We are fully committed to carry out all our obligations emanating from this report, providing that we implement honestly and without any games — the full report, page to page, without being selective.

President Abbas told the U.S. consul that carrying out collective punishments against the Palestinians, along with the current Israeli military escalation, would certainly lead to a humanitarian crisis on Palestinian territories.

We had in-depth discussions and very serious talks on all issues. There were no results. The differences and obstacles are still there.

This is an apartheid system. We urge the international community to help us in order to cancel such policies and end Israeli occupation.

Seeking revenge or violence will only add to the complexities and will harm Palestinian interests.

If the Israelis start interfering now with our elections, this will sabotage the democratic process in Palestine. I really urge the Israelis to keep their noses out of our elections. We’ve been conducting local elections,...

Of course, Mrs. Arafat did not mean poison gas, but tear gas. We agreed with President Clinton that the Palestinians and Israelis must resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiations.

dangerous and harmful to the peace process.

People must respect the democratic choice of Palestinians.

I think we have a major problem in the lack of credibility of the peace process and the trust between the two sides.

The Israelis should be building bridges for the Palestinians for the future of both peoples, for the generations to come, and not to heighten the hate, the fear and the desperation.

I think we have 3,000 more obstacles to peace and we will have, if this program is carried out, 3,000 reasons to undermine President Bush’s efforts for a two-state solution.

This delay wasn’t because of disputes or anger, but because we have to maximize our efforts to revive this peace process. We should begin a process of regaining the trust between us. That’s what this...

President Abbas has reiterated that cutting off fund for infrastructure or the annual budget will spell a humanitarian disaster that affects all people.

I don’t think we can classify it legally as an international border now because Gaza is not free of occupation.

His words are (that) he won’t give us anything on Jerusalem, on the (West Bank) settlements, on our refugees. What kind of peace can we make with those words?

It’s impossible to say who has guns in Gaza anymore. The ballots are the only thing that can stop the violence at this point.

We asked the US administration to continue with its support and not to enforce collective punishment, which will have disastrous consequences.

This is a real setback for the peace process.

Israel is killing the two-state solution and the possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state on the West Bank.

I cannot begin to understand why Israel would want all-out war. Today’s military assault would seem to suggest that intent.

The aim of this escalation is purely political to oblige the Palestinians to accept an everlasting truce, accept unilateral solutions and temporary state, borders forever.

This attack just adds to the complexities of the situation and harms Palestinian interests. It’s an attempt to sabotage attempts to move ahead with a peace process and I think it could also hurt the...

What they are doing in the negotiations and in the preparations for negotiations is to define the limitations on us, … whether you call us self-governing or you call us a state.

Carving out a so-called buffer zone is tantamount to reoccupying Gaza.

Once we make peace, once the occupation is over, once there is a Palestinian state, (Israel) will have full normal relations,

must understand that he must choose between settlements and peace. He cannot have both.

We have informed the United States and Israel that the election campaign will start on Tuesday, but we have not received any Israeli response till this moment. It’s a real problem.

We formed an investigation committee to look into this. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we want fair elections. We will not allow such things to happen.

smear campaign aimed at continuing unilateral moves and dictation on the ground, rather than negotiations.

This is very dangerous and could easily go from bad to worse, … It is not in the Israeli or Palestinian interests for this violence to continue.

start thinking in the mentality of a partner.

Isn’t the Israeli government, in such a decision, trying to put us in a corner? Damned if we do, damned if we don’t?

I see ourselves in the opposition, not in the coalition.

I don’t want to raise anyone’s expectations. I don’t expect a breakthrough, but I really expect the Israeli side to take the negotiations seriously.

The way to peace and stability is through an end to occupation,

These settlements and peace are two parallels that won’t meet. I hope their choice will be peace, not settlements.

Israel is using this change to impose facts on the ground with unilateral actions, such as annexing Jerusalem, making the separation fence along the borders and ignoring Palestinian refugees’ rights.

We want to agree on preparations to resume final-status talks which should commence in the middle of next month.

I would not advise raising any expectations. Today’s meeting demonstrated that there is a gap that exists between the two sides.

If the legislative election is postponed, there will be a disaster in the Palestinian territories, where chaos and violence would prevail.

The Israeli side got in touch and this meeting was postponed. We don’t want the meeting just for the sake of meeting. On the contrary, we want a meeting that is well prepared.

The most important thing is to focus on the substance of the meeting and not the timing.

We are just simply asking to fill the vacuum, the political and legal vacuum. There are many legal questions related to May 4 that no one is willing to answer.

Refugees, Jerusalem, borders, Jewish settlements and water are issues reserved to the final-status talks between the two sides and nothing should pre-empt or pre-judge the outcome of the final status talks before they begin.

We are really concerned. We hope that competition (to succeed him) will not be at our expense, meaning more settlements, more walls, more incursions, more assassinations, more occupation, more dictates.

I believe this pre-empts and prejudges issues that are reserved for final status negotiations. Any talk of pre-empting and prejudging is counterproductive to the peace process.

We are continuing efforts … to try to resume the peace talks and stabilize the security situation.

If we (Israelis and Palestinians) don’t honor the time line I don’t think we have an agreement any more.

We urge the U.S. Congress and the European Union to focus on respect of the democratic choice [of the Palestinian people].