Gaza, October 15: Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad has expressed concern over Israel’s plan to push for the creation of “a Mickey Mouse” Palestinian state on only limited parts of the occupied West Bank.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Fayyad said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indeed pushing for “a Mickey Mouse” state which Palestinians would not accept.
Fayyad said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had talked about a state without the Jordan Valley, which makes up 27 percent of the West Bank territory, and without areas classified as C in the Oslo agreement, which are the sparsely inhabited areas of the West Bank.
He called on the Israeli government to “explain exactly what kind of state it is talking about” when Netanyahu said in June he was willing to accept a demilitarized Palestinian state.
“Our right to statehood has to be enshrined in a Security Council resolution,” Fayyad told journalists.
Fayyad said there was an “inherent contradiction” between the peace process and Israeli settlement activity, which the Palestinians have said must be halted before any new direct talks.
“Why should the peace process continue as business as usual when these blatant violations of international law are continuing,” he asked.
The United States has been struggling for months to get Israel and the Palestinians to restart peace negotiations which were suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year.
Israel, however, has so far resisted international pressure to freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank ahead of the renewal of peace talks.
—–Agencies