"A barbaric murder committed in cold blood" was how Palestinian National Initiative leader Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, described the killing of 20-year-old Jihad Al Shaer by Israeli soldiers on Thursday.

The former minister of information to the now-disbanded unity government, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, blamed what he called regional and international powers for the Palestinian internal conflict.

Palestinian National Initiative leader, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, today criticised comments made by British Foreign Minister David Miliband on the fate of Palestinian refugees in a recent interview with the Financial Times.

Coming in the context of last week's call by US President George Bush for a Palestinian state that is "viable and contiguous", two recent reports issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior and Peace Now have revealed that built-up areas of Israeli settlements and the size of their populations are on the rise.

"An attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the world" was how Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP and General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative today described a public statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on an alleged Israeli military withdrawal from areas of the West Bank.

Fatah and Hamas must end their boycott of Palestinian parliamentary sessions if a deeper political and constitutional crisis is to be averted, said Member of Parliament and General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi today.