A senior official of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah party on Wednesday warned that his movement would be the main victim if a U.S.-sponsored peace conference failed.
Fatah lawmaker Hatem Abdel Qader told reporters that "The conference, which the U.S. called for holding without setting its date, the agenda and the participants, will not make any progress on the Palestinian cause."
"Its failure will cause catastrophe for the Palestinians in general and for Fatah in particular," the Jerusalem-based lawmaker warned.
The Fatah lawmaker also expressed dissatisfaction over the preparation for the conference, which President George Bush proposed in July in order to help revive the deadlocked Israeli- Palestinian peace talks.
"The preparations to make the conference successful are not convincing because an international meeting to discuss the Palestinian cause and the Arab-Israeli conflict needs much of preparations," said Abdel Qader.
He reiterated the Palestinian demands, calling for a clear vision and timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and for dealing with the Syrian and Lebanese regional issues in the conference alongside the Palestinian issue.
"The greatest mistake committed by the Palestinian in (1993) Oslo conference was separating the Palestinian track from the Arab tracks," he said.
Abdel Qader, however, called on the Palestinian people "not to entertain hopes of an unclear conference, given the immature Israeli position."
Earlier in the day, Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to President Abbas in mid June, called on Arab countries to boycott the conference.
Source: Xinhua
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