Embassy of the State of Palestine

The PLO Executive Committee held its meeting headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, where they examined the current situation resulting from the Israeli Government decision of declaring war on the Palestinian people and their government, including the continues attempts of temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. In addition to the Judaization of Jerusalem, the increasing settlement activities, the conversion of outposts to settlements, land confiscation, home demolitions, forcible displacement and killings. As well as the incursions into Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps, and the constriction of all shapes. Further, the criminal collective punishment by the occupying power (Israel) used against the Palestinian people and the Israeli settler-terrorism accompanied and protected by the Israeli army in various districts of Palestine, including the capital of the State of Palestine Occupied Jerusalem, which led to the martyrdom and wounding of hundreds of Palestinians in recent days.

The Israeli government has continued its intentional targeting and collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population, a breach of its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime under international law.

Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement is a reminder to the international community of the urgent need for international intervention to protect the occupied Palestinian people from relentless attack by the Israeli military forces and terrorist settlers.

PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said:

“The Palestinian people, like all peoples of conscience and moral responsibility, condemn the use of violence against innocent civilians. However, Palestine, under Israel’s belligerent occupation, has been subject to the systematic and escalating violence of the occupation, whether in the form of settler-terrorism or at the hands of the Israeli military using live ammunition. Recently Palestine has witnessed an alarming and deliberate escalation by Israel, particularly against Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s Old City, while settlers on the rampage enjoy the protection of occupation forces and the political backing of the Israeli government.

2015 also saw Ambassador Abdulhadi of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific make a successful visit to Timor-Leste, one of Australia’s close neighbours.

In response to media inquiries regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly, PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi commented:

“Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have checked his dishonesty and deception at the door. Netanyahu came to the United Nations to pontificate as a global savior and to instruct the world on where it went wrong and how it should behave. When it came to Palestine, rather than dealing with reality, Netanyahu presented figments of his own imagination.

Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of the Israeli occupying power attacked the United Nations during his address to the General Assembly on Thursday, stating that “the UN won’t help peace” and should “rid itself of its obsessive bashing of Israel”. What Mr. Netanyahu failed to mention is that because of this organization, Israel exists at all.

The Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations headquarters in New York for the first time on Wednesday. Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary general, who was present at the ceremony, said it signals to the international community that ‘Palestinian statehood is achievable’

This is a day of pride for Palestinians around the world. It is a day of hope.

It is reminder that symbols are important – and that a symbol can lead to action in the right direction.

The symbolism of raising your flag at the United Nations reflects the commitment of the Palestinian Authority to pursue the long-held dream of the Palestinian people for their own state. It also symbolizes the longstanding commitment of the United Nations to support Palestinian aspirations.

A further development in Australian domestic politics with the potential to impact Australian-Palestinian relations was the internal leadership reshuffle led by Malcolm Turnbull, the former Minister for Communications and a leading member of the Liberal Party.

Statement by Dr. Saeb Erekat, Secretary General of the PLO, on the Occasion of the Israeli Massacre of Sabra and Shatila and the Continued Israeli Aggression on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

All Nations Should Adhere to International Law