Dr. Saeb Erekat on the Paris Middle East Peace Meeting

The Paris Meeting is a very significant step and its message is clear: If Israel is allowed to continue its colonization and Apartheid policies in Occupied Palestine, the future will be for more extremism and bloodshed rather than for coexistence and peace. 

What is required is a genuine mechanism to fully end the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and to solve all final status issues based on international law; including a clear and limited timeframe for its implementation. 

We negotiated bilaterally with Israel, the occupying power, for over two decades, but they continue to violate all the agreements that we had signed. In fact the number of illegal Israeli settlers in Occupied Palestine has grown from nearly 200,000 to over 600,000 during the past 20 years of bilateral talks. 

A better future for this region cannot be achieved if the Palestinian people are not treated with dignity, equality and justice. The international community has the responsibility to stop treating Israel as a state above the law.

The multilateral approach of the French Initiative is needed in order to provide us with a clear mechanism of implementation and monitoring. 

The main requirement for regional peace and stability is peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is not about reinventing anything, rather it is about implementing what the Palestinian people rightfully deserves. It is long overdue time for the Palestinian people to live in freedom and security.