Israel's ruling Likud Party dealt a further blow to prospects for Middle East peace talks by voting late on Sunday against any future establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The Likud vote came at a heated party convention in Tel Aviv and marked a victory for former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a looming battle for the party leadership.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the vote placed in danger any hope of an agreement. He said it showed the true intentions of Israel and would increase frustrations of Palestinians locked in a violent 19-month-old struggle against Israeli rule.
"How many Palestinians will wake up tomorrow to say 'we have nothing to lose'?" he told CNN. "I hope it will be an eye-opener to (US) President Bush."
The vote strengthened the right-wing of Israel's Likud-led coalition government, which includes the leftist Labour Party of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
Sharon had told the assembled party members Palestinians must end violence and reform their political structures before he would allow any talk of them establishing a state.
The party preferred the harder message delivered by Netanyahu, who vowed: "A state with all the rights of a state, this cannot be, not under (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat, nor under another leadership, not today, nor tomorrow."
(China Daily May 13, 2002)
