JERICHO, West Bank, 19 May 2003 — Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas asked Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to officially accept the road map for peace during their meeting in Jerusalem, an official statement said yesterday.
Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr’s statement was received by AFP here before a double attack in Jerusalem killed seven people plus the bombers and prompted Sharon to put off a trip to Washington aimed at discussing the road map.
“Abu Mazen (Abbas) presented the Palestinian position the following way: We agree on all points of the road map and we urge the Israeli government to officially accept it,” the statement said.
“We are looking forward to working together on the basis of a common commitment to all issues,” it said.
“We urge you to put an end to the siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and release prisoners in order to create a positive atmosphere for putting the peace process back on track,” Amr’s statement said.
“We also ask you to put an end to the closure on the Palestinian people, to settlement activity and military operations, and to stop building the separation wall” between Israel and the West Bank,” he added.
“We are ready and we have the ability to deliver on our commitment to the road map, but we need you to do the same on your side. We cannot work on the basis of a partial approval,” Amr quoted Abbas as telling Sharon. Sharon has not officially accepted the blueprint and was expected to seek amendments to the three-phase plan during his trip to Washington for talks with US President George W. Bush.
The road map calls for an end to armed Palestinian attacks, an Israeli withdrawal to pre-intifada lines of September 2000 and a freeze on Jewish settlement activity but has had little impact on the ground since it was published nearly three weeks ago.
Sharon’s office released a statement overnight saying “the two parties agreed that an end to terrorism is a vital step for making progress and the Palestinians have promised to make a real and sincere effort to bring this about.”
Sharon and Abbas “agree to pursue their talks in the near future following Sharon’s return from the United States,” the statement concluded. Abbas was accompanied by Minister of State for Security Affairs Mohammed Dahlan and Parliament Speaker Ahmad Qorei, while Sharon brought his top aide Dov Weissglas, Gen. Yoav Galland and his legal adviser Shalom Turdjman.
Meanwhile, Palestinian group Hamas said yesterday the three latest bombings against Israeli targets were unrelated to a meeting between the Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers. Another group, Islamic Jihad, blasted the meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and Ariel Sharon as a “conspiracy.”
“These operations are unrelated to the meeting between Abu Mazen and Sharon but corresponded with the commemoration of the ‘catastrophe,’” of 1948, said Hamas official Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi.
“I don’t believe the resistance of the Palestinian people has anything to do with political issues. The only issue of relevance to martyrdom operations is occupation and the continuation of this occupation and hardships facing the Palestinian people.
“As for political meetings and movements, those are a daily thing. We cannot relate the resistance to what is happening on the ground and in the political arena,” he said.
In another development, Palestinian organizations have voluntarily suspended Damascus operations in the wake of heavy US pressure on Syria to close their offices, a Palestinian leader told AFP in Damascus.
“The Palestinian groups have voluntarily frozen operations because of the situation,” said Khaled Al-Fahum, former president of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s parliament-in-exile.
