30 nov 2014
A consortium of civil and human rights committees based in Morocco partook in a pro-Palestine festival held in Casablanca to support holy al-Aqsa Mosque and denounce Israel’s state terrorism.
The festival, staged under the slogan “The Appeal of al-Aqsa,” marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Speakers at the ceremony hailed the heroism, self-abnegation, and decency of the Palestinian people.
They further paid homage to all the martyrs, casualties, widows, orphans, and prisoners who sacrificed their own lives, children, and freedom for the sake of Palestine.
“We are gathering here today to support the heroic Palestinian people,” one of the speakers said. “Israeli terrorism against the land, identity, holy places, and the people must stop. We’re sick of the world’s silence vis-à-vis Israeli genocides and violation of Palestinians’ human rights.”
Spokesperson for the organizing committees reiterated Morocco’s unyielding back-up and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
He further slammed the vandalism and crimes perpetrated by Israel’s settler gangs against Palestinian children, civilians, and holy shrines.
The festival, staged under the slogan “The Appeal of al-Aqsa,” marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Speakers at the ceremony hailed the heroism, self-abnegation, and decency of the Palestinian people.
They further paid homage to all the martyrs, casualties, widows, orphans, and prisoners who sacrificed their own lives, children, and freedom for the sake of Palestine.
“We are gathering here today to support the heroic Palestinian people,” one of the speakers said. “Israeli terrorism against the land, identity, holy places, and the people must stop. We’re sick of the world’s silence vis-à-vis Israeli genocides and violation of Palestinians’ human rights.”
Spokesperson for the organizing committees reiterated Morocco’s unyielding back-up and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
He further slammed the vandalism and crimes perpetrated by Israel’s settler gangs against Palestinian children, civilians, and holy shrines.
As the UN marks the 67th anniversary of its 1947 Palestine partition plan, the Hamas Movement said that the Palestinian people can never recognize any right for the Israeli occupation in Palestine and called on the Palestinian Authority to renounce what it described as the "frivolous" peace process.
The fateful plan, which was adopted and approved as a resolution by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, gave the Jews 55 percent of the historical Palestinian land and 45 percent for the Palestinians.
This resolution or plan, which was rejected then by the Arab states and the Palestinians, led to further displacement of Palestinian families and it is deemed as the reason alongside the 1917 Balfour declaration behind the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people.
"The Palestinian people, who have refused to recognize the presence of the Zionist entity on 55 percent of their land, can never give it in any way after this time the right to 80 percent of it," the Movement underlined in a press release on Saturday.
The Movement stressed that all conspiracies and attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause would never weaken or intimidate the Palestinian people.
"Our finger will remain on the trigger until all Palestine from the sea to the river has been cleansed of the occupation and its profanity, and our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital has been established," Hamas said.
The fateful plan, which was adopted and approved as a resolution by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, gave the Jews 55 percent of the historical Palestinian land and 45 percent for the Palestinians.
This resolution or plan, which was rejected then by the Arab states and the Palestinians, led to further displacement of Palestinian families and it is deemed as the reason alongside the 1917 Balfour declaration behind the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people.
"The Palestinian people, who have refused to recognize the presence of the Zionist entity on 55 percent of their land, can never give it in any way after this time the right to 80 percent of it," the Movement underlined in a press release on Saturday.
The Movement stressed that all conspiracies and attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause would never weaken or intimidate the Palestinian people.
"Our finger will remain on the trigger until all Palestine from the sea to the river has been cleansed of the occupation and its profanity, and our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital has been established," Hamas said.
The Arab League foreign ministers endorsed on Saturday a draft resolution setting a time-frame for the creation of a Palestinian state and the end of the Israeli occupation.
The Arab League endorsed the Palestinian Authority's bid for United Nations timeline on Israeli pullout to pre-1967 border lines.
The decision followed a meeting of the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo to discuss the latest anti-Israel moves in the region and PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to seek a Security Council resolution that sets a timeline for Israel’s pullout and the creation of a Palestinian state.
