Olmert Rules Out Concluding any Agreement with Palestinians

9 October 2007

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Ehud Olmert, the Israeli premier, in a speech on Monday before the Israeli parliament ruled out the possibility of concluding an agreement with the Palestinians, despite his intensive contacts and meetings with PA chief Mahmoud Abbas as a prelude to the autumn conference on the Middle East called for by the American administration.

Olmert told the parliament that he is determined to move forward in the peace process, but he also said that concluding an agreement with the Palestinian side is very far because the road is full of obstacles.

These statements come at a time when the PA negotiators started their talks with Israeli officials in a secret place in occupied Jerusalem in order to come out with a joint document supposed to be tabled in the autumn conference.

For his part, former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud Party, seconded what Olmert said.

For his part, Jamil Mizher , a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), stated in a press release that the autumn conference is an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause and to cover up for the failure of both American president George Bush in Iraq and Olmert in Lebanon.

Mizher urged Fatah and Hamas to take steps forward in order to return to comprehensive dialogue, pointing out that the Israeli occupation takes advantage of the state of division between them.

He also called on the international community especially the Arab and Islamic countries to intervene in order to end the siege on the Palestinian people particularly in the Gaza Strip because the humanitarian situation there is catastrophic.

For his part, Mohamed Al-Hindi, a prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, confirmed on Monday that the autumn conference is futile because nothing can solve the issues of the major conflict with Israel except resistance.

Hindi warned that the USA is dealing with the Palestinian cause as part of the global war on terrorism and exploiting it to serve its orientations and schemes in the region

The Jihad leader underlined that any compromising over the issues of the final solution is forbidden, pointing out that the PA is trying to establish a state out of delusions in light of Israel's continuation to tighten the siege on the Palestinian people, to confiscate more Palestinian lands, to Judaize occupied Jerusalem and to expand the apartheid wall.

He highlighted that the state aspired by the Palestinian people is the one which brings them freedom and guarantee them the future, not the one created by the enemies for their own security and safety.