Palestinian, Israeli delegations laud SI Mideast Resolution
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 6/1/2002

The Palestinian and Israeli delegations, attending in Casablanca the meetings of the Socialist International (SI), lauded a resolution passed Friday by the organization on the Middle East.

The SI resolution on the Middle-East resolution is "a miraculous document," said Youssi Sarid, President of the Israeli Meretz party. "It is the voice of the camp of peace."

The resolution, passed unanimously, calls for a Palestinian and Israeli state living side by side in total security and with Jerusalem as a shared capital city.

The resolution was backed by the Labour and Meretz parties and by the Palestinian Fatah Movement.

"The major elements of a final settlement are clear: the implementation of Security Council resolution 242, the establishment of a Palestinian state besides Israel, the two states will have Jerusalem as their capital, besides a fair settlement to the refugees problem," says the resolution unanimously passed by the SI on Friday.

Under the resolution, the two Israeli parties and the Palestinian Fatah Movement, agreed that the mutual recognition of the state of Israel and the state of Palestine "should be the initial commitment before the start of any negotiations between the two peoples."

For Youssi Sarid, it is necessary to start thinking on the means to progress towards peace and to prevent the deterioration of the situation.

The Meretz leader slammed the Sharon government for relying on force rather than on negotiations.

Sarid said that while he recognizes the Palestinian people's right to struggle for their freedom, he opposes attacks on civilians.

For Ilian Halevy, representative of the Fatah Movement, said the resolution confirmed that any settlement to the Middle-East issue should be based on international legality.

Touching on the accord with the Israeli Labor and Meretz parties on sharing Jerusalem as capital for the Palestinian and Israeli states, Halevy said "this is an important accord and it is the fruit of a long joint action by the two Israeli parties and the leadership of the Socialist International."

Coexistence between a Palestinian and an Israeli state is the sole solution, he insisted. "Our concern to look forward should not make us forget the tragic situation in the occupied territories and the sufferings of the Palestinian families," he said.

Halevy added that he sympathises with the Israeli civilian victims. He decried what he called the suicide attacks. "They are immoral, illegal and politically harmful," he said.

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