Cairo (UNA/WAFA) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised the Egyptian-Palestinian-Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip with the Palestinians on their homeland, without displacement. He called on US President Donald Trump to support reconstruction efforts on this basis..
“We meet today at this summit and we face serious challenges that threaten the Palestinian cause, most notably calls to displace the Palestinian people from their homeland, which we categorically reject. We also reject the occupation’s practices of imposing a colonial settlement reality in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with the aim of undermining the two-state solution and liquidating the Palestinian cause,” he said in his speech before the emergency Arab summit held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Tuesday.".
He presented the Palestinian vision to confront the challenges, which focused on the necessity for the State of Palestine to assume its duties in the Gaza Strip through government institutions, adopt the Egyptian-Palestinian-Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people on their homeland, continue working to implement the government reform and development program, and double efforts to strengthen Palestinian national unity..
The President affirmed the readiness to hold general elections, presidential and legislative, during the coming year if the appropriate conditions are available for that, in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as was done in all previous elections, and he called on everyone to prepare the conditions for that..
He added: Within the framework of the challenges facing our cause at this stage, we are working on restructuring the leadership frameworks of the state, injecting new blood into the organization, Fatah, and state agencies, and convening the Palestinian Central Council in the near future..
He continued: “In this context, we decided to create a position and appoint a deputy chairman for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine, and to take legal measures for that purpose. In order to preserve the unity of the Fatah movement, we decided to issue a general amnesty for all those dismissed from the movement, and to take the necessary organizational measures for that purpose.”
Below is the text of the President's speech::
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Summit
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi,
Your Majesties, Highnesses and Excellencies,
Secretary-General of the League of Arab States,
Peace, mercy and blessings of God,
We meet today at this emergency Arab summit, and we are facing serious challenges that threaten the Palestinian cause, most notably calls to displace the Palestinian people from their homeland, which we categorically reject. We also reject the occupation’s practices of imposing a colonial settlement reality in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with the aim of undermining the two-state solution and liquidating the Palestinian cause..
In this context, we commend the Egyptian-Palestinian-Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip with the Palestinians on their homeland, without displacement, and we call on President Donald Trump to support reconstruction efforts on this basis..
Here we thank President Trump for his efforts to cease fire in the Gaza Strip, and for his endeavors to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace, and in the entire region. I extend my thanks to Egypt and Qatar, which contributed to a ceasefire based on the two-state solution that enjoys the consensus of the international community, the State of Palestine on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with the State of Israel in security, peace and good neighborliness..
Leaders and heads of delegations,
Today, we present the Palestinian vision to confront the challenges, which we are working to coordinate on an Arab level. The following are its most important elements::
First: The State of Palestine shall assume its duties in the Gaza Strip through its governmental institutions. A working committee has been formed for this purpose, and the security services of the Palestinian Authority shall assume their responsibilities, after structuring and unifying the cadres present in the Gaza Strip, and training them in Egypt and Jordan..
Second: Adopting the Egyptian-Palestinian-Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people in their homeland, approving it from this summit, mobilizing international support for it in an international trust fund, and working to make the international reconstruction conference that Egypt will host next month a success. It is also necessary to continue working to enhance the survival and support of UNRWA..
Third: Continue working on implementing the government reform and development program in the institutional, legal and service fields, in cooperation with the World Bank and international organizations to ensure best practices and enhance transparency and accountability..
Fourth: We stress the importance of assigning the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee to conduct contacts and visits to various capitals, including the US administration, to explain the Arab plan for reconstruction in Gaza with its people there, and to emphasize the Palestinian Authority assuming its civil, security and political duties in Gaza, and working towards Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, proposing a long-term truce in the West Bank and Gaza, stopping unilateral Israeli actions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, supporting the efforts of the global coalition, and going to the international peace conference next June to implement the two-state solution based on international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, which will lead to achieving security and peace in the entire region..
Fifth: Redouble efforts to strengthen Palestinian national unity, based on commitment to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, its political program, its international obligations, international legitimacy, and the principle of one system, one law, and one legitimate weapon in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This matter has always been the focus of the discussion with the Hamas movement.
We would like to emphasize that we are fully prepared to hold general elections, presidential and legislative, during the coming year if the appropriate conditions are available for that, in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as was done in all previous elections, and we call on everyone to prepare the conditions for that..
Within the framework of the challenges facing our cause at this stage, we are working to restructure the leadership frameworks of the state, inject new blood into the organization, Fatah, and state agencies, and convene the Palestinian Central Council in the near future.
In this context, we have decided to create a position and appoint a deputy chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine, and to take legal measures for this purpose. In order to preserve the unity of the Fatah movement, we have decided to issue a general amnesty for all those dismissed from the movement, and to take the necessary organizational measures for this purpose..
Your Majesties and Excellencies,
Finally, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the King of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and to the Arab Republic of Egypt for hosting this summit. I also thank my brothers, the Arab leaders, for their continuous support for our people, wishing the success of the summit..
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