OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, June 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The moment the
three leaders of the U.S., Israel and Palestine ended their official
“vows for peace and stability” Wednesday, June 4, reactions from
both sides - Israelis and Palestinians - came “not promising” to say
the least.
In
Israel, the main Jewish settlers' body said that the Aqaba Middle East
peace summit marks "Israel's surrender to Palestinian terrorism,”
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
Aqaba summit is a humiliating ceremony celebrating Israel's surrender to
Palestinian terrorism," said a statement issued by the highest
authority of the Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The
landmark summit in Jordan, bringing together U.S. President George Bush
and the Palestinian and Israeli Prime Ministers, Mahmud Abbas and Ariel
Sharon, is aimed at boosting the roadmap for peace, which calls for a
freeze to settlement activity and paves the way for the creation of a
Palestinian state.
"Since
the (1993) Oslo accords, 1,094 Israelis were assassinated in terrorist
attacks. Unfortunately, our warnings were justified and terrorism was
stepped up following the accords.
"Today,
Ariel Sharon's government is about to repeat and amplify this
mistake," the statement added.
Moreover,
a spokesman for Jewish settlers said - immediately after the summit
closed - that Jewish settlers will oppose the dismantling of settlement
outposts in the West Bank promised by Sharon.
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"We
won't allow anyone to give up a parcel of our land," Rantissi
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On
the Palestinian side, the biggest resistance group Hamas said Wednesday
it would "stand by the Palestinian people and by the gun".
"We
won't allow anyone to give up a parcel of our land," Hamas leader
Abdelaziz Rantissi told AFP, minutes after Abbas pledged to disarm the
Intifada.
Another
Hamas figure told Qatar-based al-Jazeera Satellite Channel that there
was “huge gaps between the positions of Abu Mazen and the resistance
groups”.
“For
Abbas to talk about the suffering of the Jews as if it were the
Palestinians’ fault is totally unnecessary and unacceptable
concession. Our land and people were always generous to the Jews, and
we’ve been repaid by expulsion of our people, occupation of our land,
attempts to annihilate us completely,” Mahmud al-Zahhar, Hamas
spokesman said.
“Neither
Bush nor Sharon committed themselves to anything, why Abbas vowed to
demilitarize the Intifada? What is the price? We did not hear Sharon
declare his acceptance to withdraw from our occupied land, dismantle all
illegal colonies, allow the Palestinian refugees - estimated at some 5
millions - to return.
“Logic
says that Israel stops its crimes against our people, withdraw from our
territories first, then we stop our legitimate resistance. To say
otherwise is insane and will lead to nothing but more victims,” he
added.
Within
the same context, the Islamic Jihad group said Wednesday
"resistance will continue as long as the (Israeli) occupation
persists here," following a three-way U.S., Israeli and Palestinian
summit in Jordan. Abbas' pledge to end the armed Intifada was a
"gratuitous offer".
Also
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) told AFP
Wednesday "the resistance and Intifada will continue".
"We
want to stress that the resistance and Intifada will continue and will
officially inform Abu Mazen," PFLP top official Jamil Majdalani
said.
These
reactions, coupled with no change felt on the ground by the Palestinians
- as the Israeli army continues its curfews, raids and detentions - make
it pre-mature to foresee “positive results,” matching the seemingly
“positive statements by the three leaders.
