Embassy of the State of Palestine

President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the Palestinian unity government with Hamas would recognize Israel and renounce violence.
“The government reports to me and follows my policies,” President Abbas said during a meeting of the PLO Central Council in Ramallah. “I recognize Israel and so will the government. I renounce violence and terrorism, and I recognize international legitimacy, and so will the government.”
President Abbas said he held Israel responsible for the crisis in the peace talks because of its refusal to release the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners at the end of March.
He accused Israel of refusing to halt settlement construction.
He said he would agree to an extension of the talks only if prisoners are released and there is a complete cessation of settlement construction. He added that the new government would honor all previous agreements signed by the PLO.
“No one has the right to say that this is a terrorist or extremist government,” he added.
He also called for an end to the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Abbas said that there is no contradiction between reconciliation and negotiation "because we are committed to achieving a just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution and international resolutions."

"Unity of the land and people will empower and contribute to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital," he added.

PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, marked Palestinian Prisoners’ Day by reaffirming that the freedom of the 5,224 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons remains the PLO’s top priority:

“The Palestinian leadership is currently focusing its efforts on Palestine’s accession to the Four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and the First Additional Protocol, and ensuring their implementation in regards to occupied Palestine, with the issue of Palestinian political prisoners at the forefront.”

Israel continues its aggression against Palestinian children in the occupied territories, despite calls to end the ill-treatment of minors during and after arrests, Press TV reports.

UN envoy for Middle East Peace Robert Serry said Saturday that Israeli police refused to grant him and other diplomats permission to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to attend Holy Saturday rituals.
He called on all sides to "respect the right to religious freedom," denouncing the attitude of Israeli police as "unacceptable".

"In this Easter Alert, we choose to focus on Jerusalem and Jerusalemites:
their reality, their plight, and their rights. We have connected with civil society organizations working in Jerusalem, as well as theologians, who have reflected on their longing for Jerusalem. We hope and pray that in this holy week, all Christians all over the world will turn their eyes to Jerusalem and its inhabitants; keep them in their prayers; and work toward opening the eyes, hearts and minds of our occupiers".Kairos Palestine--A Moment of Truth
In other words, we are called to work toward lifting the burden of oppression and occupation, giving Jerusalem the opportunity to unite all peoples of faith in peace with justice.

Dozens of Israeli teenagers face jail terms and blighted career prospects after declaring that they will not join the army because of its "war crimes" in the occupied
The mass act of conscientious objection is set out in a letter signed by around 70 senior secondary pupils, who are refusing to fulfil their legal obligation to enlist when they leave school.

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Christian groups in Jerusalem have launched a campaign condemning Israeli restrictions on freedom of worship in advance of Easter, as some fear a repeat of the police violence the holy city has witnessed in years past.

Produced by the local Palestinian organization Ma'an for Development and Progress in the Christian Quarter with the support of a number of Christian Jerusalem youth groups, a new video calls for "freedom of worship for all" in Jerusalem.

In his first interview about his book on his time as Foreign Minister, Bob Carr says he was frustrated by the influence of the Israeli lobby and makes no apologies for his preference for First Class flights.

On 2 April 2014, the State of Palestine deposited with the Swiss Federal Council its instrument of accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the Protection of War Victims and to their Additional Protocol of 8 June 1977 relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I).
Pursuant to Articles 62, respectively 61, 141 and 157 of the four Conventions, the accession of the State of Palestine to the four Conventions and to the Protocol I took effect on 2 April 2014.