Putrajaya, Oct 14: A top Palestinian official today presented a tough message at an Islamic meeting, playing down the importance of the alternative "peace pact" announced by Israeli and Palestinian moderates. "Resistance is the only way" as long as the Israelis remain in Palestinian territories, said Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) political department head Faruq Qaddumi.
The highest ranking Palestinian official at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting here, Qaddumi said the alternative peace plan was an Israeli opposition stunt to receive more support.
He told a news conference that he had not heard of the accord drafted by former Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin.
But he dismissed its importance, nevertheless, saying the Israeli government and Yasser Arafat's Palestinian authority were not involved.
"I don't think this has to do with the national authority. This is a side negotiation in order to have more support from the Israelis who care about peace and this is from the opposition and not from the government of Israel," he told reporters.
He said the negotiators should be the Palestinian authority and the Israeli government, "and not the opposite."
Bureau Report