The projected UN Security Council resolution calls for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 border lines and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The ministers said in a statement after their meeting that a follow-up committee including Jordan, an Arab member of the Security Council, would begin to seek international backing for the resolution.
The council hailed Palestine’s efforts to join international institutions, conventions, treaties and protocols, including the International Criminal Court, affirming adherence to the Arab peace initiative put forward by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and endorsed at the Beirut Summit of 2002.
The Arab League ministers reiterated their opposition to Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state, slamming Israeli state terrorism against Islamic holy shrines and attempts at enforcing a spatio-temporal division on al-Aqsa Mosque.
They further condemned Israeli settler vandalism and sacrilegious assaults rocking Occupied Jerusalem.
The ministers stressed the need to pledge a "safety net" of $100 million per month to support the Palestinian unity government.
The council further appealed for the launch of a UNESCO-run supervision committee to oversee Israeli crimes and violations in Occupied Jerusalem.
The Arab League endorsed the Palestinian Authority's bid for United Nations timeline on Israeli pullout to pre-1967 border lines.
The decision followed a meeting of the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo to discuss the latest anti-Israel moves in the region and PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to seek a Security Council resolution that sets a timeline for Israel’s pullout and the creation of a Palestinian state.
The projected UN Security Council resolution calls for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 border lines and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The ministers said in a statement after their meeting that a follow-up committee including Jordan, an Arab member of the Security Council, would begin to seek international backing for the resolution.
The council hailed Palestine’s efforts to join international institutions, conventions, treaties and protocols, including the International Criminal Court, affirming adherence to the Arab peace initiative put forward by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and endorsed at the Beirut Summit of 2002.
The Arab League ministers reiterated their opposition to Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state, slamming Israeli state terrorism against Islamic holy shrines and attempts at enforcing a spatio-temporal division on al-Aqsa Mosque.
They further condemned Israeli settler vandalism and sacrilegious assaults rocking Occupied Jerusalem.
The ministers stressed the need to pledge a "safety net" of $100 million per month to support the Palestinian unity government.
The council further appealed for the launch of a UNESCO-run supervision committee to oversee Israeli crimes and violations in Occupied Jerusalem.
29 nov 2014
Russian president Vladimir Putin has vowed continued support for Palestinians' legitimate right to establish an independent, territorial and viable state as soon as possible.
"We believe that Palestine's acquisition of national sovereignty on the common international legal base will be an important factor in ensuring comprehensive, just settlement in the Middle East," Putin said in a letter sent to Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, November 29, 2014.
According to the PNN, the letter was delivered by the Russian ambassador to the state of Palestine, Alexander Rudakov, who handed it over to Secretary-General of the Presidency, al-Tayeb Abdul Rahim, in Ramallah.
"We are ready within multilateral efforts and in close cooperation with you to continue promoting resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiation process," Putin added.
He reportedly concluded by reiterating the friendly relationship between Russia and Palestine:
"I note with satisfaction the friendly and constructive Russian-Palestinian relations. I am confident that further expansion of the whole complex of mutually beneficial bilateral relations serves the fundamental interests of our peoples. I would like to confirm that the Russian side intends to continue to provide all possible assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the establishment of state institutions and addressing the pressing social and economic problems," the Russian president declared, in wishing the Palestinian people health, new success, peace and well-being.
"We believe that Palestine's acquisition of national sovereignty on the common international legal base will be an important factor in ensuring comprehensive, just settlement in the Middle East," Putin said in a letter sent to Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, November 29, 2014.
According to the PNN, the letter was delivered by the Russian ambassador to the state of Palestine, Alexander Rudakov, who handed it over to Secretary-General of the Presidency, al-Tayeb Abdul Rahim, in Ramallah.
"We are ready within multilateral efforts and in close cooperation with you to continue promoting resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiation process," Putin added.
