Palestine

Sheikh Shallah: No reconciliation unless PLO withdraws recognition of Israel

 

Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, Ramadan Shallah, said on Monday in an address on the 69th anniversary of the Nakba that national reconciliation cannot be achieved unless the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) withdraws its recognition of Israel.

Shallah called for drawing a unified national charter that defines the historical and legal references of the Palestinians’ full right in their homeland and their choices in confronting the Zionist project after the PLO had canceled basic articles of the Palestinian National Charter in response to US-Israeli pressures.

The 15th May 2017 marks the 69th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba when Israeli gangs committed systematic massacres against the Palestinians in 1948, seized about 80% of the Palestinian land, and announced the establishment of Israel.

Shallah stressed the need to escalate and activate the Jerusalem Intifada in defense of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque and in support for the prisoners and their legitimate demands.

On the latest decisions by the Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas against the Gaza Strip, Shallah said that these decisions serve as an economic war on Gaza that is aimed at tightening the blockade and furthering the suffering of the Gazan citizens.

The PA government has deducted about a third of the salaries of the PA employees in Gaza for the second month in a row, refused to exempt the Gaza power plant from the taxes imposed on fuel, and cut some salaries allocated for the wounded and families of martyrs, which worsened the already miserable conditions in Gaza.

As for the expected visit of the US President Donald Trump to the region, Shallah described it as “ominous” and considered it an attempt to integrate Israel into the region and to divide some Arab states on sectarian basis.

Trump is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem on the 22nd May then he will meet with the PA president Abbas after a visit he will pay to Saudi Arabia.

 

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