THE MEETING of the General Secretaries of the Palestinian Factions held last Friday in Ramallah and Beirut via video conference confirmed that our people, unified under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, absolutely reject all projects aimed at liquidating the Palestinian national cause and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
The following is the final communique of the meeting, read aloud by Jibril Rajoub, Member of the Central Committee of Fatah Movement:
‘At this fateful moment of the history of our people, when our central cause is facing conspiracies, liquidation and attempts to undermine it in favour of the mere quest of improving the living conditions, and when we are stripped of our right to self-determination, the establishment of our independent and fully-sovereign state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, as stipulated in the National Reconciliation Document, and our right to solving the refugee issue and the right of return of the refugees to their homes as per Resolution 194, plots and conspiracies are being hatched by the Israeli occupation government and the current US administration through the ‘Deal of the Century’ and the annexation plans, and through normalisation with Israel, and most recently the trilateral US-UAE-Israeli normalisation deal, which has been rejected by our people.
In this historic meeting today, a unified Palestinian action has kick-started under the umbrella of the PLO, the legitimate and sole representative of our people, under a courageous joint initiative by Mr. President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, and the General Secretaries of the factions.
We have agreed to initiate a national effort that responds to the national goals of ending the division, achieving reconciliation, and achieving the Palestinian national partnership.
The Palestinian people, with all its components, at the forefront of which is the Palestinian leadership meeting today headed by Mr. President Abu Mazen, affirms its absolute rejection of all projects aimed at liquidating our national cause and our legitimate rights.
The leadership affirms its rejection of any prejudice to Jerusalem and its Christian and Islamic sanctities.
It condemns all manifestations of normalisation with the occupation, and considers this a dagger in the back of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations.
The Palestinian leadership calls on our Arab and Muslim peoples and the free peoples of the world to confront with all the strength they have all of these liquidation plans.
The meeting of secretary-generals also discussed the rules of engagement with the Israeli occupation, including activating the regional and international factors to confront those plans.
The delegates agreed on the means and mechanisms of struggle to confront the occupation on our land, including those means guaranteed by international conventions in the way to fulfil the right of peoples to resist occupation.
As Palestinians, we believe that it is our right to practise all legitimate methods of struggle, and at this stage we agree to develop and activate popular resistance as the most appropriate option for the current stage, in defence of our legitimate rights to confront the occupation.
In order to achieve our strategic goals to end the occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state, we must expedite the end of the political division and achieve reconciliation and national partnership.
In this context, as a unified people who live in a single free nation, we have agreed on the need to live under one democratic political system, one authority and one law, and under a framework of political and intellectual pluralism.
We have also agreed to consolidate the principle of peaceful transfer of power through free and fair elections, according to full proportional representation according to international standards.
We also affirm our commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory, with Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm here that there will be no state in Gaza, and no state without Gaza.
Realising the necessity of unifying our position despite the differences in our opinion concerning some issues, we have decided to form a committee of eminent national figures, who enjoy the confidence of all of us, and who will present a strategic vision to achieve an end to the division, and to achieve reconciliation and partnership within the framework of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of our Palestinian people.
This shall be done within a period not exceeding five weeks, and the committee will present its recommendations to the upcoming session of the Palestinian Central Council, with the participation of the General Secretaries of all factions, in order to ensure the participation of all under the umbrella of Palestinian national unity.
We also agreed to form a unified national committee to lead the inclusive popular resistance, provided that the PLO Executive Committee provides it with all the means necessary for its continuation.
We offer our greetings to our steadfast and patient people in occupied Jerusalem, and our people in the refugee camps everywhere. We pay tribute and appreciation to the families of the martyrs, prisoners and the wounded.
In conclusion, we express our deep solidarity with the brotherly people of Lebanon in their current ordeal, and we express our thanks and appreciation for Lebanon’s hosting of this historic and national unity meeting.’
- The final statement of the Conference of Secretaries-General of Palestinian Refugees held in Lebanon on Friday, 4th September, 2020 stated:
‘To our great Palestinian people, Arab and Islamic Ummah, the free people of the world.