He reportedly concluded by reiterating the friendly relationship between Russia and Palestine:
"I note with satisfaction the friendly and constructive Russian-Palestinian relations. I am confident that further expansion of the whole complex of mutually beneficial bilateral relations serves the fundamental interests of our peoples. I would like to confirm that the Russian side intends to continue to provide all possible assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the establishment of state institutions and addressing the pressing social and economic problems," the Russian president declared, in wishing the Palestinian people health, new success, peace and well-being.
Leadership prepared to approach ICC, cease Israeli security coordination
As a recent wave of violence continues to progress in the region, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that the Palestinian people can no longer live with the status quo in the occupied Palestinian territories.
WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency reports that, while addressing the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Abbas stated Saturday: “We could no longer live with the status quo, particularly since Israel has been stepping up its attacks to impose a fait accompli on the ground,” and further adding, “Israel wants us to be devoid of any real authority and seeks to maintain the occupation of our territory without any cost. Recognizing that the Palestinian state could never be established without the Gaza Strip, it seeks to isolate Gaza from the Palestinian sphere.”
-- --
Ceasefire violations are on the increase in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces again opened live fire on a number of Palestinians in northern Gaza, Friday evening, injuring one.
Spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health, Asraf al-Qidra, told Ma'an News Agency that a Palestinian youth in his twenties was hit in his right foot with live fire after Israeli soldiers shot at Palestinians east of Jabaliya, adding that the youth was subsequently brought to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, where his injuries were reported as moderate.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was not familiar with the incident.
The shooting is the second such attack on Friday, by Israeli soldiers, a day after Israeli forces fired a tank shell into the Gaza Strip, claiming that shots had been fired toward an Israeli military vehicle near the border.
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, an Israeli settler was also wounded Friday after being stabbed in by unknown attacker.
PNN reports that, according to Israeli sources, the injured man, aged 47, suffered from moderate wounds and was transferred to Ichilov hospital for treatment. Israeli police have opened an investigation, while the attacker's identity remains unknown.
Popular demonstrations against the Israeli occupation continue on into the weekend, with clashes occuring between Israeli forces and Palestinians conducting a sit-in, on Saturday, in protest of the closure of a major Hebron street for the past nine days.
Issa Amro, coordinator of a local activist group against Israeli settlements, said that Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and tear-gas bombs at protesters on Shuhada Street, in the center of Hebron's Old City.
Dozens suffered from tear-gas inhalation as a result.
Mr. Amro stated that Israeli authorities have been helping Jewish settlers to empty Shuhada Street of its Palestinian residents for the past two decades, and that the closure has directly affected some 250 families still living on the street.
Last night, forces raided the Bethlehem-area village of Tuqu, forcing their way into several homes and firing large amounts of tear gas in clashes which subsequently broke out.
Several Palestinians in Tuqu also suffered from severe tear-gas suffocation and fainting during the clashes, while a Ma'an reporter said that Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets at locals who came out to protest.
Soldiers raided several houses in the village, breaking in the front doors and windows of the homes, and damaging possessions.
Clashes were reported to have erupted on Thursday as well, in Tuqu, at the western entrance of the village.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
President Abbas' remarks on the escalating tension came during the course of an extraordinary meeting held by the Arab Foreign Ministers in Cairo, with the aim of addressing the latest developments regarding the Palestinian question, and to agree on a draft resolution setting a two-year deadline for ending the Israeli occupation and creating the Palestinian state, as well as agreeing on a date to present it to the UN Security Council for vote.
Abbas added, according to WAFA, that he had asked US Secretary of State John Kerry to partake in drafting the resolution, to secure a commitment from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in ceasing settlement construction, and to release the fourth batch of pre-Oslo prisoners in order to resume negotiations.
“If we don’t receive any response from Israel, we will officially submit the draft resolution to the UN Security Council and sign the applications to accede to international organizations and conventions, including the International Criminal Court,” Abbas stated.
Should the UN Security Council rejects the draft resolution, Abbas affirms that he will reconsider relations with Israel through ceasing security coordination and obliging it, as the "Occupying Power", to take responsibility of the situation.
President Abbas noted that Israel has been adopting an apartheid regime, referring to a number of racist Israeli bills passed by the Knesset that discriminate against the Palestinian people.
