The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (news - web sites) (PLO), in a Friday meeting, also named Arab East
Jerusalem, seized by Israel in 1967 and annexed in a move
rejected internationally, as the capital of a Palestinian
state.
"The Palestinian leadership, in line with international
legitimacy and signed agreements...has the right to declare a
independent democratic Palestine on all the territories that
were occupied (by Israel) since 1967," the PLO executive
committee said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) has said he would
pursue a unilateral plan to quit parts of the West Bank should
a U.S.-backed "road map" to peace collapse. The plan would
leave Palestinians with much less territory for a state than
they would get through negotiations, he said.
Responding to Sharon's threats, Palestinian Prime Minister
Ahmed Qurie on Thursday raised the possibility of opting for
one state with equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis.
Qurie's proposal and the PLO Executive Committee statement
underscored Palestinian concerns over Sharon's unilateral plan.
VIOLATION OF "ROAD MAP"
Zalman Shoval, Sharon's foreign policy adviser, on Saturday
rejected both Palestinian moves, saying any declaration of a
state without an accord "would be in clear violation not only
of international law, but also of the road map, which the
Palestinians have supposedly accepted."
"Any unilateral declaration of this sort would not be
recognized by the international community and would also
necessitate appropriate counter steps by Israel," he told
Reuters.
PLO executive committee member Qais Abu Layla said that the
Palestinians statement intended to show support for a two-state
solution and did not necessarily mean Palestinians would
exercise their right to declare a state.
Sharon has indicated he hopes to pre-empt any binational
state such as that raised by Qurie by building a mass barrier
that cuts into the West Bank and by vacating smaller, more
remote settlements left outside its parameter.
Palestinians call the barrier a land grab and a ploy to
evade the road map that calls for a Palestinian state in the
West Bank and Gaza beside a secure Israel by 2005.
Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep out suicide
bombers, who have killed scores of Israelis since the outbreak
of violence three years ago.
Qurie on Thursday said Sharon's threats to take unilateral
steps, along with the accelerated construction of the barrier,
could force Palestinians to go to a one-state solution.
"This is, of course, utterly ridiculous," Shoval said. "The
Jewish people didn't recreate their state in order to have a
binational state with the Arabs."
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) on Friday said Washington
remained committed to a two-state solution.
