Palestinian cause is living one of its darkest moments: Egypt’s el-Sisi
We also have comments made by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the Arab League meeting in Baghdad. Speaking at the opening of the event, the Egyptian president said the “region is faced with complicated challenges and unprecedented conditions”.
El-Sisi called on leaders to adopt a stance “firmly united in words and in action”. “It is no secret that the Palestinian cause is living one of its darkest and gravest moments,” he said.
“The Palestinian people are going through organised and systematic crimes, and brutal practices for more than one and a half years, aiming at exterminating and ending their existence in the Gaza Strip,” el-Sisi added.
The president stressed that “the Israeli war machine did not leave any building standing or show any mercy to any child or woman” during the war, adding that it has used “starvation as a weapon”.
‘We must adopt an Arab plan to end the war’: PA President Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has now also addressed the Arab League summit in Baghdad.
Here are some of his remarks:
- Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank “are all part of a complete imperial enterprise [aimed] at undermining our efforts for establishing our independent state”.
- We need support from “the Arab states, the US administration and the [UN] Security Council to stand up to this imperial enterprise”.
- “[We must] adopt an Arab plan to end the war, establish peace, including the following: first, a permanent ceasefire, immediate release of all Palestinian detainees and Israeli captives, and the unconditional delivery of relief aid, in addition to the total withdrawal by the Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip.”
- Hamas and all other factions should “lay down and hand over their arms to the Palestinian Authority, the sole representative of the Palestinian people”.
- An international conference should “be convened in Egypt for the implementation of the reconstruction plan in the Gaza Strip”.
- We want an immediate end to Israel’s “confiscation, annexation and change of the historic and legal status in the Holy sites in Jerusalem”.
- We want “the establishment of the Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories with full recognition by the world community”.
Abbas urges international endorsement of post-war plans for Gaza
Here’s more from the PA president at the Arab League summit in Iraq.
- “We reiterate that we are prepared to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in the coming year, as was the case in the past, once the conditions permit … in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem.”
- “We have taken the constitutional measures by creating the vice president position.”
- “We call on this summit to adopt our plan and to endorse it before the relevant global bodies, especially following the visit paid by the US president to the region. And here we thank him for his efforts aiming at ending the war and establishing lasting peace.”
- “We also commend the firm stands and genuine calls by the GCC member states for a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian conflict."
