Saeb Erekat, who served as the Palestinian's chief negotiator in peace talks, issued a fiery retort to Israel's official rejection of a French-proposed initiative to restart peace negotiations. 'The Israeli government's call for 'bilateral negotiations' is not a call for the achievement of the two-state solution, but an attempt at legitimizing its settlement enterprise and the imposition of an Apartheid regime,' he said in a statement Thursday. Erekat, who also serves as the PLO's secretary-general, called on Paris and the international community to 'take immediate steps in order to give peace a chance' He added that the Palestinians would continue efforts in support of the forum. The senior Palestinian Authority official also urged world players to acknowledge the 'overdue' recognition of a Palestinian state, ban products made in Israeli settlements and issue overarching condemnation of Israeli policies that he claimed were 'systematic violations of international law and UN resolutions.'