Expressing his rejection to recognize Israel as a Jewish nation state, Abbas declared: “Late President Yasser Arafat and late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin exchanged official letters of recognition in 1993. So, we will not accept any change to this recognition and if Israel seeks to change its name, it can do that through the UN.”
As a recent wave of violence continues to progress in the region, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that the Palestinian people can no longer live with the status quo in the occupied Palestinian territories.
WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency reports that, while addressing the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Abbas stated Saturday: “We could no longer live with the status quo, particularly since Israel has been stepping up its attacks to impose a fait accompli on the ground,” and further adding, “Israel wants us to be devoid of any real authority and seeks to maintain the occupation of our territory without any cost. Recognizing that the Palestinian state could never be established without the Gaza Strip, it seeks to isolate Gaza from the Palestinian sphere.”
-- --
Ceasefire violations are on the increase in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces again opened live fire on a number of Palestinians in northern Gaza, Friday evening, injuring one.
Spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health, Asraf al-Qidra, told Ma'an News Agency that a Palestinian youth in his twenties was hit in his right foot with live fire after Israeli soldiers shot at Palestinians east of Jabaliya, adding that the youth was subsequently brought to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, where his injuries were reported as moderate.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was not familiar with the incident.
The shooting is the second such attack on Friday, by Israeli soldiers, a day after Israeli forces fired a tank shell into the Gaza Strip, claiming that shots had been fired toward an Israeli military vehicle near the border.
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, an Israeli settler was also wounded Friday after being stabbed in by unknown attacker.
PNN reports that, according to Israeli sources, the injured man, aged 47, suffered from moderate wounds and was transferred to Ichilov hospital for treatment. Israeli police have opened an investigation, while the attacker's identity remains unknown.
Popular demonstrations against the Israeli occupation continue on into the weekend, with clashes occuring between Israeli forces and Palestinians conducting a sit-in, on Saturday, in protest of the closure of a major Hebron street for the past nine days.
Issa Amro, coordinator of a local activist group against Israeli settlements, said that Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and tear-gas bombs at protesters on Shuhada Street, in the center of Hebron's Old City.
Dozens suffered from tear-gas inhalation as a result.
Mr. Amro stated that Israeli authorities have been helping Jewish settlers to empty Shuhada Street of its Palestinian residents for the past two decades, and that the closure has directly affected some 250 families still living on the street.
Last night, forces raided the Bethlehem-area village of Tuqu, forcing their way into several homes and firing large amounts of tear gas in clashes which subsequently broke out.
Several Palestinians in Tuqu also suffered from severe tear-gas suffocation and fainting during the clashes, while a Ma'an reporter said that Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets at locals who came out to protest.
Soldiers raided several houses in the village, breaking in the front doors and windows of the homes, and damaging possessions.
Clashes were reported to have erupted on Thursday as well, in Tuqu, at the western entrance of the village.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
President Abbas' remarks on the escalating tension came during the course of an extraordinary meeting held by the Arab Foreign Ministers in Cairo, with the aim of addressing the latest developments regarding the Palestinian question, and to agree on a draft resolution setting a two-year deadline for ending the Israeli occupation and creating the Palestinian state, as well as agreeing on a date to present it to the UN Security Council for vote.
Abbas added, according to WAFA, that he had asked US Secretary of State John Kerry to partake in drafting the resolution, to secure a commitment from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in ceasing settlement construction, and to release the fourth batch of pre-Oslo prisoners in order to resume negotiations.
“If we don’t receive any response from Israel, we will officially submit the draft resolution to the UN Security Council and sign the applications to accede to international organizations and conventions, including the International Criminal Court,” Abbas stated.
Should the UN Security Council rejects the draft resolution, Abbas affirms that he will reconsider relations with Israel through ceasing security coordination and obliging it, as the "Occupying Power", to take responsibility of the situation.
President Abbas noted that Israel has been adopting an apartheid regime, referring to a number of racist Israeli bills passed by the Knesset that discriminate against the Palestinian people.
