By Xinhua
Ramallah : Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Wednesday called on Israel to respect international resolutions and end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
“Ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories, which dates back to 1967, is the core of the peace process,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said during an interview with Voice of Palestine radio.
Erekat said that “the era of guardianship and the Palestinian dependency has completely gone and there are no options but the creation of a Palestinian statehood.”
Erekat’s remarks were seem as a response to Israeli Pensioners’ Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan who said on Tuesday that Egypt and Jordan may have to temporarily take control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank “due to the Palestinian leadership’s inability to curb terror activity in its territories.”
Erekat said that the Israeli leaders released such statements due to Islamic “Hamas movement’s coup” which was staged in the Gaza Strip in mid June.
Hamas chased rival Fatah movement and security forces loyal toPNA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas out of Gaza in bloody clashes and tookthe reign of the coastal enclave.
Israel tries to push the Gaza Strip under Egypt’s rule, Erekatsaid, noting that both Egypt and Jordan were “the eagerest Arabcountries to establish an independent Palestinian statehood.”