By NNN-KUNA
Gaza : Chief negotiator in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Saeb Erekat has denied Israeli claims that progress was made in the peace process.
Erekat told Voice of Palestine Tuesday that the peace process was hindered by the Israeli policy of constructing settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem and by the Jewish state’s aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
He warned that 2008 would not be a year of peace if these Israeli policies continued.
Erekat stressed that Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak planned to look into the possibility of removing the barriers in the West Bank, but said that this was not enough.
He called on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will visit the Middle East next week, to meet Israeli and Palestinian officials, to take a serious stand on the Israeli violation of the road map plan.
On Monday, the media quoted an official in the Israeli government as saying that progress was made in negotiations between Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the Palestinian Authority’s Ahmad Qurei.