Expressing his rejection to recognize Israel as a Jewish nation state, Abbas declared: “Late President Yasser Arafat and late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin exchanged official letters of recognition in 1993. So, we will not accept any change to this recognition and if Israel seeks to change its name, it can do that through the UN.”
28 nov 2014
On November 23, the Israeli cabinet approved a bill that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Such a draft bill aims to destroy the two-state solution by superimposing “Greater Israel" on historical Palestine and endorsing the military occupation. Furthermore, it would institutionalize apartheid and deprive the Palestinian citizens of Israel of their social, political and economic rights, turning them into second-class citizens.
This bill constitutes a unilateral revocation by Israel of the 1993 Letters of Mutual Recognition.
The bill exposes Israel’s manipulation of its very own political and judicial systems to violate international law and conventions that prohibit racism and ethnic cleansing.
Such proposed legislation builds upon a long series of racist laws, proposals and practices that reflect Israel’s intent to legalize discrimination and xenophobia against all aspects of Palestinian life, and to provoke the military occupation into a deliberate sectarian confrontation, while inserting an ideological component into official policy.
With its insistence on the recognition of the “Jewishness of the state,” Israel is attempting to wipe out Palestinian presence, rights, and continuity on Palestinian lands, and to impose a de facto one-state solution.
This bill seeks to exempt Israel from its obligations and responsibilities towards the Palestinian refugees who were forcibly expelled from their homes and to pre-empt their right of return as per UN Resolution 194.
In this context, the PLO Executive Committee strongly condemns the dozens of laws enacted since 1948 and the draft legislation that blatantly discriminate against the Palestinians and defy all the basic principles of democracy and human rights.
These include: the Ministerial Committee on Legislation’s approval of a bill earlier this month to apply Israeli law to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank which will result in Israel’s annexation of the entire West Bank; Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon’s October directive forcing Palestinians working in Israel to return home to the West Bank via a single crossing and banning them from riding the same buses as settlers; the Israeli High Court’s upholding of a law in September allowing communities to screen potential members, enabling Jews to reject Palestinian citizens of Israel from residing in them; the passing of an Israeli Knesset bill in February that explicitly distinguishes between Muslim and Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel; and the Knesset’s discussion in February of a proposal initiated by right-wing MK Moshe Feiglin regarding the extension of Israeli sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It should be affirmed that any law or practice that classifies its citizens based on religion or ethnicity is a crude and anachronistic practice that institutionalizes racism and discrimination.
The PLO Executive Committee also denounces Israel’s laws and proposed legislation that call for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. In November, Israeli ministers voted to increase penalties on stone throwers from two to twenty years, and MK Motti Yogev submitted a bill that would decrease the child allowances of the National Insurance benefits of families to half if their children are convicted of a “nationalist” crime.
Moreover, the PLO deplores Israel for demolishing the family homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis and nullifying their Jerusalem residency status, and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to revoke the Israeli citizenship of those Israeli-Palestinians who “call for the destruction of the State of Israel”; such acts are in direct violation of international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. It should be mentioned that the inordinate speed with which Israel’s bill on recognizing the nation-state of the Jewish people and other pieces of legislation are introduced is proof that Netanyahu and his extremist hardline coalition are waging a malicious campaign of incitement, hate and extreme ideological provocations. They are also designed to manipulate and mislead public opinion and to destroy any chances for peace, while agitating a holy war and generating grave instability and violence throughout the region.
The PLO Executive Committee calls on all members of the international community, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, to hold Israel to account immediately, to curb Israel’s violations and deliberate acts of racial discrimination and violence against the Palestinian people, and to support Palestinian efforts to seek justice and protection in all international legal venues, including approaching the UN Security Council to set a timeframe for ending the occupation and establishing the independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
The PLO Executive Committee commends parliaments around the world and their people who have already recognized the State of Palestine, and calls on other parliaments and governments to follow suit and support Palestinian efforts to end the military occupation of Palestine.
