ME peace process should not stop at Gaza: Peres

BRIGHTON: The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians should not stop with Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told the BBC on Tuesday. “It’s not Gaza first and Gaza last,” said the Labour Party leader. “This will not hold on unless we shall continue the peace process and clearly we shall have to deal with the situation in the West Bank,” he said, without touching on the Israeli settlers living there. Peres insisted there would be no going back on Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip, two weeks on from ending of a 38-year occupation of the territory. “We have to make it clear, we’re out of Gaza, we’re not there to return. We don’t have in mind - none of us - to go back to Gaza,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Peres was speaking as Sharon celebrated staving off a bid to oust him as Likud party leader over his decision to pull out of the Gaza Strip. Sharon’s victory came as Israel carried out more air strikes in Gaza after an upsurge of violence there. The Islamist movement Hamas announced a halt to its attacks on Sunday after a weekend barrage of missiles fired from Gaza into southern Israel. Peres branded Hamas “a catastrophe for the Palestinians,” saying the group were “frustrating their policies, they’re endangering their destinies. They have rifles but they don’t have a message.” Peres was speaking to BBC radio in Brighton, southern England, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s governing Labour Party are holding their annual conference. afp

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