Ramallah: President Mahmoud Abbas chaired today a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah. At the beginning of the meeting, the President and members of the Central Committee recited Al-Fatiha for the souls of the martyrs of the Palestinian people. He also offered his condolences on the passing of Pope Francis, praising his virtues and his honorable support for rights, justice, peace, and freedom for the Palestinian people.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, President Abbas praised Pope Francis’s recognition of the State of Palestine, his raising of the Palestinian flag at the Vatican, and the canonization of two Palestinian saints. He called for an end to the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip, the opening of Jerusalem to believers, and the implementation of international law. The Central Committee heard a detailed explanation from President Abbas regarding the political situation and the results of his ongoing Arab and international meetings and contacts to halt the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.
President Abbas emphasized the need for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an end to the attacks in the West Bank, and the need to secure further international recognition of the State of Palestine and to obtain full membership in the United Nations. The final preparations for the Central Council session scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, at the presidential headquarters were then discussed. This session will address the latest developments in the Palestinian situation and put the Palestinian house in order to confront the challenges facing the cause and the people.
The meeting also discussed the ongoing war waged by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, amid international silence. The silence has encouraged the occupation to persist in its actions, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of more than 200,000 citizens and the widespread destruction of the Gaza Strip. The Central Committee warned of the occupation’s plans to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and dismember it to force the Palestinian people to flee, adding that this is unacceptable to Palestinians, Arabs, and the international community.
The Central Committee stated that the world, especially the UN Security Council, must assume its responsibilities and compel the occupying state to halt its actions in the Gaza Strip and the attacks launched by the occupation forces and settlers in the West Bank, particularly against cities, villages, and camps in the northern West Bank. The Israeli authorities must halt the policy of executions, displacement, and arrests, as well as the bombing of residential neighborhoods and the destruction of infrastructure, affirming it must also halt attacks on holy religious sites in occupied Jerusalem, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Fatah Central Committee called on Hamas to stop toying with the fate of the Palestinian people according to its foreign agendas, cooperate with the efforts of President Abbas to stop the bloodshed, and refrain from giving the occupation pretexts to continue its actions, which has cost thousands of people, including martyrs, wounded, and prisoners. It also called on Hamas to adhere to the principles upon which the policy of the Palestine Liberation Organization is based.
