Responding to the recent statement by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that the roadmap will soon be published, PNA cabinet minister Saeb Erekat demanded the US government "stop the war on Iraq, employ timetables and provide International observers before implementing the roadmap."

"The US administration is not serious regarding our issue, the roadmap plan has been delayed six times in four months, while Israel is still escalating its aggression against the Palestinian people," he added.

"The Us administration will have to prove its seriousness regarding this issue by making (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon end the occupation and stop any settlement activities," he said.

Erekat stressed that the shortest way to peace is ending the aggression on the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples and "stoping dealing with Israel as a state above the law."

Erekat rejected Powell's accusation that Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation was act of "terrorism."

"Israel is practicing the highest level of terrorism and is the only occupying country in the world," said Erekat, labeling the confiscation of Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem as "practices aimed at destroying the peace process and the roadmap."

Erekat reiterated that Sharon is taking advantage of the ongoing war in Iraq to escalate Israeli aggression that aims to delay the implementation of the roadmap and the establishment of a Palestinian state."

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2003)