Last update - 20:27 25/05/2006

Ramon: PA document on '67 line not basis for final agreement
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/719893.html
By Haaretz Service and Agencies


Justice Minister Haim Ramon (Kadima) on Thursday downplayed the relevance of a
Palestinian document calling for a state based on the 1967 borders, saying
that it was part of an internal battle between Hamas and Fatah, and not the
basis for a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The right of return is an integral part of the document,"
Ramon told Channel 10 television, referring to the demand for Palestinian
refugees to return to lands within Israel.


"I have not yet seen a Palestinian who will give up the right of return," he
said.


The leader of the left-wing Meretz party said Thursday that if the
Palestinians agree to a state based on the 1967 borders, Israel will have to
talk to the ruling Hamas party, Israel Radio reported.

Yossi Beilin was speaking in response to a announcement earlier in the day by
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who said that he would hold 10
days of talks with Hamas on a document recognizing the creation of a
Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, after which he would call a
national referendum if no agreement had been reached.

The referendum would ask Palestinians to either accept or reject the five-page
paper drafted earlier this month by senior Palestinian militants jailed in
Israel. It calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East
Jerusalem, the areas Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The plan was negotiated by leading prisoners from Hamas and Fatah over the
period of four weeks at Hadarim Prison, where top Fatah prisoner Marwan
Barghouti is being held.

But the director of the Palestinian election commission, Amar Duaik of Hamas,
said calling a referendum might not be easy. He said the Hamas-controlled
parliament would have to pass a referendum law, or Abbas would have to issue a
presidential decree.

"If there is no agreement [between Hamas and Fatah], I expect to have troubles
and differences," Duaik said.

The surprise announcement by Abbas drew mixed responses from Hamas lawmakers
Thursday, with some welcoming the initiative and others dismissing it as a bid
to override Hamas's parliamentary majority.

"Returning to the people is one of the most important principles in
democracy," said Parliament Speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik, of Hamas, who added that
the prisoners' document was a good basis for dialogue.

But Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri said that a referendum was a "coup
against the democratic choice" of the Palestinians, who swept Hamas into power
in January parliament elections.

Since its election win, Hamas has refused to renounce violence, recognize
Israel or abide by previously signed peace agreements. In a recent interview
to Haaretz, however, Palestinian Prime Minister Isamil Haniyeh, a senior Hamas
official, said an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders would result in a
long-term cease-fire.

Some Hamas officials said they did not fear the prospect of a referendum, but
criticised Abbas for setting conditions before the "national dialogue" was
fully under way.

"We are not afraid of a referendum, the election was a referendum and the
majority of the people chose us," said Salah al-Bardaweel, a spokesman for
Hamas in parliament.

"The document needs to be studied," he added.

The smaller Islamic Jihad group, which also rejects the existence of Israel,
said it opposed the referendum proposal.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a close adviser to Abbas, said Hamas and the other
Palestinian groups now had to make a choice, "either to accept the prisoners'
document as it is or to go to a referendum."

"Both solutions are satisfactory and can get us out of the impasse," he said.
"All that the international community needs is there in this document and we
think that they will accept it."

Palestinian pollster Nader Said of Bir Zeit University in Ramallah said he
expected the referendum to pass because most Palestinians support a two-state
solution.

"I think it has a very good chance to pass, I think it will get high support,"
he said, estimating it could pass by as much as two-thirds.

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