Clinton arrives in Ramallah for talks with Abbas

RAMALLAH March 4. KAZINFORM Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived on Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday for talks with Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

It is the first official visit of Clinton to the West Bank, where sources at Abbas office said she came to listen from Abbas about the situation in the Palestinian territories and to guarantee that the U.S. will continue its role in the Middle East peace process. The sources said that at the end of Abbas-Clinton meeting, both will speak to reporters in a joint news conference. "President Abbas discusses with Clinton three major issues: the peace deals commitments, the two-state solutions and the Jewish settlements activities in the West Bank," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. Meanwhile, chief negotiator Ahmed Qurei said in a statement sent to reporters that the peace negotiations with Israel "will be suspended until getting a substantial change in the Israeli policy." "Israel should change its policy concerning its aggression on the Palestinian territories, mainly the Gaza Strip, has to remove the roadblocks that cut the West Bank into tiny areas, and stop settlements' activities," said Qurei. He added that "as Israel continues this policy day after day, we, as negotiators feel totally ashamed to continue the process of negotiations under such circumstances." Clinton, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday and met with different Israeli leaders, described Hamas movement as a terrorist organization and called on the Islamic movement to abide by the international Quartet's requirements; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. Gaza Hamas lawmaker Yahia Musa slammed Clinton's statements that what Israel has done in Gaza was its need to response to the makeshift rockets attacks fired from Gaza at Israel. "These statements show that the American Administration is not serious to achieve real peace in the Middle East. It shows its biased stance towards the occupation and against the victim," said Musa.