Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed yesterday on the need for all parties to work in order to make the Annapolis Conference succeed, warning that the region does not stand any failure. In a special interview with Kuwaiti News Agency, he said: We are not talking about boycotting the international meeting, so far the final date of the meeting has not been set up and the invitations have not been sent; we talked on the conditions for its success; the Middle East region is full of crises and it does not stand any failure. So we have said and we still say that it is the responsibility of all concerned parties to work on providing the conditions for its success and not to set up more obstacles because of the failure of the conference will have extremely negative impact and will cause an additional reason for tension and violence in the region. He added: we must not waste this opportunity and we must transform it into an important landmark in the path towards the peace process towards reaching a peace treaty between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

In the meantime, the President revealed that he agreed with the US Administration on implementing the first phase of the roadmap in order to create the proper climate to reach a clear document which will constitute the basis for the international conference. He explained: it is clear that the components of the first phase are very clear; this is not a condition, but both the Palestinian and Israeli sides will implement in parallel, and we have implemented the majority of our commitments and the Israeli side has to implement its part. The Israeli commitments include a total halt of settlement activities and opening the closed institutions in Jerusalem and the removal of settlement outposts.

President Abbas stressed on the need for reaching a clear document with the Israelis that include all issues of the final status and a timetable for concluding the negotiations before the international conference. He stated: the current negotiations with the Israeli side must focus on drafting the document before reaching the international conference and this document must include all issues of the final status and the principles must be clearly stated without any vagueness and the timetable must be stated very clearly because we cannot engage in endless negotiations. On the content of the document, President Abbas said: We have stressed many times that the document must include very clearly all issues of the final status: Jerusalem, the refugees, the borders, water, settlements and the future relations and security. He added: On our side, our rights are clear and were granted to us by the international legitimacy and we cling to the terms of reference of the peace process which are the Arab Peace Initiative, the roadmap, and the vision of US President Bush on the two state solution and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1515 which means the establishment of the independent Palestinian state on all Palestinian lands that were occupied on June 4, 1967. Abbas said: The Israeli side continues to adopt the policies of intransigence and wasting time and policies and measures against the Palestinian people: the confiscation of lands, building more settlements, building the apartheid wall, committing acts of killing and assassinations and siege and hundreds of checkpoints and other collective punishment measures which means creating more obstacles. Abbas affirmed full coordination with the Arab countries on the negotiations with Israel and the current preparations for the Annapolis Conference.

Published at Al Ayyam NewsPaper on October 28, 2007