One of Yasser Arafat's top aides warned Sunday that reopening the Temple Mount to non-Muslims would lead to a third intifada against Israel.
Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior political advisor to Arafat, said: "This could be the trigger for a third intifada. How else can we interpret the stupidity of Israel's police minister, who announced last week that Jews would be allowed to visit the al-Aqsa mosque?"
Rahman was speaking at a memorial ceremony held in Ramallah for three Palestinian journalists killed in the current violence.
He described statements made by Police Minister Tsachi Hanegbi to this effect as idiotic and na ve.
Hanegbi said last week that Jews and non-Muslim tourists would soon be permitted to visit the Temple Mount, which has been closed by Muslim religious authorities since the outbreak of violence more than two years ago.
The PA Mufti in Jerusalem, Ikrimah Sabri, warned over the weekend that allowing Jews to enter the Temple Mount would result in a bloodbath.
Rahman, who until recently served as secretary general of the Palestinian cabinet, also said there was no chance of reaching any agreement with the government of Ariel Sharon.
The new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), refused to include Rahman in his new cabinet. In return, Arafat compensated him by appointing him as his senior political advisor and promoting him to the rank of minister.
"Our first mission is to achieve [Palestinian] national unity," he stressed. "We must stop following illusions and mirages. Did you ever hear Sharon say that he will withdraw to the 1967 border?
"So why are we negotiating with him? Are we doing so in order to allow him to further humiliate us at the checkpoints, as if we are black laborers working for their white employers? I haven't heard one Israeli official talk about Israel's readiness to withdraw to the 1967 borders."
Rahman, who represented Arafat at the ceremony, warned that the fight against Israel would continue until the Palestinians achieve all their rights. "Yes, there is a state called Israel, but if it doesn't pull back from the Palestinian territories, the resistance will continue regardless of what the international community says," he added. "This is our legitimate right."
He said Palestinians refuse to provide security for Israel as long as the occupation continues. "There will be no security for settlers or the occupation forces," he warned, adding that the Palestinians can never forgive the "Israeli murderers or make peace with them."