Friday, 04 September 2020_Palestinian factions have unanimously dismissed the US-backed deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Israeli regime to normalize full diplomatic relations, as they sought to present a united front against the agreement.
“We cannot accept anyone speaking in our name. We have never allowed it, and we will not allow it ever,” President Mahmoud Abbas said at a meeting in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah held through video-conference to a parallel event at the Palestinian embassy in Beirut, where the chief of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, Ismail Haniyeh, and Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ziyad al-Nakhalah attended.
He added, “This meeting comes at a very dangerous stage as our national cause is facing various conspiracies and threats, the most significant of which are [US President Donald Trump's so-called] deal of the century, Israeli annexation plans [in the occupied West Bank] and normalization projects that the Occupation [Israel] is using as a poisoned dagger to stab [in the back of] our nation. Whoever accepts annexation is a traitor of the homeland and of our cause.”
Abbas further noted that “the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will remain the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” and that Palestinian factions must all join the PLO in order to protect and strengthen its status as an umbrella organization for all Palestinian compatriots and expatriates.
The Palestinian president then called on rival Fatah and Hamas movements to engage in meaningful negotiations to patch up their differences.
He said such dialogue should be based on the principles of the Palestinian nation and sovereign Palestinian state.
“We are making necessary preparations for the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) to convene as soon as possible. At the same time, we are working on essential mechanisms to end divisions and establish a unified Palestinian position within a specified period of time,” Abbas pointed out.
Abbas also underlined that Palestinians can no longer accept the United States as a single broker of any future peace negotiations.
“We will never accept the United States as the sole mediator for negotiations [with Israel], and we will not accept its plan” for a peace settlement, he stated.
Abbas finally called on Arab states to stand committed to the so-called Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, and realize the fact that normalization of ties with the occupying Tel Aviv regime should take place only after an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital is established.
The Arab Peace Initiative, which was proposed by Saudi Arabia, calls on Israel to agree to a “two-state solution” along the 1967 lines and a “just” solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.
Haniyeh, for his part, also called for a united front.
“We must restore our national unity, put an end to division and establish a unified Palestinian position... to confront projects directed against our people,” the Hamas chief said.
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