Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said that the road for inter-Palestinian reconciliation is clear, urging Hamas movement to fully implement the Cairo agreement singed last month.
"Today, the road to eliminate the causes of division and reach reconciliation is clear through the honest and accurate implementation of the Cairo Agreement of October 12, 2017, in a comprehensive manner that would ensure national, political and geographical unity," he said while chairing meetings for the Palestinian leadership and the Higher Committee tasked with following up the decisions of the Palestinian Central Council.
"Our national unity is the base,” he said, calling on the factions to avoid partisan interest and consider the country’s interest as top priority.
“The independence of Palestine and Jerusalem should be put above any other consideration,” Abbas continued.
He condemned the latest Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, holding the Tel Aviv government accountable for any fallout for its actions.
Abbas signed accession papers to 11 international organizations and conventions, including the Universal Postal Union, the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
In addition, he signed papers for accession to the Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation for Damage Resulting from Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Vienna Convention of Road Traffic, Protocol concerning countries or territories at present occupied, Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, Agreement Establishing the Common Fund for Commodities and International Convention on the Arrest of Ships.
The accession falls in line with Abbas' pledge to engage Palestine in international organizations as a response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
He stressed that the deal of the century, the occupation and settlements will fail. “The inevitability of history leads us to the shores of the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the June 4, 1967 borders, which we are committed to achieving,” he said.
Abbas congratulated the Palestinian people on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, considering it a source of political, cultural and historical pride for the Palestinian people.
Further, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee Saeb Erekat said that the leadership focuses on cementing the truce, but the road to it should pass through the PLO and the Islamic and national factions.
