Erekat calls on Sharon to return to negotiations

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat on Wednesday called on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians.

A potential summit meeting was supposed to be held between Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Sharon on Oct. 2. But it was postponed for an unset date due to the latest security deterioration in the Palestinian territories and the Israeli violations.

Erekat told Israel Radio that in such circumstances, he calls on Sharon to resume talks with the Palestinians and meet with President Abbas.

Erekat, meanwhile, praised Sharon's decision to withdrew from the Gaza Strip, saying to Sharon via Israel Radio that "you have proven huge courage in pulling out from Gaza Strip, and now the time has come for both of us to return to the negotiating table."

Erekat was also quoted as saying that he condemns the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)' kidnapping and murdering an Israeli settler near the West Bank town of Ramallah last week.

Such acts do not serve the Palestinians' purposes, but add fuel to the flames of the current mounting violence, he said.

Israel has recently intensified its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip after radical Palestinian militants had launched homemade rockets attacks on Israel from the strip.

Israeli army Apache helicopters and F16 warplanes carried out early Wednesday a series of real and illusory airstrikes on different targets in the Gaza Strip, causing horror and destruction but no injuries, witnesses and security sources reported.

Source: Xinhua