The Palestinians will participate in the Middle East peace conference planned by the United States and the Soviet Union for October, Elias Freij, mayor of Bethlehem, said Friday.
“If we receive an invitation, we will accept and be present,” he told reporters at the National Press Club.
But Freij refused to say directly whether this acceptance depends on Israel dropping its demand that no resident of East Jerusalem be part of the Palestinian delegation.
Instead, he indicated that the solution to any Israeli “obstacles” should “be found in Washington.” He apparently was making that point in his meetings here with members of the Bush administration and Congress.
But Freij made it clear that the Palestinians consider East Jerusalem “part and parcel of the occupied West Bank” and as such should be part of the negotiations on the territories.
Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem, considers the status of Jerusalem non-negotiable.
“The Israelis say they want negotiations without preconditions,” Freij said. “So why do they set up conditions?”
Freij said it is up to the Palestinians to choose their representatives for negotiations, not Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and his government.
“Is he looking for quislings and collaborators, or is he looking for genuine leaders, who can speak, who can negotiate and who can deliver?” he asked.
At the same time, Freij, a Christian who is considered a moderate, refused to say whether he would be one of the Palestinian negotiators and would not name any other potential candidates.
He only would say that the representatives would be “genuine, intelligent Palestinians.” But he added that the Palestinian representatives should be part of a Jordanian delegation, as they share the same problems.
Freij also said that whatever the outcome of negotiations, Jerusalem should not be divided again. “I don’t want to see the city redivided, never ever,” he stressed. “The Berlin Wall has disappeared; we don’t want another wall.”
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