CAIRO, Feb 29 (NNN-MENA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday, called on the Arab League (AL), to support Palestine in obtaining full membership in the United Nations (UN), the AL statement said.
The Palestinians currently have non-member observer state status at the UN.
AL’s Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, received a written message from Abbas, calling for an international conference to adopt a comprehensive peace plan, with international guarantees and a timeline for the implementation of ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian president voiced “categorical Palestinian rejection” of the Israeli prime minister’s post-war plan for Gaza.
On Feb 23, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, presented his first official “day after” plan for the Gaza Strip, once the war ends, saying, Israel will keep security control over Palestinian areas and make reconstruction based on demilitarisation.
Abbas warned about the danger of the plan’s principles, especially in terms of denying the existence of the Palestinian people and insisting on imposing Israeli sovereignty over the entire land, extending from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River.
The plan showed the intentions of the Israeli government to re-colonise the Gaza Strip, and entrench the occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, through building thousands of settlement units, Abbas said.
“The Palestinian Authority is ready to take necessary steps to assume governance responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem,” Abbas said in his message.
He urged the AL to continue working to achieve a ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the return of the displaced to their homes in the north of the territory.
Meanwhile, Aboul Gheit reaffirmed his commitment to working to achieve the objectives outlined in Abbas’s letter, especially an immediate cessation of hostilities, the urgent and sustainable delivery of aid, and a firm rejection of the plan for displacement.
“Halting the brutal war remains a top priority for the AL, and its member states,” Aboul Gheit reiterated.– NNN-MENA
