[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni - "Anyone with eyes can see...the situation in Gaza and understand that the legitimate Palestinian government headed by Salam Fayyad, or Mahmoud Abbas - even if they wish to advance the two-state principle and although they are partners to the principle that terror is not a means of achieving Palestinian national goals - when it comes to actual implementation, there are certainly problems carrying it out. They do not have absolute control in Gaza; Hamas has control. There are problems in Judea and Samaria as well." "Our duty lies partly in making sure we have a partner for talks and understandings on the permanent status issues...as long as we know, determine and stipulate ahead of time, before entering the process, that even if we have a partner today and even if it is our duty to examine whether the partner on the other side is capable of reaching the understandings with us, they still have the burden of proof during implementation. Before this partner turns from a partner for understandings to a partner for implementation, they will have to carry out the Roadmap. So the talks being held today with them hold no immediate concessions. That was the condition for embarking on this dialogue. That was part of the basic understandings."
2007-11-14 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive