CAIRO, March 29 (UPI) -- In his first comment following the Israeli elections, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned against unilateral disengagement from the West Bank.
Abbas was quoted by Cairo's mass-circulation daily al-Ahram Wednesday as cautioning that violence will renew and intensify if Israel goes ahead with its unilateral disengagement plans.
He explained that the second disengagement plan in the West Bank "consists of a timetabled plan of 10 to 15 years, which means that the conflict will be extended that long and issues will remain pending, as violence will continue and aggravate."
"This is definitely not in the interest of Israel if it really wants peace and security for its people," Abbas added.
Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose Kadima party won the most seats in general elections Tuesday, has vowed to draw Israel's final borders unilaterally by 2010 if the peace process remains stalemated.
Abbas renewed the Palestinian Authority commitment to the peace process on the basis of international resolutions and the Road Map which envisions the existence of two states, Israeli and Palestinian, coexisting in peace.
"We want to solve the problem from its roots and live with each other in peace and we are ready to back a comprehensive peace and sign a peace treaty," Abbas said.
He warned that the Palestinian Authority will not allow any violation of the Road Map "because that would lead to the rise of differences among us once again."
"Moreover, the Quartet Committee is still attached to the Road Map but that is not enough as we need to activate the plan," Abbas added.
He stressed that negotiations with Israel are exclusively to be handled by the Palestinian president and affiliated negotiations department.
"It is the Palestine Liberation Organization which will negotiate and take decisions because all previous agreements were signed by the PLO which is headed by the Palestinian president," Abbas noted.
He said Hamas' opinion will not be ignored, stressing however that "the first and last decisions will be taken by the head of the Palestinian Authority and the department of negotiations."
