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Palestinians Look Forward to Holding Int’l Peace Conference in Early 2021

The Palestinians are pushing for holding an international peace conference in early 2021. (Reuters)
The Palestinians are pushing for holding an international peace conference in early 2021. (Reuters)
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Palestinians Look Forward to Holding Int’l Peace Conference in Early 2021

The Palestinians are pushing for holding an international peace conference in early 2021. (Reuters)
The Palestinians are pushing for holding an international peace conference in early 2021. (Reuters)

Countries supporting Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas’s initiative to hold an international peace conference have prompted local efforts to organize the meeting as soon as early 2021.

In September, Abbas had called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene an international conference in early 2021 to launch “a genuine peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians.

The UN Security Council met on Monday and supported Abbas’ proposal and the need to implement the two-state solution. China, Russia, France and Britain expressed support to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict according to international law and resolutions, amid reservations from the United States and Israel.

Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee and Fatah Central Committee Azzam al-Ahmad said the Palestinian leadership will launch a campaign addressing the public and international community to underline the need to hold the conference as proposal by Abbas.

“What took place at the Security Council is extremely significant. It was a response to everyone who tried to mislead the Palestinian, Arab and international public that the Palestinian leadership was not offering an alternative to the ‘Deal of the Century,’” said Ahmad.

The Palestinians have vehemently rejected US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, saying it is heavily biased to Israel and violated international resolutions.

The Security Council’s discussion of holding an international peace conference under the umbrella of the UN, with the participation of the permanent members and the Quartet plus, underscores the international community’s commitment to international and UN resolutions, continued Ahmad.

Palestinians want to launch an international conference attended by the Quartet (the UN, European Union, United States and Russia) and other countries to launch a multilateral mechanism to sponsor negotiations with the Israelis, based on Security Council resolution 1515, which states that Palestinian land is the occupied territories according to the 1967 borders.

In August, the Palestinian Authority informed the international Quartet of its intention to return to negotiations according to the 2002 Arab peace.

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Crowds Cheer, Families Hug as Palestinian Prisoners Released

Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)
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Crowds Cheer, Families Hug as Palestinian Prisoners Released

Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)

Azzam al-Shallalta dropped to his knees and wept at his mother's feet as he arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah with other Palestinian prisoners released under the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday.

A jubilant crowd carried Shallalta on their shoulders from the bus that brought him from jail, the freed prisoner still wearing his grey prison tracksuit.

"My situation was heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking. We pray to God to free all our brothers we've left behind," he told the crowd, his head shaved and his face pale and thin under a long red beard.

"I can't describe the feeling -- just hearing the news that I would be released was overwhelming", he said while shaking hands with well-wishers.

Around him Palestinians cheered and waved the national flag, as they welcomed dozens of prisoners who arrived in buses.

Hundreds waited in the local sports center where the prisoners were dropped off for a short health checkup, while hundreds more watched on from the surrounding hills as fireworks went off.

Israel said it released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday in exchange for four Israeli women soldiers held in Gaza since Hamas's October 2023 attack which sparked the war.

Not all of the prisoners were bused to Ramallah. Sixteen were taken to Gaza, while 70 were sent via Egypt into exile in Algeria, Tunisia or Türkiye.

A total of 121 of the prisoners released had been serving life sentences.

- So 'much love' -

Tareq Yahya, another freed prisoner, spoke with emotion as he stepped off the bus into the crowd.

"It's amazing how much love our people have shown us, how they've stood by us and expressed their solidarity," the 31-year-old from the northern West Bank city of Jenin said.

Looking through the crowd, Yahya searched for relatives, finding none.

"It seems, based on the situation in Jenin, they weren't able to make it," he said, referring to an ongoing Israeli military operation in the city.

"I'll try to find them, though."

Thinking of the other prisoners who will be released in the coming weeks in exchange for Gaza hostages, Yahya said the ceasefire's guarantors "need to set strong conditions to prevent the beatings, humiliation and mistreatment the jailers have inflicted on us in these last days before our release".

Maisa Abu Bakr, 33, came early with her family to see her uncle Yasser Abu Bakr, whose name was on the list of those to be released this week.

She said they avidly followed the news "on Telegram and TV, and we were ready, wearing our (best) clothes, waiting for the time to get out and come here".

Yasser Abu Bakr had been in jail since 2002 serving multiple life sentences.

"When the lists were published, we saw his name and we were surprised because we didn't expect that he would be freed."

- 'Left hoping' -

Others were not so lucky, like the family of Sadiqi al-Zaro, 65, who made the time-consuming journey from the southern West Bank city of Hebron through multiple Israeli checkpoints to Ramallah.

Zaro's nephew Tareq told AFP the family had come after receiving a phone call from an Israeli intelligence officer who said he would be among those released on Saturday.

"We were shocked when the official lists were announced and his name wasn't included," he said.

The procedures for clearing prisoners for release are opaque and the final list was not released until a few hours before the buses arrived.

"There have been a lot of issues since the beginning of this prisoner release process. It's been difficult for families to get clear confirmation," Tareq al-Zaro said, his cousins nodding in agreement.

He said he was still hoping for his uncle's release after 24 years in prison.

"We're leaving this in God's hands. We came here based on a phone call, and God willing, he'll be released based on an official announcement".