By Mohammed Assadi
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinians should declarean independent state unilaterally if peace talks with Israelcontinue to falter, a top aide to Palestinian President MahmoudAbbas said on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear if Abbas shared the view ofYasser Abed Rabbo, but Saeb Erekat, another senior Palestiniannegotiator, voiced opposition to any unilateral declaration ofindependence.
Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team,made his comments a day after the latest round of top-leveltalks with Israel and amid criticism the Jewish state was notdoing enough to secure a statehood agreement within a year.
"If things are not going in the direction of actuallyhalting settlement activities, if things are not going in thedirection of continuous and serious negotiations, then weshould take the step and announce our independenceunilaterally," Abed Rabbo told Reuters.
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met on Tuesdayto accelerate U.S.-backed peace talks launched at a conferencein Annapolis, Maryland, in November, the first formalnegotiations in seven years.
The talks, which Washington hopes will yield an agreementon Palestinian statehood this year, have been stalled bydisputes over Israeli plans to build new homes on occupied landnear Jerusalem and Olmert's insistence on putting off talks onthe fate of the holy city.
In a move that could further anger Palestinians, Israelianti-settlement group Peace Now said on Wednesday right-wingactivists had placed 27 caravans in the West Bank despite apledge by Olmert at Annapolis to halt settlement activity.
Peace Now said activists were circumventing a ban on newsettlement construction by putting the caravans on site nearthe Eli settlement north of the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"Olmert talked about a settlement freeze at Annapolis butit's all blah blah because we see construction all over theWest Bank," said Hagit Ofran, head of monitoring at Peace Now.
Olmert and Abbas agreed at Annapolis to abide by a 2003U.S. peace "road map" which requires Israel to halt settlementactivity and the Palestinians to rein in militants. Both sidesaccuse the other of failing to meet those commitments.
A spokesman at Israel's military-run Civil Administrationdepartment, which oversees the West Bank, could not be reachedfor comment.
"KOSOVO NO BETTER THAN US"
Abed Rabbo drew an analogy between the Palestinians andKosovo, which declared independence from Serbia on Sunday.
"Kosovo is not better than us. We deserve independence evenbefore Kosovo, and we ask for the backing of the United Statesand the European Union for our independence," Abed Rabbo said.
But Erekat said the Palestine Liberation Organisation hadalready declared independence in 1988.
"Now we need real independence, not a declaration. We needreal independence by ending the occupation. We are not Kosovo.We are under Israeli occupation and for independence we need toacquire independence," Erekat said.
Abed Rabbo was the first senior Palestinian negotiator todiscuss declaring independence unilaterally since a Palestinianuprising erupted in 2000.
He accused Israel of buying time to bolster Jewishsettlements around Jerusalem and continue building a barrier inthe occupied West Bank, cautioning that Palestinians could beleft with a "fragmented state".
(Additional reporting by Rebecca Harrison; Writing by AriRabinovitch; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
