West-backed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad on Tuesday unveiled a plan to create a de facto Palestinian state by 2011, even as Israel dismissed it as "unilateral measures and threats".
The PA Premier vowed to be pro-active in building state institutions with or without peace talks with Israel. Fayyad is well respected in the international community and is backed by the West, at a press conference in Ramallah. "The Palestinian government is struggling determinedly against a hostile occupation regime... in order to establish a de facto state apparatus within the next two years," he said.
"This can and must happen within two years," Fayyad asserting adding, "We must confront the whole world with thereality that Palestinians are united and steadfast in their determination to remain on their homeland, end the occupation and achieve their freedom and independence".
Fayyad called upon his divided people to rally behind his plan to send across a message to the world community that,"we are not prepared to continue living under a brutal occupation and siege that flouts not only the law, but also the principles of natural justice and human decency".
Israel promptly dismissed Fayyad's call with Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz saying that there was no place for "unilateral measures and threats".
Steinitz stressed that there would not be an independent Palestinian state before Israel's security interests were guaranteed.
Fayyad's government backed by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party has control only over the West Bank and has almost no say in the Gaza Strip where Islamic Hamas reigns supreme after vanquishing the PA forces in a bloody conflict.
"This government seeks to involve all sectors and segments of society in the national drive to develop and advance our institutions," PA Premier Fayyad said in a fervent plea to all factions to join hands.
The Israeli Finance Minister called upon the Palestinians to conduct negotiations in good faith and noted that there was a significant improvement in their economy due to the various measures taken by the Israeli government.
