Abbas Calls for Permanent Ceasefire

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Thursday, Nov. 30 (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Thursday, Nov. 30 (Reuters)
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Abbas Calls for Permanent Ceasefire

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Thursday, Nov. 30 (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Thursday, Nov. 30 (Reuters)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for the full cessation of Israeli aggression in Gaza.

Abbas on Thursday told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who headed to Ramallah following a visit to Israel, that the entire aggression must be stopped in order to spare civilians more bombing, killing and destruction carried out by the Israeli killing machine.

The Palestinian president handed Blinken a file “on the crimes of the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem,” documenting killings, destruction, and ethnic cleansing crimes.

He said that the Gaza Strip was an integral part of the Palestinian state, rejecting Israeli displacement plans in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Abbas asked Blinken to intervene in several issues, including releasing Palestinian clearing funds, preventing the Israeli occupation authorities’ expulsion of the Palestinian population in the West Bank, stopping extremist settler attacks in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, doubling relief, medical and food supplies, and providing water, electricity and fuel as soon as possible to the Gaza Strip.

He also urged the US State Secretary to oblige the occupation government to immediately stop the repressive measures and violations against Palestinian prisoners.

Abbas put forward the idea of holding an international peace conference, stressing that the establishment of a Palestinian state was the key to peace.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian president’s call to stabilize the ceasefire came as difficulties emerged in extending the truce in the Gaza Strip.

Israel rejected Hamas’ offer to hand over seven detained women and children and the bodies of three of the same category of detainees, in exchange for extending the temporary humanitarian truce.

Israel requested that female detainees be handed over by name to Hamas, but the movement refused because they were conscripts in the Israeli army.

A senior Israeli source, who requested to remain anonymous, said that Israel’s conditions are clear: “The negotiations are either taking place under fire, or the kidnapped will continue to be released.”

The source added that this message was also delivered to Blinken during his trip to Israel.



Palestinian Central Council Demands that Hamas Cede Control of Gaza

Officials are seen at the meeting in Ramallah. (EPA)
Officials are seen at the meeting in Ramallah. (EPA)
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Palestinian Central Council Demands that Hamas Cede Control of Gaza

Officials are seen at the meeting in Ramallah. (EPA)
Officials are seen at the meeting in Ramallah. (EPA)

The Palestinian Central Committee called on Hamas on Friday to cede control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority.

The council held its 32nd meeting in Ramallah that created the position of vice president in a first since 1964.

In a closing statement, the council stressed that decisions of war and peace and negotiations cannot be held by a faction or party, but these affairs are national concerns, reported the Palestinian official news agency (WAFA).

Moreover, it said that “peaceful popular resistance is the only way to achieve national goals.”

It underlined the need to unify Palestinian territories and their political, administrative and judicial systems.

Priority now, however, lies in “ending the Israeli aggression and genocide against our people in Gaza... and in rejecting the displacement of the Palestinians and attempt to annex their territories,” it added.

“Our people are committed to just and permanent peace based on the relevant international resolutions,” continued the council.

It tasked the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to follow up on every regional and international effort to that end.

It also tasked the committee with launching a national dialogue that would reach national consensus that would establish the PLO as the sole legal representative of the Palestinian people.

The dialogue must prioritize a political solution that calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The council also stressed the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homeland from where they were forcibly displaced in 1948, which is in line with United Nations General Assembly resolution 194.

For its part, Hamas slammed the council decision to establish the position of vice president, saying it only deepens the Palestinian division and promotes unilateral decision-making.

It described the council meeting as “disappointing” and that it “had not met its aspirations to achieve real unity that is needed to confront the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israeli escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

Hamas noted that main factions boycotted the meeting in rejection of attempts to monopolize decisions and the “coup against the spirit of national partnership.”

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine boycotted the meeting.

Hamas called for the “rebuilding” of the PLO and holding comprehensive elections, saying they were the “only means to restore unity.”