Commenting on the current Palestinian conditions, the President of the Palestinian Legislative Council Aziz Dwaik stated the following:

The Palestinian cause is experiencing great conspiracies, such as the “Deal of the Century”, judiazing the Holy City of Jerusalem, and the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. These are added to a rapidly implemented scheme aimed to liquidate the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland through wiping out the refugee camps and destroying the social life there.

All these threats inevitably push the Palestinian leadership to build up a national strategy that restores the Palestinian unity and sets the bases for the future of the Palestinian struggle against the occupation, including liberating Palestine and declaring the independent, free state.

The recent developments like the continuation of the Palestinian division, new PA-imposed punitive measures on the Gaza Strip, and employment of the Palestinian institutions to sever partisan agenda put us all in a ‘mine field’ that may blow up at any moment.

This sate of turmoil and troublemaking has paved the way for some parties, international ones, parties affiliated to the Israeli occupation, or dubious media organizations, to widen the Palestinian rift. Indeed, these parties have tried hard to incite the Palestinian people against each other, which prompted us to adopt a serious stance against this deterioration.

Accordingly, as a President of the Palestinian Legislative Council, I stress the following:

First: The PA’s leadership and PLO have to stop all the punitive measures imposed on the Gaza Strip immediately and announce a practical program to reach reconciliation.

Second: We warn against tampering with the Palestinian national bodies and exploiting them to serve partisan agendas.

Third: We call on the PA’s President Mahmoud Abbas to abide by the Palestinian Constitution and to preserve the constitutional provisions and national institutions that function according to the Palestinian law.

Fourth: We stress that ‘fair elections’ is the gate for the Palestinian people to elect their representatives. Thus, we have to go for it because it is the only way to build up the Palestinian institutions properly, and any other means to do that is aimed to bypass the law.

Fifth: Any decision to undermine or override the Palestinian Legislative Council is unlawful, and all claims made through news leaks that the President of the Palestinian Legislative Council plans to control the Palestinian situation are baseless, as we believe that elections are the only way to build up a strong political system.

Finally, I would like to hail the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and 48 Israeli-occupied territories for their steadfastness in face of the Israeli occupation. Moreover, I would like to extend my special regards to the Palestinians at Khan Al-Ahmar, to the freedom fighters at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to the revolutionary peaceful protesters along the Gaza borders.

President of Palestinian Legislative Council

Aziz Dwaik

Sunday, 28 October 2018