The PLO's Negotiations Support Unit is funded by five European governments and is supposed to assist the PLO's Negotiation Affairs Department -- headed by chief negotiator Saeb Erekat. In the current absence of negotiations, the group does research and public relations on behalf of the Palestinian position, a spokesman said.
The PLO, an umbrella organization of Palestinian groups (excluding Hamas and Islamic Jihad, among others) sees itself as the sole legitimate representative of Palestinians everywhere. For decades, the PLO headed by former Chairman Yasser Arafat waged a terror war around the world.
Hilal said Israel is set on unilateral action rather than negotiating borders with the Palestinians. "Unilateralism is inherently flawed, and by itself cannot deliver peace or end in a two-state solution," she said.
"Unilateralism is intended to bypass Palestinian claims and rights and is dictated by the logic of Israeli interests alone," she added.
Among those interests are the access to major roadways, holy cites, centers of commerce, natural resources and international borders and waterways, which would remain under Israeli control, along with East Jerusalem.
"It's not a matter of percentages. What matters is what kind of economic opportunities Palestine [can] capitalize on," said Hilal.
Olmert has said he is willing to pursue negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas but will not wait forever for Abbas to carry out his commitments, including dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza.
Khaled ELGINDY, a technical and policy advisor for the PLO's Negotiations Support Unit, said that "no Palestinian state is possible, or even conceivable, without East Jerusalem." ELGINDY noted that the entire city of Jerusalem constitutes only 1.2 percent of the land in the West Bank but is the heart of the Palestinian identity and economy.
Jerusalem was united under Israeli sovereignty as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War. From 1948-1967, the city was under Jordanian occupation. Prior to that it was under British rule. Israel insists that Jerusalem -- including the ancient Old City -- will remain its united capital forever.
Not all Israelis or Americans support Olmert's realignment plan. They believe that withdrawing from territory without the Palestinians' agreement will only lead to more terrorism.
But Seymour D. Reich, president of the Israel Policy Forum was optimistic about the "realignment plan."
"We welcome [President Bush's] reiteration of his vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security," Reich said in a statement following Olmert's visit to Washington, D.C.
"The [Bush] administration should help advance the negotiations between [Prime Minister Olmert] and [PLO Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas," Reich said. "If they fail, President Bush should then support what is arguably the most historic Israeli action since it occupied the Palestinian territories in 1967: the disengagement from vast portions of the West Bank."
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