RAMALLAH, April 19, 2011 (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee member and member of the PLC, Hanan Ashrawi, Tuesday said that there would be no change to the PLO’s position on a return to negotiations.

Ashrawi’s responded to an article in LA Times suggesting that the Quartet were considering recognizing a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as a way to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu to devise his own peace plan.

“The position of the PLO Executive Committee remains clear. There will be no negotiations without a cessation of all settlement activities, without clear terms of reference in conformity with international law, and without a binding time line”, Ashrawi said.

Ashrawi stressed that the Palestinians need the Quartet to uphold international law, and for its individual members to recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, within the framework of the United Nations in September.

Nevertheless, the recognition of a Palestinian state by the Quartet was neither a substitute for UN recognition, nor a full cessation of all settlement activities by Israel, she added.

“UN recognition of a Palestinian state is consistent with international law. Israel has exploited twenty years of prolonged negotiations to create facts on the ground, in particular expanding illegal settlements throughout the West Bank, and annexing East Jerusalem. In the process, it has dramatically undermined prospects for a two-state solution”, she said.

Ashrawi considered “Netanyahu initiative”, which was deliberately leaked to the media, as manipulation of public opinion rather than actual compliance with the requirements of peace.