By KHALED ABU TOAMEH The Jerusalem Post 10/20/2010 01:51
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=192047

All options are open to us, says former PA prime minister; Israeli official
calls threat "regrettable"; Abbas rules out West Bank land swaps.

Ahmed Qurei, a senior PLO official and former Palestinian Authority prime
minister, has said he does not rule out the possibility that the
Palestinians will launch an "armed resistance" against Israel if the peace
talks fail.

Qurei, who was one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, was speaking at a
seminar that was held in Cairo earlier this week.

An Israeli official said Qurei's threat was "regrettable."

"It is indeed regrettable that there are still senior Palestinian leaders in
the Palestinian Authority who talk about using the path of violence," the
official told The Jerusalem Post. "It is clear that the path of violence is
a dead end and only through direct negotiation can peace be achieved."

In a Channel 1 interview on Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas said he did not believe there would be a third intifada.

"Inshallah, God willing, an intifada will not break out," Abbas said.

He warned, however, that if a diplomatic solution was not found, despondency
and frustration would set in and extremism could win out.

Abbas said in Ramallah earlier Tuesday that he supported a non-violent,
"popular resistance" against Israel.

He told a delegation from the villages of Bil'in and Ni'lin in the West
Bank: "We support your peaceful and popular resistance. We are proud of this
resistance, which has won the backing of the international community."

The two villages are the scenes of weekly demonstrations against the
security barrier.

Abbas condemned the barrier as "immoral and uncivilized," saying the PA
would not accept a "wall on our land. If they want to build a wall, they
should do so on their land."

He also reiterated his strong opposition to the idea of a land swap between
Israel and the PA.

Abbas's remarks came amid reports about a US-initiated compromise to resume
direct talks between Israel and the PA.

In response, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for the PA leadership, said
that the Palestinians regarded all forms of settlement as "illegal."

Qurei, 73, who is better known by his nom de guerre Abu Ala, said that the
peace talks, diplomatic efforts and "all forms of resistance" should be
among the Palestinian negotiators' options.

"All options are open to us," he declared. "Negotiations, popular
activities, sit-in strikes, civil disobedience or armed resistance.

We shouldn't drop any of these options, but what is more important now is to
achieve Palestinian unity."

Qurei, who participated in previous rounds of negotiations between Israel
and the PA, said that the Palestinians also did not rule out unilaterally
declaring the establishment of a Palestinian state and seeking the UN
Security Council's recognition of that state.

He added that the Palestinians' top priority now was to end the power
struggle between Fatah and Hamas so that there would be a consensus about
the options they needed to consider, when and if the peace process failed.

Qurei, who is also a senior representative of Fatah, said that the
Palestinians would not return to the negotiating table with Israel unless
construction in the settlements was halted completely.

He also warned Palestinians and Arabs against pinning high hopes on
President Barack Obama.

"We should stop sinking into rosy dreams while the road is full of thorns,"
Qurei said. "The US is a country of institutions and the decision-making
process is not only in the hands of the president."

On Tuesday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a two-hour meeting
in his Jerusalem office with Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair.

Now if we had an Israeli leader who was tough, they could tell the PA what would happen if you start a third intifada.