Palestinian President calls on all Arabs to visit Jerusalem

CAIRO - 15 April 2018: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas invited on Sunday the Arab countries to visit Jerusalem to show solidarity with Palestinians and he affirmed that visiting Jerusalem “would not be assimilating with Israel.”

In his Sunday speech at the 29th Arab League summit, Abbas said that the summit is being held while Palestine is witnessing unprecedented settlement attack, aiming to displace Palestinians, occupy their territories and strip Palestine of its Arab identity.

He explained that this attack is supported by the current U.S. administration, which has violated international laws when it recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, a move which rendered the U.S. a party in the conflict and made its peace plan a doubtful endeavor.

He also mentioned that solutions have not yet been reached for the Palestinian cause although many resolutions have been made by the General Assembly and the Security Council in this regard that were not implemented as Israel has remained above international law and without accountability.



He added that Palestine’s attempts to unify the country will continue, and it has been responded to the efforts exerted by Egypt and other Arab countries, the most recent of which was the agreement reached on Oct. 12, 2017 in Cairo under Egyptian auspices to empower Palestinian National Consensus Government and to hold presidential and parliamentarian election.

“In return, an attempted assassination has been conducted against the head of government and the head of intelligence agency, which Hamas has shouldered the full responsibility for,” he added.

Abbas has introduced to the Security Council in February a peace plan based on the Arab peace initiative, in which Palestine calls for holding an international peace conference in 2018 to recognize Palestine as a UN member and to hold negotiations to end the Palestinian occupation and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. He expressed his hope to consider this plan during the summit.

He concluded that Israel is trying to become a member of the Security Council even though it has not implemented any of the UN’s resolutions, calling upon all countries to prevent Israel from being a member in the Security Council.

He warned Arab countries against granting Israel’s the Security Council’s membership.
The 29th Arab League summit kicked off Sunday at King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, commonly known as “Ithra” in Dhahran.

UN General Assembly Secretary-General António Guterres, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini are among the attendees.