Ereikat: Israel Is Not Interested In The Peace Process

Wednesday July 20, 2011 23:05 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestine's chief negotiator Saeb Ereikat said that a recently-released YouTube video by Israel's Foreign Ministry shows that Israel is not interested in the peace process.

The video "distorts international law regarding the occupation of the Palestinian Territory," Ereikat said in the press release published Wednesday by the Negotiation Support Unit that he heads.

The video features Israeli Foreign Minister deputy Danny Ayalon explaining the evolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as animated illustrations appear behind him.

In the video, Ayalon denies the existence of Palestine and the Palestinians, and demands that the West Bank be called a disputed area, instead of occupied territories.

He said that the West Bank was captured from Jordan and there was no Palestine, adding that there is no term called Occupied Territories.

He also said that all settlements Israel built in the West Bank are legal because they are not built on occupied territories.

Palestinian observers said this is part of Israel's attempts to foil the attempt of the Palestinian Authority to request the UN in September to recognize an independent Palestinian state withing the borders of 1967, which includes the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

palestine | peace process | news report george at imemc dot org