Palestinian PM slams Israeli moves
Tuesday 03 May 2005, 21:25 Makka Time, 18:25 GMT
Palestinian
Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei has accused Israel of continuing
to violate international law and described Israeli plans
to establish a new wall and university on occupied land as a
dangerous move.
The
PM also told cabinet colleagues on Tuesday that the US administration
and other members of the international peace Quartet (the UN, EU and
Russia) should demand Israel explain how its new initiatives could
possibly promote peace.
"These moves are dangerous. Building on occupied land
is clearly a violation of international law and the road map. I want to
know what the US administration has to say to Israel," Qurei said.
The veteran politician was referring to two recently
announced projects in the West Bank. Israel described its intentions on
Friday to build another wall to separate confiscated land in Hebron
(al-Khalil) from other Palestinian territories in the city.
Fate unclear
According to officials, the Israeli occupation army
has handed over its plan for the wall to Attorney-General Menachem
Mazus for a ruling. About 400 Jewish colonists live with some 170,000
Palestinians in Hebron.
Israeli officials did not clear what would happen to
the 30,000 Palestinians who live in the Israeli-controlled area if the
wall is built in the city.
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Israel's cabinet has voted to set
up a university in Ariel colony |
However, the officials admitted that the
attorney-general might cancel the plan, since the limitations it
imposes on the Palestinians violates international law.
Hebron Mayor Mustafa Abd al-Nabi al-Natshi said that
building a separation wall in the city would distort, deform and
disfigure one of the world's most ancient towns and would be a real
crime against humanity, adding that the "Israeli army wants to decimate
the lives of 170,000 Palestinians for the sake of 400 Jewish fanatics".
Israel is already building a barrier along the line
between it and the West Bank. The International Court of Justice ruled
that the wall, built on land Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war,
is illegal.
New university
The second project criticised by Qurei as a dangerous
move was the Sharon cabinet's approval of the first Israeli
university on occupied foreign land.
The decision on Monday meant turning one of Bar Ilan
University's colleges into an independent university in the Ariel
settlement, south of the West Bank city of Nablus.
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"Building on occupied land is clearly a
violation of international law and the road map. I want to know what
the US administration has
to say to Israel"
Ahmad Qurei,
Palestinian Prime Minister | The
decision was made after British university professors decided to
boycott Haifa and Bar Ilan universities on the grounds of the latter's
involvement with the college, Aljazeera's correspondent in Palestine
reported.
Agencies reported quoting an Education Ministry
spokeswoman that 13 ministers backed the proposal to upgrade the status
of the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, while seven voted against
the proposal at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Ariel, which is home to about 17,000 Jewish settlers,
lies 20km behind the internationally recognised Palestinian border with
Israel.
Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib
has also called the decision to upgrade the college a dangerous step at
a time when a ceasefire has buoyed hopes for a renewal of peace
negotiations.
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