By Xinhua
Ramallah : Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei Wednesday denied statements that the Palestinian leadership was going to unilaterally declare an independent statehood if talks with Israel failed.
“This option is excluded and has never been discussed among the Palestinian leaders,” Qurei said in a statement faxed to the media.
Earlier in the day, negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo said that “if the peace negotiations are still not moving ahead towards a permanent status agreement, the Palestinians will seek for declaring an independent Palestinian state unilaterally.”
In response, Qurei said that “the action should precede the saying in such kind of issues,” adding that the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the final-status issues were serious though there was no notable progress.