By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Feb 21, 2005
Even as Israel was passing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan into law, Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority said the Jews would have to surrender much more than the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria if they ever wanted to live in peace.
Quitting Gaza is “a step in the right direction,” but it must be followed by a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, a top PA official told The Jerusalem Post .
“What right does Israel have to build settlements on our land,” Abbas said in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel published over the weekend, referring to areas originally deeded to the Jewish people by the Almighty millennia before the advent of Islam or “Arab” control over the region.
A spokesman for the “Palestinian” leader confirmed his demand for a full Israeli surrender included the eastern half of Jerusalem.
Dr. Mahmoud Shtayer of the PA responded in the affirmative when asked by Independent Media Review and Analysis if the required withdrawal “applied to Ramat Eshkol, French Hill and the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem.”
Opponents of disengagement said Sharon’s willingness to relinquish control over Gaza showed he would eventually give in and divide the Israeli capital as well.