Reply #1: PA rejects Israeli demands for a demilitarized Palestine [View All]

[Scurrilous]

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"The prospects for a breakthrough in the peace process in the near future have dwindled following reports that Israel will demand that the future Palestinian state be demilitarized, Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah said Thursday.

The officials also strongly condemned Israel's security measures in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, saying the latest escalation posed an imminent threat to the PA's efforts to consolidate its power in these areas.

The PA leadership said it was very concerned by the fact that Israel was planning to demand that the IDF be able to operate inside a future Palestinian state to foil terrorist attacks or a military offensive from the east.

"The Palestinian Authority rejects talk about a demilitarized Palestinian state," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "A Palestinian state that does not have a strong security force won't be able to survive for one day. Every day Israel sends yet another message that it does not want peace with its neighbors."

Another official in Ramallah said Israel's talk about a demilitarized Palestinian state and retaining control of Ma'aleh Adumim and other settlement blocs in the West Bank "proves that Israel is not working toward achieving a two-state solution."

Israel, he added, wanted a Palestinian state only on parts of the West Bank where the IDF would continue to operate freely. "Our position remains unchanged," the official said. "There will never be peace without a Palestinian state in the entire West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. We insist on a full withdrawal to the 1967 borders."

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