The PLO Executive Committee also pays tribute to the Palestinian people for their bravery, determination, and continued steadfastness and commitment to freedom, and calls on them to achieve full unity and reconciliation to defend their inalienable rights in the face of the belligerent occupier by means of popular non-violent activism, as well as political, legal and diplomatic efforts.
Such a draft bill aims to destroy the two-state solution by superimposing “Greater Israel" on historical Palestine and endorsing the military occupation. Furthermore, it would institutionalize apartheid and deprive the Palestinian citizens of Israel of their social, political and economic rights, turning them into second-class citizens.
This bill constitutes a unilateral revocation by Israel of the 1993 Letters of Mutual Recognition.
The bill exposes Israel’s manipulation of its very own political and judicial systems to violate international law and conventions that prohibit racism and ethnic cleansing.
Such proposed legislation builds upon a long series of racist laws, proposals and practices that reflect Israel’s intent to legalize discrimination and xenophobia against all aspects of Palestinian life, and to provoke the military occupation into a deliberate sectarian confrontation, while inserting an ideological component into official policy.
With its insistence on the recognition of the “Jewishness of the state,” Israel is attempting to wipe out Palestinian presence, rights, and continuity on Palestinian lands, and to impose a de facto one-state solution.
This bill seeks to exempt Israel from its obligations and responsibilities towards the Palestinian refugees who were forcibly expelled from their homes and to pre-empt their right of return as per UN Resolution 194.
In this context, the PLO Executive Committee strongly condemns the dozens of laws enacted since 1948 and the draft legislation that blatantly discriminate against the Palestinians and defy all the basic principles of democracy and human rights.
These include: the Ministerial Committee on Legislation’s approval of a bill earlier this month to apply Israeli law to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank which will result in Israel’s annexation of the entire West Bank; Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon’s October directive forcing Palestinians working in Israel to return home to the West Bank via a single crossing and banning them from riding the same buses as settlers; the Israeli High Court’s upholding of a law in September allowing communities to screen potential members, enabling Jews to reject Palestinian citizens of Israel from residing in them; the passing of an Israeli Knesset bill in February that explicitly distinguishes between Muslim and Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel; and the Knesset’s discussion in February of a proposal initiated by right-wing MK Moshe Feiglin regarding the extension of Israeli sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It should be affirmed that any law or practice that classifies its citizens based on religion or ethnicity is a crude and anachronistic practice that institutionalizes racism and discrimination.
The PLO Executive Committee also denounces Israel’s laws and proposed legislation that call for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. In November, Israeli ministers voted to increase penalties on stone throwers from two to twenty years, and MK Motti Yogev submitted a bill that would decrease the child allowances of the National Insurance benefits of families to half if their children are convicted of a “nationalist” crime.
Moreover, the PLO deplores Israel for demolishing the family homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis and nullifying their Jerusalem residency status, and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to revoke the Israeli citizenship of those Israeli-Palestinians who “call for the destruction of the State of Israel”; such acts are in direct violation of international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. It should be mentioned that the inordinate speed with which Israel’s bill on recognizing the nation-state of the Jewish people and other pieces of legislation are introduced is proof that Netanyahu and his extremist hardline coalition are waging a malicious campaign of incitement, hate and extreme ideological provocations. They are also designed to manipulate and mislead public opinion and to destroy any chances for peace, while agitating a holy war and generating grave instability and violence throughout the region.
The PLO Executive Committee calls on all members of the international community, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, to hold Israel to account immediately, to curb Israel’s violations and deliberate acts of racial discrimination and violence against the Palestinian people, and to support Palestinian efforts to seek justice and protection in all international legal venues, including approaching the UN Security Council to set a timeframe for ending the occupation and establishing the independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
The PLO Executive Committee commends parliaments around the world and their people who have already recognized the State of Palestine, and calls on other parliaments and governments to follow suit and support Palestinian efforts to end the military occupation of Palestine.
