It’s very important that they do go because we do have institutions, we do have a political hierarchy, and they have to see him,

Now it depends on whether he wants to rely on the extreme hard-line, right-wing, ideological, even fundamentalist elements in Israeli society. Or does he want to rely on the 50 percent or more who are...

This is the bottom line as far as all Palestinians are concerned.

Barak is going to the other extreme, he is giving the settlers too much influence, too much power.

Rabin had a greater sense of the historical dimension. He was quite willing to take risks which Barak is not willing to take. Barak seems reluctant, begrudging, hesitant in terms of the peace process.

It has been years since a man has dared tell me that as a woman, my place is not in political life. But I know that there are others who haven’t been quite so lucky.

There are people starving in the siege, there are children traumatized and terrified. There are men women and children dying. This is a situation that has reached the proportions of a tremendous humanitarian crisis. It...

We have now a full and absolute American bias, … have appointed themselves the guardian of Israel, right or wrong.

We are still in the middle of the competition.

I’m sure Mr. Gore had his reasons and thought hard about his choice. I just hope that issues of Israeli relations do not become paramount, and that the Democratic Party and Mr. Gore will try...

We need to see accountability for those whose work was exposed as abuse of position, misuse of public funds. We need to see structural reform in the executive authority, … We need to see elimination...

But instead of taking action, he cooked up a deal: freeze everything, don’t throw out the corrupt officials, sit and do nothing, grasp onto the excuse of the elections.

Beyond the emotionalism and the obvious sense of relief on all sides, I think that there is a recognition that reality may intrude, that perhaps the steps ahead and the days ahead are going to...

We’re here because this is our city. It’s an occupied city, I know. They have arms, they have weapons, they have police, they have mortar guns, but it is Palestinian and it is under occupation.

This is a very serious development. We are witnessing some sort of regression in social norms. Palestine has always been famous for its tolerance, pluralism, amicable relations, lack of discrimination and sectarianism. It is quite...

The new Israeli government must have a peace agenda, and very clearly it does not have a peace agenda, it’s [a] policy of anti-peace,

If Abu Mazen wins, I’m afraid there will be payback time. Lots of people will expect to see him deliver different things on different fronts to different addresses.

We don’t want the Palestinian people and cause to be isolated. We don’t want a theocracy.

We know what they say, they want all of Palestine (including Israel) and say that negotiations did not work. They talk about wanting reform. That doesn’t mean they will do it.

It’s just a war that is systematic, that is daily, that is incremental, that is indeed debilitating, that is destroying the very fabric of Palestinian reality and infrastructure,

there is tremendous displeasure with the function and dysfunction of the government and the Palestinian Authority.

They don’t take orders from Arafat. They think for themselves and act for themselves.

We want it to be a mandate that will put an end to any small group or minority trying to hijack Palestinian decision-making,

Nobody wants him to resign and I don’t think he will. He understands this is a question of the national interest.

We’re here because we want to go to the Orient House. We’re here because this is our city. It’s an occupied city, I know. They have arms, they have weapons, they have police, they have...

[Yasser Arafat] is not just a husband or a father,

He was a genuine man of the people, and he was characterized by his high sense of values, his honesty, his integrity, his unwavering commitment to his people and human dimension.

In view of the crisis in the peace process and the Israeli refusal to implement agreements and the continuation of its settlement activity, the Palestinian Authority took a decision not to participate.

Sharon was a strong and charismatic leader who steered the politics toward the right and extremism.

I feel that Sharon is certainly a negative addition. He will sour the atmosphere. He will shift the whole terrain of the discourse to the extreme right.

Now we see a major shift, an unprecedented shift, in Palestinian life.

It’s not just a question of numbers. There will be more women (in parliament) who are conscious of women’s rights … There will also be women who are not committed to equality.

I think they will be able to see him because he is head of state.

Israel’s policy for deliberate assassination

Nobody should think that he is above the law. Hamas can compete through dialogue, and through political means. Everybody is requesting the PA to preserve law and order, and to build institutions; otherwise we are...

We are not interested in a show of negotiations without substance.

The occupation is a source of violence that has to stop.

It looks like we will have a bipolar reality.

It’s clear Israel has suspended the peace process, despite the so-called moderation of the Arab world, because it has no interest in peace.

We accepted the (U.S.) initiative, trying to be helpful in getting the peace process back on track. We are not willing in any way to renegotiate the initiative … I think the clock is ticking...

It seems to me as usual they are looking at the wrong address. They should look closer at home. I don’t think the Sharon policy of attempting to besiege a whole people … is a...

a decisively negative impact.

Sharon has subverted the whole process by turning it into something sequential and conditional and, of course, by making himself the interpreter of the road map,

We cannot superimpose on any conflict very simple, borrowed and ready-made solutions … The Americans constructed a simplistic paradigm for our peace process. And they expected everybody to think like Americans, to behave like Americans.

We need to stop Sharon. His lethal policies are drawing blood on both sides. That’s why we need a serious intervention — international troops. And we need to end the occupation if there is to...

It is not even within the boundaries of Jerusalem. Israel extended the boundaries of East Jerusalem to include disputed land and build settlements there.

We’re being shelled and bombed and assassinated and killed. Our homes are being destroyed, our children traumatized. Our livelihoods, our institutions, our infrastructure totally demolished.

I don’t see Sharon’s new party as a centrist party. It’s a party that represents a unilateral approach,

a very cynical and willful manipulation of an extremely volatile situation.

It’s very clear, that while they want to shell and pound and kill and destroy Palestinian people and their institutions with total impunity, that [while] putting enormous pressure on the Palestinians, on their victims, to...