STATEMENT BY BUREAU OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

 

Following the briefings received at today’s meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Bureau of the Committee adopted the subsequent statement:

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People has been following with grave concern the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.  It emphasizes that the prolonged Israeli occupation is the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  For 40 years, the occupying Power has systematically altered the Palestinian land by implementing its illegal policy of settlements and, more recently, the construction of a wall in the West Bank, including around East Jerusalem.  Continued closures, the sealing-off of the Gaza Strip, as well as unrelenting Israeli incursions into Palestinian population centres and the humiliating system of checkpoints throughout the West Bank have rendered the Palestinian Authority nearly dysfunctional and contributed to the polarization within the Palestinian society and the tragic military events of the last weeks in the Gaza Strip.  Concerted action must be taken in order to avoid the disintegration of the very foundations of a future Palestinian State that have been created through tremendous efforts and costs over the past decade.

The Bureau calls upon the Palestinian leadership, the leaders of all factions and all Palestinians to unite behind the elected President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and his Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and to solve their differences peacefully.

The Bureau calls upon the parties to resume without delay the political process aimed at the establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State in the Territory occupied since 1967, comprising the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.  The international community, including the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, stands ready to support any tangible steps towards a solution of the question of Palestine.  The Bureau of the Committee reiterates its long-standing position that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and, as such, an essential party to any negotiations aimed at resolving the question of Palestine by peaceful means.

The Committee is mandated to promote the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.  The Bureau reaffirms the Committee’s determination to pursue its mandate until this ultimate goal has been achieved.

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For information media • not an official record