Speaking at a press briefing in Ramallah following Tuesday's weekly PA cabinet session, Al-Kidwa said that the PA does not promise it will disarm Palestinian terrorist organizations so long as "the occupation" by Israel continues.
The day before, Al-Kidwa told Reuters News Agency that the PA would not disarm "militants" until Israel totally withdraws to the pre-1967 borders.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has not distanced himself from the remarks, which are even more extreme than those of arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. Arafat wrote to the late Yitzchak Rabin in 1993 that the PLO "renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators."
Al-Kidwa says his position "is based on international law and a deep understanding of our responsibilities according to the Road Map, and I will not retract my words."
Israel's position is that the PA must disarm all terrorists and dismantle all terrorist infrastructures as a primary condition for the implementation of the Road Map. In addition, Prime Minister Sharon has stated many times that following his planned uprooting of nearly 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and northern Shomron, the next move must be the disarming of terrorists by the Palestinian Authority.