The PLO Executive Committee also pays tribute to the Palestinian people for their bravery, determination, and continued steadfastness and commitment to freedom, and calls on them to achieve full unity and reconciliation to defend their inalienable rights in the face of the belligerent occupier by means of popular non-violent activism, as well as political, legal and diplomatic efforts.
Israel allows 300 trucks through Karam Abu Salem
UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA declared, on Thursday, a state of emergency in Gaza City, due to massive rains and flooding.
Ma'an News Agency reports that a major storm, over the past week, has filled the streets of Gaza City with water and sewage, causing further misery for more than 100,000 Palestinians who remain homeless as a result of Israel's crippling military assault on the region, this past summer.
In a public statement, UNRWA informed that 63 schools across Gaza City and 43 schools across the Northern Gaza Strip had been closed Thursday, as a result of the flooding. Hundreds of residents in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood have also been evacuated.
"The flooding is exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza caused by blockade and the unprecedented destruction from the latest Israeli offensive," the agency posted on Facebook.
Ma'an further reports that Gaza is prone to severe flooding and that, in early December, 2013, heavy rains led to the displacement of at least 40,000 people. Any flooding is exacerbated by a chronic lack of fuel which limits how much water can be pumped out of flood-stricken areas.
The fuel shortages are a result of the eight-year-old Israeli siege, which also limits the import of related machinery that could help Gazans to combat the floods.
In response, UNRWA has additionally declared 60,000 liters of emergency fuel to be provided to pumping stations in Gaza.
-- --
Furthermore, head of the Coordination Committee for entry of goods in the Gaza Strip, Raed Fattouh, stated that Israeli authorities have allowed the entry of 300 trucks into the region, via Karam Abu Salem crossing, on Thursday.
According to a report by Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, the trucks are loaded with goods for the commercial, agricultural, aid and transportation sectors.
Mr. Fattouh also noted that 100 trucks of gravel will enter for the infrastructure of roads for the Qatari projects. In addition to a quantity of industrial diesel for Gaza's only power plant, transportation fuel and cooking gas will also be pumped through the terminal.
Karam Abu Salem is the only commercial crossing through which goods and fuel can enter the Gaza Strip, and Israeli authorities close it on Friday and Saturday of each week.
-- --
Thursday marks the fourth straight day of unusually heavy rains across the region, causing temperatures to drop across Palestine.
The occupied West Bank is also experiencing flooding as a result of the storm, with difficult driving conditions reported in the hillier villages and cities.
Rains are expected to end by Friday morning, with temperatures to rise, as well.
UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA declared, on Thursday, a state of emergency in Gaza City, due to massive rains and flooding.
Ma'an News Agency reports that a major storm, over the past week, has filled the streets of Gaza City with water and sewage, causing further misery for more than 100,000 Palestinians who remain homeless as a result of Israel's crippling military assault on the region, this past summer.
In a public statement, UNRWA informed that 63 schools across Gaza City and 43 schools across the Northern Gaza Strip had been closed Thursday, as a result of the flooding. Hundreds of residents in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood have also been evacuated.
"The flooding is exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza caused by blockade and the unprecedented destruction from the latest Israeli offensive," the agency posted on Facebook.
Ma'an further reports that Gaza is prone to severe flooding and that, in early December, 2013, heavy rains led to the displacement of at least 40,000 people. Any flooding is exacerbated by a chronic lack of fuel which limits how much water can be pumped out of flood-stricken areas.
The fuel shortages are a result of the eight-year-old Israeli siege, which also limits the import of related machinery that could help Gazans to combat the floods.
In response, UNRWA has additionally declared 60,000 liters of emergency fuel to be provided to pumping stations in Gaza.
-- --
Furthermore, head of the Coordination Committee for entry of goods in the Gaza Strip, Raed Fattouh, stated that Israeli authorities have allowed the entry of 300 trucks into the region, via Karam Abu Salem crossing, on Thursday.
According to a report by Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, the trucks are loaded with goods for the commercial, agricultural, aid and transportation sectors.
