on the prisoners' file to the International Court of Justice for a verdict on their being handled in Israeli jails as "war prisoners". Qarage said his ministry has joined forces with Palestinian civil institutions to get a verdict from the International Court of Justice to force Israel to handle the Palestinian prisoners in its jails as war prisoners and treat them as per the Geneva Third and Fourth Conventions and to stop treating them according to its military and police laws which directly violate basic international humanitarian laws.
