January 21, 2012
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Over 100 Palestinians demonstrated Saturday in the occupied West Bank urging their leaders to cease negotiations with Israel, in a second week of protests.
Protesters had gathered a week earlier outside the presidential compound in Ramallah and urged an end to negotiations between Saeb Erekat and Yitzhak Molcho in Jordan.
The PLO "retreated from its earlier position that they will not return to negotiations, until settlement expansion is halted and all the political prisoners were released," organizers said earlier in the week.
This is the "bare minimum demands of the Palestinian people," a statement said.
Demonstrators on Saturday held signs urging drivers to honk their horns if they were in favor of ending negotiations with Israel, and many did like the week before.
Protesters at the demonstration said the latest rally ended without incident as participants grouped together and walked toward central Ramallah.
 The protests are being held outside President Abbas`
compound in Ramallah (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)
Last Saturday, Palestinian Authority security forces detained one person who was present at the event and interrogated him before releasing him about two hours later, they said.
This week, however, police mostly stuck to controlling traffic.
The protests followed meetings between Israeli and PLO envoys in Jordan, in what Western diplomats had hoped might lead to the resumption of full peace talks.
The discussions began on Jan. 3 and followed a long break in negotiations after President Mahmoud Abbas suspended talks 15 months ago over Israel's expansion of settlements on Palestinian land.
But activists in Ramallah said the "exploratory" talks contradicted previous demands.
"The PLO’s reneging on their promise to the Palestinian people and their return to negotiations implies that the leadership accepts the continued theft and seizure of Palestinian lands, legitimizes the ever-going attacks of the settlers, and furthermore undermines the Palestinian people in whole," Palestinians for Dignity said.
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