Mr. Fattouh also noted that 100 trucks of gravel will enter for the infrastructure of roads for the Qatari projects. In addition to a quantity of industrial diesel for Gaza's only power plant, transportation fuel and cooking gas will also be pumped through the terminal.
Karam Abu Salem is the only commercial crossing through which goods and fuel can enter the Gaza Strip, and Israeli authorities close it on Friday and Saturday of each week.
-- --
Thursday marks the fourth straight day of unusually heavy rains across the region, causing temperatures to drop across Palestine.
The occupied West Bank is also experiencing flooding as a result of the storm, with difficult driving conditions reported in the hillier villages and cities.
Rains are expected to end by Friday morning, with temperatures to rise, as well.
27 nov 2014
Member of Fatah Central Committee and its foreign relations commissioner, Dr. Nabil Shaath, confirmed that the European parliament vote to recognize the state of Palestine has been postponed as the exact wording of the bill has not been agreed upon by left-wing and right-wing lawmakers.
Shaath said in a press release issued Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority has submitted a draft wording to the EU parliament, however; the right-wing parties postponed the vote to give further chance to the MEPs to agree on an approved draft.
The vote will certainly be in favor of the Palestinians, he emphasized.
"The right-wing parties, who represent a majority in the European parliament, wanted a wording similar to the Spanish decision, which reads that recognition will be declared after Palestinians and Israelis reach a peace agreement," Nabil Shaath explained.
Such a wording would not grant Palestinians self-determination, Shaath added.
On the other hand, the left-wing parties wanted a wording similar to the British, which recognizes a Palestinian sovereign and viable state, based on the borders of 1967, "as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution," the senior Fatah official clarified.
Commenting on the EU parliament's decision to postpone vote on recognition of Palestine, the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) said that efforts to move forward the recognition of Palestine are still ongoing.
"Although Israel attempts to foil any European decision to recognize Palestine as a state, we expect a European decision in favor of the Palestinian cause," CEPR said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Head of the CEPR Mazen Kahil underlined that diplomatic contacts have been made with MEPs and European figures to get more support in a vote it expects to win in light of the European mounting recognition of the Palestinian rights.
As more and more of European countries become aware of the injustices against the Palestinians, who are denied their basic rights, the situation is becoming even more in favor of the Palestinians, he added.
Kahil pointed out that the pro-Palestine attitude of the EU will certainly influence the American pro-Israel bias.
A vote by the European Parliament in Strasbourg over whether to recognize a Palestinian state was postponed Tuesday from later this week to mid-December.
Shaath said in a press release issued Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority has submitted a draft wording to the EU parliament, however; the right-wing parties postponed the vote to give further chance to the MEPs to agree on an approved draft.
The vote will certainly be in favor of the Palestinians, he emphasized.
"The right-wing parties, who represent a majority in the European parliament, wanted a wording similar to the Spanish decision, which reads that recognition will be declared after Palestinians and Israelis reach a peace agreement," Nabil Shaath explained.
Such a wording would not grant Palestinians self-determination, Shaath added.
On the other hand, the left-wing parties wanted a wording similar to the British, which recognizes a Palestinian sovereign and viable state, based on the borders of 1967, "as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution," the senior Fatah official clarified.
Commenting on the EU parliament's decision to postpone vote on recognition of Palestine, the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) said that efforts to move forward the recognition of Palestine are still ongoing.
"Although Israel attempts to foil any European decision to recognize Palestine as a state, we expect a European decision in favor of the Palestinian cause," CEPR said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Head of the CEPR Mazen Kahil underlined that diplomatic contacts have been made with MEPs and European figures to get more support in a vote it expects to win in light of the European mounting recognition of the Palestinian rights.
As more and more of European countries become aware of the injustices against the Palestinians, who are denied their basic rights, the situation is becoming even more in favor of the Palestinians, he added.
Kahil pointed out that the pro-Palestine attitude of the EU will certainly influence the American pro-Israel bias.
A vote by the European Parliament in Strasbourg over whether to recognize a Palestinian state was postponed Tuesday from later this week to mid-December.