Author: VK
On November 21, a truce between Israel and Hamas came into force. Prior to that, in a few days, Israel inflicted airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket fire. Now the Palestinian Authority is going to get from the UN General Assembly the status of an observer at the UN.
According to Jumaa Ibrahim Al Ferdjani, the head of the Arab League mission in Russia, “the central problem which causes many other problems is Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. Everybody knows that in 1967 after the aggression of Israel against the Arab countries the Security Council of the UN adopted the Resolution 242 which required withdrawing of the Israeli troops from the occupied territories. After this certain stability appeared in relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors. In 1973 the Resolution 338 was adopted after the war of 1973, and this resolution obliged Israel to withdraw its troops from all Arab territories which were occupied in 1967. In 1991 the conference in Madrid was held. The motto “Land in exchange for peace” was supported there. It was the beginning of the process of big hopes for settlement of the problem of the occupied territories; there was a hope for Israel would withdraw its army from these territories. However, unfortunately, the will of the international society was not enough for making Israel fulfill resolutions by the Security Council. The Arab countries proposed a series of initiatives, we proposed a series of suggestions on the partial settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, Israel delayed fulfillment of these resolutions by various means and despite the international law continued occupation of the Arab territories, steadily absorbed more and more Arab territories by construction of residential areas. Israel built 600 guarding points on these territories. A huge number of Palestinians are imprisoned: 4-5 thousand Palestinians stay in Israel prisons today. At last, this aggression against Gaza goes beyond any possible limits. The general secretary of the Arab League, foreign ministers of the Arab countries, and the foreign minister of Turkey visited the Gaza Strip and estimated the damaged committed by the Israeli aggression. It is a spot of shame on the forehead of humanity – the events happened in Gaza”.
Saleh Rafat, the member of the Executive Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization, thinks that “this aggression was undertaken within the election campaign ahead of the Israeli elections in January. The Israelis believe that it will contribute to the victory of the current ruling coalition at these elections. The second circumstance which made Israel commit the attack is the coming request by the Palestinian President to the UN on accession of Palestine to the UN as an observer. In this context Lieberman, Netanyahu, and Barack had to give the Israeli people some victories over Palestine. I should say that the Palestinian people, all its units, the Palestinian Resistance are consolidated and unlike the previous stage when we had certain tensions and even a split, today we are consolidated and full of readiness to protect Gaza.
Israel permanently violates all international agreements. Ahmad Al Jabary conducted negotiations with representatives of Israel through his representative Hamad. Hamad was sent to Cairo and met representatives of Israel there, but Netanyahu decided to get rid of him. Thus, the essence of the aggression is striving for immortalizing the Israeli occupation of 1967. Israel confirms once again that it thought it is standing above the international laws”.
According to Faed Mustafa, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Palestine in Russia, “aggressive attacks by Israel toward the Palestinian people continue from 1948 until now. These hostile acts have various forms. The most recent attack expressed in fire from air, sea, and land. The aggression against the Palestinian people is not restricted by Gaza only. Along with Gaza’s blockade and fire at Gaza, construction of residential areas on the West Bank of the Jordan River continues; the arrest campaign against Palestinians continues too. Night attacks at Palestinians’ houses are taking place. For example, recently 55 Palestinians have been arrested, including members of the Legislative Council. These waves of attacks and aggressive actions against the Palestinian people take place every day. Huge international efforts led to success and we achieved ceasefire. We are grateful to Egypt for its efforts. We also would like to thank Russia. We appreciate efforts of all people who did their best for stopping bloodshed. Our mission and our message to the world is that the international society should do its best for preventing repetition of these events. But the conflict is not settled. The struggle can burn again. New spikes of violence between us and Israel might happen, if the main questions are not solved. The efforts of the international society led to the results, but we hope these efforts will continue and lead to the complete settlement of the Palestinian problem.
We want these efforts would be directed at our aim which is recognized by the international society, i.e. establishing of the Palestinian State within borders of 1967 with the capital in East Jerusalem. Israel does its best for impeding the conflict. We cannot exclude future bloodshed. On November 29 we will address to the General Assembly of the UN. We hope our request for accession of Palestine as a member-observer of the UN will open new prospects for settlement of the problem”.
