Uraiqat: Israel must honour promises

Reacting to a comment by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on stopping incitement, Palestinian Minister of Negotiation Affairs Saib Uraiqat told Aljazeera that “stopping incitement is a mutual process to be implemented by both sides”.

Israel should implement the road map peace plan so as to withdraw from areas occupied since 1967, he said on Friday.

The Israeli government should not talk about conditions and a sequential approach as the road map plan was based on a parallel approach.

The first step, Uraiqat said, was that the Israeli government has to stop violence against Palestinians, and in turn the Palestinian Authority has to prevent violence against the Israelis.

“There is no one-sided ceasefire. Past commitments must be honoured equally on both sides,” he said.

Israeli tasks

Israel must stop building settlements; free prisoners and detainees; return the situation as existed on 28 September 2000; facilitate elections in line with the 1995 accord, that is, allow participation of all Palestinians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; solve the refugee issue; and finally end the occupation, Uraiqat said.

“What is needed is to stop the aggression against our people and provide international observers to monitor the peace,” he said. 

Meanwhile, former Palestinian security chief Muhammad Dahlan has said a halt in attacks on Israel was needed in order to smooth the way for a 9 January election on finding a successor to Yasir Arafat.

Dahlan said on Friday any ceasefire would be dependent on putting an end to the “chaos of weapons” in the Palestinian territories and to avoid a slide into anarchy as rival groups compete for power following Arafat’s death.

“We have to put an end to chaos and then we have to reach a ceasefire through dialogue with all factions,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I believe an understanding on a truce is possible and can be achieved soon.”