The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) called today on the Palestinian Authority to link its participation in the international peace meeting to be held this autumn to the implementation of three key preconditions by Israel:
1. The retraction of the Israeli government's decision to declare Gaza an "enemy entity" which will impose collective punishment on the Gazan population, and an end to Israeli aggression against Palestinians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
2. A comprehensive and complete freeze on settlement activities, including the expansion of settlements and outposts, the confiscation of land, and the seizure and destruction of Palestinian property.
3. An end to the construction of the Apartheid Wall, which will irreversibly undermine the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
In a statement released today, the PNI said that bilateral meetings being held under the current situation of Israeli aggression are being used by Israel to cover up facts on the ground which it is imposing as a substitute to a real Palestinian state with full sovereignty.
The PNI stressed that these facts on the ground underline that Israel is not committed to achieving peace, and that it is seeking to replace a lasting solution based on ending the occupation of the OPT and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the borders of 4 June 67, with a series of disjointed Bantustans on only part of the lands within 1967 borders.
It pointed out that talk of prospects for peace in the run up to the international meeting this autumn rings hollow while Israel continues to wreak havoc in the OPT, with ongoing, daily killings and sieges, the strangulation of Palestinian towns, and the forced descent towards
starvation in the Gaza Strip. The PNI highlighted that current events again underscore the importance of restoring national unity in order to counter Israeli attempts to exploit divisions within the Palestinian political arena.
Published by JMCC on September 23, 2007
