The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) calls for a thorough and candid assessment of the expected four-way summit, which official sources announced will take place next Monday in Sharm Al-Sheikh.

The summit is an attempt to abort the current dynamic of national and regional opposition to Israel's brutality and inhumanity against the Palestinian people. It is a blatant effort to save Barak's political career, rescue his collapsing government, and surpass Israel's legal obligation to fully implement UN Resolutions 242 and 194.

Having failed to impose unilateral conditions for peace on the negotiation table, Barak has now turned to Power Politics. His recent military offensive against Palestinian Authority targets desperately attempts to shift the political process of the peace process into an arena of brute political sabotage of the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.

The imperatives of peace can only be fulfilled with Israel's unconditional abidance to international law; to fully withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including east Jerusalem), to acknowledge the Palestinian Refugees' right of return, to dismantle all illegal Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, to release all Palestinian political prisoners, and to unconditionally allow an international commission of inquiry to investigate the recent massacres committed against Palestinian civilians.

We must not fall victim to the shortsighted strategic intentions of the Israeli government, which are solely based on the promotion of its own national and self-interest. This will not put an end to the conflict, but in effect, will plant the seeds for further suffering, instability and bloodshed. The imposition and dictation of Israel's conditions for peace will backfire.