Hebron - Ma‘an - The Palestinian factions have unanimously rejected the American document entitled ‘Acceleration Benchmarks for Agreement on Movement and Access as well as on the Gaza Security Situation‘. They say the document trivializes the Palestinian cause and removes it from any political framework.
Israel also instantly rejected the document. According to the document, the Israeli authorities must increase transit through the Gaza Strip crossings, remove some military checkpoints from the West Bank (20 of the 500), allow the movement of trucks between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and arm and enhance the Palestinian presidential forces.
The document was written by the US security coordinator, Major General Keith Dayton, US Ambassador to Israel, Dick Jones, and US Consul-General in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, endorsed the plan. Rice is expected to arrive in the region on the 15th May.
The Palestinian minister of information, Mustafa Barghouthi, described the document as a plan to end and trivialise the Palestinian cause.
The director of the negotiations department of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Saeb Erekat, said, "It is a plan based on time spans to insure the implementation; it determines duties for the Israelis and the Palestinians, and it aims to achieve tangible deeds rather than mere declarations."
The Hamas movement rejected the US plan saying, "This plan views the Palestinian cause as purely a humanitarian cause and attempts to crack the Palestinian unity."
The spokesperson of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) condemned the US document, claiming it undermines Palestinian rights and the just struggle.
The An Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, depicted the US plan as "a trickster‘s plan aimed to reduce Palestinian demands to below the level of the sacrifices that have been made so far."