Palestinian education minister denies reports that he criticised suicide
bombings in interview with US paper
Date: 18 / 04 / 2007 Time: 17:38
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=21290

Jenin - Ma'an exclusive - Palestinian Education Minister Nasser Addin
Ash-Sha'er has denied the declarations which the US daily newspaper
Washington Post ascribed to him.

In an interview with Washington Post columnist Robert Novak published on
Monday, Ash-Sha'er was quoted as saying that bombing attacks by Palestinians
on Israeli targets had ruined past peace attempts.

Ash-Sha'er reportedly said that "previous attempts at peace were ruined by
suicide bombers. Now, we look forward to a sustained peace."

On Wednesday, in conversation with Ma'an, he depicted the newspaper's
allegations as imprecise.

The minister highlighted, "electronic websites took portions of a long
interview, and what they took was absolutely out of the real context." It
was misinterpreted, he explained.

Ash-Sha'er explained, "Every people in the world has the right of self
defence, and nobody can incriminate his own history or his own right to self
defence."

Whilst visiting the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the minister of
education clarified in talks with Ma'an, "We have a joint agenda as a unity
government based on the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967
borders."

However, according to reports of his interview with the Washington Post,
quoted in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Ash-Sha'er is pessimistic about the
possibility of achieving a two-state settlement. "I don't think the Israeli
government wants a two-state solution." he was further quoted as saying.
"Without pressure from the president of the United States, nothing is going
to happen."