The Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Ahmed Qureia, has warned Israel against the seizure of parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by saying such unilateral moves could only lead to further violence.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and senior members of his government have said repeatedly in recent days that they planned to take unilateral steps if peace efforts fail.
Mr Qureia's comments marked the harshest Palestinian response yet to Mr Sharon's . "It would be a terrible mistake to try to impose a solution on us by force," Mr Qureia said in an interview.
"The conflict will continue, the fire will burn, the terror will grow, no one will benefit from this," he said.
Mr Sharon and his deputy, Mr Ehud Olmert, have said unilateral steps would include dismantling some Israeli settlements. But they have also made clear that Israel would never withdraw from all the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the frontier that existed before the 1967 Mideast war.