Saeb Erekat Quotes (67 Quotes)

We have informed the United States and Israel that the election campaign will start on Tuesday, but we have not received any Israeli response till this moment. It's a real problem.

This is something that Netanyahu has been trying to do for a while, with both the European and American efforts. He has chosen settlement and the destruction of the foundation of the peace accords.

His words are (that) he won't give us anything on Jerusalem, on the (West Bank) settlements, on our refugees. What kind of peace can we make with those words.

We asked the US administration to continue with its support and not to enforce collective punishment, which will have disastrous consequences.

Our tracks -- the Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian tracks -- are parallel tracks, not competitive tracks, and we will not allow anyone to play a track against another.

Once we make peace, once the occupation is over, once there is a Palestinian state, (Israel) will have full normal relations,

This is a real setback for the peace process.

Settlements and peace are two parallels that won't meet. I hope their choice will be peace, not settlements.

This attack just adds to the complexities of the situation and harms Palestinian interests. It's an attempt to sabotage attempts to move ahead with a peace process and I think it could also hurt the elections.

They (donors) tell us that they respect our democratic choice, but they see democracy as complying with international rules.

I hope that the withdrawal will be a day of opportunity and also a day of law.

must understand that he must choose between settlements and peace. He cannot have both.

If the Israelis start interfering now with our elections, this will sabotage the democratic process in Palestine. I really urge the Israelis to keep their noses out of our elections. We've been conducting local elections, including Hamas, and this is our choice, and I hope Israel will respect our democracy.

I think we have a major problem in the lack of credibility of the peace process and the trust between the two sides.

We urge the U.S. Congress and the European Union to focus on respect of the democratic choice of the Palestinian people.

I don't think we can classify it legally as an international border now because Gaza is not free of occupation.

We are just simply asking to fill the vacuum, the political and legal vacuum. There are many legal questions related to May 4 that no one is willing to answer.

We are continuing efforts ... to try to resume the peace talks and stabilize the security situation.

We hope that this Sharon's illness will not affect what we had expected of the Israelis.

We have a difficult task ahead of us. We are determined to exert every possible effort to expedite the implementation of the interim agreement on the ground.

I believe this pre-empts and prejudges issues that are reserved for final status negotiations. Any talk of pre-empting and prejudging is counterproductive to the peace process.

we will continue to see this government's policy of stealing (land) and wasting time.

This delay wasn't because of disputes or anger, but because we have to maximize our efforts to revive this peace process. We should begin a process of regaining the trust between us. That's what this is about.

He will ask for assistance in holding an international conference for peace as preparation to negotiate a permanent agreement in accordance with the road map.

We are fully committed to carry out all our obligations emanating from this report, providing that we implement honestly and without any games -- the full report, page to page, without being selective.

We are really concerned. We hope that competition (to succeed him) will not be at our expense, meaning more settlements, more walls, more incursions, more assassinations, more occupation, more dictates.

The way to peace and stability is through an end to occupation,

international protection for the Palestinians is something that must be taken seriously by the United States and the international community.

We strongly condemn this continued Israeli escalation that will undermine the cessation of violence.

With this (Israeli) government, we do not have trust or confidence. Ross is simply helping make the process survive.

Carving out a so-called buffer zone is tantamount to reoccupying Gaza. We are exerting maximum efforts to restore calm.

We formed an investigation committee to look into this. I don't know if it's true or not, but we want fair elections. We will not allow such things to happen.

If I'm going to tell you how much the West Bank and Gaza needs for the next five years, I would tell you 3 billion. But I'm realistic. I know the political life of the United States, the American Congress, the Senate -- and I think we're going to aim at a very realistic number, hundreds of millions of dollars,

We hope that we can conclude an agreement this year and with that we can have our own state by agreement, ... The decision last night was to recommit ourselves to peace as a strategic option.

dangerous and harmful to the peace process.

I'm afraid that we will not have a peace process anymore, ... I would say 'God help Palestinians and Israelis' because to have a meaningful peace process means that we would continue where we left off.

Seeking revenge or violence will only add to the complexities and will harm Palestinian interests.

I hope that at this critical period, we will concentrate on the bigger picture, ... The answer to extremists on both sides sworn to sabotage this process must be a big 'No.'

This is an apartheid system. We urge the international community to help us in order to cancel such policies and end Israeli occupation.

We want to agree on preparations to resume final-status talks which should commence in the middle of next month.

We didn't get responses on forming a Palestinian-Israeli joint committee to follow up and observe the operation of distributing ballots, voting and the movement of voters as well as candidates.

The issue of January elections cannot be isolated from the results today, but we can't say it will be an exact copy.

If the legislative election is postponed, there will be a disaster in the Palestinian territories, where chaos and violence would prevail.

The answer they (the Americans) gave us is that they will exert every possible effort to have the Israeli government refrain from any act that will prejudge the outcome of negotiations.

It's impossible to say who has guns in Gaza anymore. The ballots are the only thing that can stop the violence at this point.

It will take much more than one visit by Madeleine Albright to deal with the damages inflicted on the peace process by the government of Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Ross is breathing artificial life into the peace process.

Israel is killing the two-state solution and the possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state on the West Bank.

I see ourselves in the opposition, not in the coalition.

The Israeli side got in touch and this meeting was postponed. We don't want the meeting just for the sake of meeting. On the contrary, we want a meeting that is well prepared.