In this critical stage in the history of the Palestinian people at which the Palestinian issue is facing plots and liquidation attempts that aim to understate the Palestinian cause to be all about living requirements and to abolish the Palestinians’ 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 refugees’ issue and their rights to return to their hometowns and villages they were expelled from 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 back 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 is in line with international conventions confirming peoples’ 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 this 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 Palestinian Factions.THE MEETING of the General Secretaries of the Palestinian Factions held last Friday in Ramallah and Beirut via video conference confirmed that our people, unified under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, absolutely reject all projects aimed at liquidating the Palestinian national cause and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
The following is the final communique of the meeting, read aloud by Jibril Rajoub, Member of the Central Committee of Fatah Movement:
‘At this fateful moment of the history of our people, when our central cause is facing conspiracies, liquidation and attempts to undermine it in favour of the mere quest of improving the living conditions, and when we are stripped of our right to self-determination, the establishment of our independent and fully-sovereign state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, as stipulated in the National Reconciliation Document, and our right to solving the refugee issue and the right of return of the refugees to their homes as per Resolution 194, plots and conspiracies are being hatched by the Israeli occupation government and the current US administration through the ‘Deal of the Century’ and the annexation plans, and through normalisation with Israel, and most recently the trilateral US-UAE-Israeli normalisation deal, which has been rejected by our people.
In this historic meeting today, a unified Palestinian action has kick-started under the umbrella of the PLO, the legitimate and sole representative of our people, under a courageous joint initiative by Mr. President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, and the General Secretaries of the factions.
We have agreed to initiate a national effort that responds to the national goals of ending the division, achieving reconciliation, and achieving the Palestinian national partnership.
The Palestinian people, with all its components, at the forefront of which is the Palestinian leadership meeting today headed by Mr. President Abu Mazen, affirms its absolute rejection of all projects aimed at liquidating our national cause and our legitimate rights.
The leadership affirms its rejection of any prejudice to Jerusalem and its Christian and Islamic sanctities.
It condemns all manifestations of normalisation with the occupation, and considers this a dagger in the back of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations.
The Palestinian leadership calls on our Arab and Muslim peoples and the free peoples of the world to confront with all the strength they have all of these liquidation plans.
The meeting of secretary-generals also discussed the rules of engagement with the Israeli occupation, including activating the regional and international factors to confront those plans.
The delegates agreed on the means and mechanisms of struggle to confront the occupation on our land, including those means guaranteed by international conventions in the way to fulfil the right of peoples to resist occupation.
As Palestinians, we believe that it is our right to practise all legitimate methods of struggle, and at this stage we agree to develop and activate popular resistance as the most appropriate option for the current stage, in defence of our legitimate rights to confront the occupation.
In order to achieve our strategic goals to end the occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state, we must expedite the end of the political division and achieve reconciliation and national partnership.
In this context, as a unified people who live in a single free nation, we have agreed on the need to live under one democratic political system, one authority and one law, and under a framework of political and intellectual pluralism.
We have also agreed to consolidate the principle of peaceful transfer of power through free and fair elections, according to full proportional representation according to international standards.
We also affirm our commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory, with Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm here that there will be no state in Gaza, and no state without Gaza.
Realising the necessity of unifying our position despite the differences in our opinion concerning some issues, we have decided to form a committee of eminent national figures, who enjoy the confidence of all of us, and who will present a strategic vision to achieve an end to the division, and to achieve reconciliation and partnership within the framework of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of our Palestinian people.
This shall be done within a period not exceeding five weeks, and the committee will present its recommendations to the upcoming session of the Palestinian Central Council, with the participation of the General Secretaries of all factions, in order to ensure the participation of all under the umbrella of Palestinian national unity.
We also agreed to form a unified national committee to lead the inclusive popular resistance, provided that the PLO Executive Committee provides it with all the means necessary for its continuation.
We offer our greetings to our steadfast and patient people in occupied Jerusalem, and our people in the refugee camps everywhere. We pay tribute and appreciation to the families of the martyrs, prisoners and the wounded.
In conclusion, we express our deep solidarity with the brotherly people of Lebanon in their current ordeal, and we express our thanks and appreciation for Lebanon’s hosting of this historic and national unity meeting.’
- The final statement of the Conference of Secretaries-General of Palestinian Refugees held in Lebanon on Friday, 4th September, 2020 stated:
‘To our great Palestinian people, Arab and Islamic Ummah, the free people of the world.
In this critical stage in the history of the Palestinian people at which the Palestinian issue is facing plots and liquidation attempts that aim to understate the Palestinian cause to be all about living requirements and to abolish the Palestinians’ 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 refugees’ issue and their rights to return to their hometowns and villages they were expelled from 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 back 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 is in line with international conventions confirming peoples’ 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 this 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 Palestinian Factions.
