Abu Sitta warns Abbas against recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, as it contradicts with the Palestinian right of return

Abu Sitta warns Abbas against recognizing Israel as national state for Jews

[ 07/10/2007 - 12:04 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Salman Abu Sitta, the general-coordinator of the Right of Return conference, has sternly warned Saturday PA president Mahmoud Abbas not to fall to the Israeli "trap" by recognizing occupied Palestine as national state for Jews.

In a written message he sent to Abbas and a copy of which was furnished to Saleem Al-Za'anoun, the head of the PLO's national council, Abu Sitta explained that the Israelis were trying to get this new form of recognition of their state in a bid to push Abbas to concede as many Palestinian national rights as they could, not least the right of return.

He explained that the Israeli officials were striving hard to convince Abbas to accept the Hebrew state, which was established on 78% of usurped Palestinian lands as "national state for the world's Jews", describing such acceptance, if it takes place, as disastrous to the decades-long Palestinian national struggle.

"Palestinians in homeland and in the diaspora, particularly the refugees, were cautiously monitoring your negotiations with Israeli premier Ehud Olmert because they tackle decisive issues as far as they (Palestinian people) are concerned", Abu Sitta wrote to Abbas in his letter.

He also asserted that the Israeli efforts were focusing on persuading Abbas to compromise more Palestinian legal rights, and to accept Israel as Jewish state with the aim to "legalize their occupation of Palestine, and to clear themselves of the most heinous crime the modern history had ever seen".

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people were driven out of their homes at the hands of armed Jewish gangs and militias at gunpoint in 1948, and forced to live in tragic conditions in miserable tents in neighboring countries.

UNGA resolution number 194 urged for the immediate return of the Palestinian refugees; but Israel had never complied with that binding resolution.

"The Palestinian people will definitely reject pressures on them to drop the right of return or compromise any of their national constants", confirmed Abu Sitta.

Unity and autumn conference: Moreover, Abu Sitta urged Abbas to stop rejecting calls from Hamas and other Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim parties to start national reconciliation and unity dialogue, affirming that such matters are badly needed as national imperatives before Abbas could head to the US-planned autumn conference.

"We must read the events very well, and we must realize that national unity and strong Palestinian internal front would help a lot in strengthening the Palestinian and Arab stand, and in preserving national constants and legal rights of the Palestinian people", Abu Sitta furthermore underlined in his letter.

H also called on Abbas to expedite reforming and rebuilding of the PLO on strong and healthy basis to genuinely represent the entire Palestinian people, stressing that a new PLO national council must be elected so as to put the process of negotiation with the Israelis in the right framework, and to make it "negotiations with the entire Palestinian people instead of confining it to a small group of a certain Palestinian party".

In this regard, Abu Sitta urged Abbas to unveil names of the Palestinian negotiators in order to check their eligibility, knowledge, and credibility in the Palestinian street.

Finally, Abu Sitta affirmed to Abbas that "The situation is indeed very serious and very sensitive perhaps more than others could imagine; thus, listening to the Palestinian public opinion and rallying behind their national demands would mean a lot on the Palestinian and Arab level, and would bolster Palestinian steadfastness and resoluteness".

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