By Xinhua,
Ramallah : Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday that the Palestinian leadership can’t accept having open-ended peace negotiations with Israel.
Erekat told the Saudi Arabian al-Sharq el-Awsat daily based in London that the Palestinians want to continue the peace talks with Israel until it achieves its goals, adding “we can’t accept endless peace negotiations.”
“The peace negotiations are not our goal, it is an access to end the Israeli occupation and establish our independent state,” Erekat said. “The Palestinian National Authority won’t loose hope to free the land and establish the independent state.”
Israel and the Palestinians formed two negotiations teams right after Annapolis peace conference held in the U.S. last November. The two teams held a series of sessions, but without any tangible progress has been declared.
Erekat said that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday, adding that she will hold a three-way meeting in Jerusalem to review what has been already achieved in the negotiations.
Rice will meet together with the chiefs of the Palestinian and Israeli negotiations teams, Ahmed Qureia and Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem on Sunday evening to preview the situation.
He added that Rice will hold talks with President Mahmoud Abbasin Ramallah on Monday. Rice will try during this visit to convince the two sides to agree on a declaration of principles.
Well-informed Palestinian sources said that the declaration of principle would exclude two issues, Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees’ right of return, and leave the two issues for more future intensive negotiations.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia has earlier announced that the Palestinians would reject any final agreement that excludes any of the six major permanent status issues.
“We either agree on one package that includes all the issues, or we don’t agree,” said Qureia over the weekend.