Middle East Monitor / September 5, 2020
The Secretaries-general of all Palestinian factions, inside and outside the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), have unanimously rejected attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
In the final statement of the national conference held in Beirut and Ramallah on Thursday, the Palestinian factions strongly condemned all forms of normalisation with the Israeli occupation and considered it a “stab in the backs of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic Ummah.”
In the statement, the Palestinian leadership called for all the free people all over the world to exert their utmost efforts to fight attempts aiming to undermine the Palestinian cause and Palestinian rights.
The statement reads as follows:
Our great Palestinian people,
Arab and Islamic Ummah,
The free people of the world,
At this critical stage in the history of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian issue is facing plots and liquidation attempts aiming to undermine the Palestinian cause and to abolish the Palestinian right to self-determination and establish the sovereign Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, as stated in the Palestinian Consensus Agreement. The plots also are intended to dismiss the Palestinian refugee issue and their rights to return to their hometowns and villages from which they were expelled in 1948, as stated in the UN Resolution 194. Amid all of these challenges, the Palestinian cause faces the threats posed by the Israeli occupation and the US administration including the Deal of the Century, the annexation plans and normalisation of ties with the Israeli occupation.
In this historic meeting, the Palestinian people take a unified action under the umbrella of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and following a brave national initiative by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the chief of the Executive Committee of the PLO and chief of the Executive Committee of the secretaries-general of the Palestinian factions. Now, we embark upon a national action that endorses our goals, principles and values, pushing us to translate such meetings into actions on the ground by ending the division and achieving intra-Palestinian reconciliation that embodies national partnership.
All segments of the Palestinian people, led by the PA President Mahmoud Abbas, reiterate their absolute rejection of all projects aimed to liquidate the Palestinian issue and abolish legitimate Palestinian rights. We all confirm that we reject any attack on Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian sacred places and condemn all forms of normalisation with the Israeli occupation. We consider normalisation a stab in the backs of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic Ummah. Moreover, the Palestinian leadership calls upon Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world to tackle normalisation and such projects.
The meeting also discussed the rules of engagement with the Israeli occupation, including mobilising support at international and regional levels to face off the Israeli schemes. The participants agreed upon the means and methods of resisting the Israeli occupation, which are in line with international conventions confirming people’s right to resist an occupying power.
As Palestinians, we enjoy the right to use any means of resistance to face off the Israeli occupation. But at this stage, we agree on developing and activating popular resistance as it is the most appropriate means for the time being.
We have to end the Palestinian split and promote reconciliation and national partnership as soon as possible, to achieve our strategic goals of ending the occupation and establishing the Palestinian state. Therefore, as a united people, we agreed on the necessity to be led by one democratic political system and to have one authority and one law. Such a system has to maintain political pluralism and enforce a peaceful transition of power through free and transparent elections held based on proportional representation and other international norms of democracy.
We restate our endeavours to establish the independent Palestinian state on all occupied Palestinian territories with Jerusalem as its capital. Again, no state in Gaza and no state without Gaza.
Because it is necessary to unify our positions despite the different viewpoints towards some issues, we decided to form a committee consisting of recognised, trusted national figures to propose a national vision to end the division and achieve reconciliation and partnership under the umbrella of the PLO, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, within five weeks at the very latest. This committee should provide recommendations to the coming Palestinian Central Council on these controversial issues.
We also agreed on forming a unified national committee to lead the comprehensive popular resistance, provided that the Executive Committee shall secure all requirements for this committee to continue its work and to be successful.
We extend our regards to the steadfast Palestinian people in Jerusalem and the refugee camps. We also hail the families of the Palestinian martyrs, prisoners and wounded.
Finally, we express our solidarity with the brotherly Lebanese people after the deadly explosion in Beirut and we thank Lebanon for hosting such a meeting.
Secretaries-General of the Palestinian Factions
