Chief Palestinian Negotiator: Israel Is Destroying The Peace Process

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat says that Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is not interested in peace and that his sole interest is to consolidate an apartheid regime.

Erekat said after meeting a US congressional delegation at his Jericho office that Israel’s settlement activities, which intensifies daily, “is part of a consistent policy led by the Government of Israel to destroy the two-state solution and the chances of a negotiated two-state solution.”

Erekat and Muhammad Shtayyeh, the two Palestinian negotiators with Israel, resigned two weeks ago in protest against Israel’s non-stop settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian land. Direct negotiations resumed in August.

Erekat said Netanyahu continues to undermine the efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry “by showing Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the international community that his sole interest is to consolidate an Apartheid regime, rather than to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

He called upon the international community to use the same determination and action to reach an agreement in Geneva on Iran to achieve a just and lasting peace.

“The negotiations that took place in Geneva present of a unique precedent and platform for the international community to resolve differences avoiding war and violence,” he said. “We call upon the international community to make use of the same efforts in order to end decades of occupation and exile for the people of Palestine in order to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.”

Erekat urged the international community to show determination in order to stop treating Israel as a state above the law.

“In order to achieve a just and lasting peace, this culture of impunity must end. Daily violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel, the occupying power, must be met with increasing international action that will create the conditions for Israel to end its illegal practices and adopt policies of cooperation and understanding between two sovereign states,” he said. WAFA

{Matzav.com Israel}