Chief negotiator says Palestinians ready to return to talks

Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has said that the Palestinians have no objection to returning to the negotiation table, provided that Israel releases a group of long-term, pre-Oslo prisoners and stop settlement activity, the Maan news agency reported on Saturday. Dr Erekat was speaking on the fringe of a seminar marking the Palestinian Nakba organised by Fatah in the occupied West Bank.

“US Secretary of State John Kerry did not introduce anything in writing to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in London,” he said, “and there is nothing clear in terms of a return to negotiations.”

Erekat talked at length about the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Israeli intransigence and the Palestinian negotiating team. He revealed that the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department has 21 staff members, including four Palestinians and 17 foreigners, most of whom are well-recognised experts in the legal area. The status of Palestine, he added, is now much better than before because it acts as a state in international forums and enjoys the support of several countries, especially within the United Nations.

The senior Fatah official revealed that Palestine will become a member of the Hague Convention of 1970 on June 2. The agreement is part of customary international law in the sense that it is binding on all countries, member states and non-member states alike. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 have long been recognised as the law to ensure the minimum respect for and protection of the rights of civilians, wounded combatants, prisoners and spies in time of war.

The Nakba seminar was attended by the Chairman of the National Democratic Assembly, Jamal Zahalka, Fatah central committee member General Sultan Abul-Enein, Hebron governor Kamel Hamid and members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council as well as representatives of the teachers union, city institutions and the National Action Institute in the city.

Zahalka said that the danger surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque arises from the Israeli government’s decisions and not Jewish settlers’ provocative actions. He called for a strong Palestinian reaction to counter any major event threatening Jerusalem and the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa.

General Abul-Enein called on the security services and Fatah to punish those who sell their lands to Israel, and for an end to settlers’ crimes.