Erekat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Trump Is Telling The world 'What Was Taken by Force Can Be Kept By Force'

 Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Jericho on February 15, 2017. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Jericho on February 15, 2017. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
TT

Erekat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Trump Is Telling The world 'What Was Taken by Force Can Be Kept By Force'

 Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Jericho on February 15, 2017. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Jericho on February 15, 2017. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's (PLO) Executive Committee Saeb Erekat asserted on Saturday that decisions of the current US administration undermine Palestinian-related resolutions adopted since the end of World War II.

“There is no economic development in the absence of security, stability and peace. Those looking for peace and security have no choice but to end the Israeli invasion, to achieve the independence of the Palestinian States with east Jerusalem as its capital, and to solve the issues of refugees and the release of prisoners and detainees,” Erekat told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The PLO spokesperson was speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, which kicked off in Jordan on Saturday in the presence of more than 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries.

Commenting on the policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration, Erekat considered that they undermine what institutions and international resolutions had established since 1945, through decisions taken by the United Nations, Security Council, General Assembly, UN Charter, Human Rights Council and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.

“Through his policies, Trump says that what was taken by force can be kept by force,” Erekat said.

He explained that such policies lead to one question: “What happens after ISIS?”

Erekat also said that Trump’s decisions concerning the region and its people might lead to violence, chaos and extremism.

On Saturday, the WEF witnessed a dispute between Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi and Oman’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah over the issue “of assurances that Israel needs.”

Bin Abdullah said that Israel needs assurances about its future, and that Arabs need to remove all of Israel’s concerns and fears.

However, Safadi responded by saying that Arabs are committed to the peace deal that recognizes Israel. “What more assurances do the Israelis need? The problem is not with lack of assurances, the problem is with the continued Israeli occupation,” he noted.



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.