Gaza – The Palestinian government welcomed in principle the European initiative for a peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict and registered a number of questions with regard to the initiative. Israel on the other hand rejected the initiative and considered it to be hasty.
Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahhar the PA Foreign Minister said that the initiative is worth consideration as it calls for an end to violence and an exchange of prisoners. At the same time he had some questions regarding the initiative.
He said the Palestinian government should be clear about this initiative which calls for an international peace conference before giving it its blessing. Things like what are the terms of reference of the conference and what powers does it have to implement resolutions. He also stressed that it was important to know who will be attending such a conference adding that once we have answers for all these questions we can decide on accepting or rejecting the initiative.
He considered the rejection by Israel of the initiative as a proof of the Israeli wish for the Palestinian issue to remain hostage in the hands of the USA which supplies Israel with weapons and money.
