Palestinian Factions Declare ‘Popular Resistance’ in Rejection of Normalization

Palestinians take part in a protest against the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Nablus, West Bank, August 14, 2020. (Reuters)
Palestinians take part in a protest against the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Nablus, West Bank, August 14, 2020. (Reuters)
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Palestinian Factions Declare ‘Popular Resistance’ in Rejection of Normalization

Palestinians take part in a protest against the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Nablus, West Bank, August 14, 2020. (Reuters)
Palestinians take part in a protest against the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Nablus, West Bank, August 14, 2020. (Reuters)

Fatah deputy chief Mahmoud al-Aloul revealed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was under great pressure to change his stance on regional developments.

This pressure will not change the current Palestinian rejection of agreements between Arab countries and Israel to normalize relations, he added.

“We derive our position from the people and their ability to persevere,” he stressed.

The Palestinians have vehemently rejected agreements reached between Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel and have decided to counter such moves by uniting their ranks after years of divisions and disputes.

These efforts led to the establishment on Saturday of the Unified National Command of the Popular Resistance.

In a founding statement, it called for activating popular resistance, under the Palestinian flag. It said Tuesday will be a day of “a popular uprising that rejects” the normalization.

The United Arab Emirates and Israel are expected on Tuesday to sign an agreement that normalizes their relations.

“The popular struggle will only end with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” continued the statement.

It also called on Palestinians in the diaspora, as well as people in Arab and Islamic countries, to stage rallies in front of American, Israeli and Arab embassies to reject the normalization.

The general secretaries of various Palestinian factions had reached an agreement on September 4 to activate “comprehensive popular resistance” against Israel in wake of the agreements with Arab countries.

The Unified National Command of the Popular Resistance is formed of factions from the West Bank and Gaza, as well as from abroad.

Factions that reject the Oslo Accords have taken advantage of the escalation, with the Hamas movement saying that “comprehensive resistance was the only way to defeat Israel, thwart its plans and liberate the occupied territories.”



Lebanon Says Five Dead in Israeli Strike on Tyre City Center

A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
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Lebanon Says Five Dead in Israeli Strike on Tyre City Center

A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER

Lebanon's health ministry said Israel struck the southern city of Tyre on Monday, killing at least five people and wounding 10 others.
An "Israeli enemy strike this morning on a building" in the center of the coastal city "led to a provisional toll of five dead and 10 wounded", a health ministry statement said.
It added that "work is ongoing to remove the rubble".
An AFP video journalist saw emergency personnel rush a survivor to an ambulance on a stretcher, while other rescuers worked to put out a heavily smoldering fire at the site, where a residential apartment block had collapsed like a pancake.
Tyre, an ancient coastal city which boasts a UNESCO World Heritage site, was subjected to heavy Israeli strikes last week, leaving swathes of the center in ruins.
Israel last month escalated air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent ground forces into Lebanon, following a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with the Iran-backed group over the Gaza war.