OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 30 November 2003 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday ruled out talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as long as Israel continues building a barrier in the West Bank. His comments ruled out an immediate meeting with Sharon.
“If the Israeli government says it will continue building the wall regardless of what happens then there is no need for any meeting or talks to take place (with Sharon),” Qorei told reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting in Ramallah.
Israel has said it is determined to construct the barrier in order to prevent attacks by Palestinians. Palestinians see the barrier — part razor-wire fence and part wall — as a land grab to annex occupied land. The barrier has been widely condemned because it veers deep into occupied West Bank land where it encircles Jewish settlements.
The barrier drew wrath from the United Nations on Friday, when Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a report saying it could make “the creation of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state more difficult.” Israel responded to Annan’s report by issuing a statement saying it would continue building the barrier “as long as there is no intense and effective effort by the Palestinian Authority to confront Palestinian terror groups.”
Qorei later arrived in Amman to seek Jordanian help in pressing Israel to revive the US-backed peace road map stalled amid an upsurge in bloodshed. Qorei was to meet senior US envoy William Burns for the first time since taking office earlier this month and give King Abdallah a Palestinian demands ahead of the Jordanian monarch’s planned visit to Washington next week.
Jordan has said Abdallah hopes to present top US officials with Palestinian suggestions for ending the violence and reviving the road map, which envisages a Palestinian state by 2005.
Speaking before he left for Amman, Qorei said he would tell Burns that the United States should get involved “energetically” and “directly” in reviving peace negotiations. A recent US decision to cut loan guarantees to Israel over the barrier signaled renewed interest in peacemaking from Washington, preoccupied for much of the year with Iraq.
Burns is also due to meet with Sharon today, Israel Radio said, in his first visit to Jerusalem since August.
