The Palestine Liberation Front’s Secretary-General and a member of the Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, Dr. Wasel Abu Youssef, stated today that the Palestinian leadership is grateful for the support Egypt’s government and people have given to the Palestinian cause over the years, emphasising that Egypt has made no effort to support the Palestinian cause on all fronts. levels of politics and diplomacy, both nationally and globally.
In an interview with the Middle East News Agency, Abu Youssef also said that because of Egypt’s influence among Arab and Islamic nations as well as internationally, Palestinians have faith in its ability to uphold the Palestinian cause and aid them in securing their legal rights.
He emphasised that Egypt’s contribution to internal Palestinian reconciliation and the restoration of unity, as well as the efforts it has made and is now making to do so, are valued by the Palestinian leadership.
In reference to settlement growth in the city of Jerusalem under occupation, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Front described it as an act of declared war and a deliberate move by the occupation to obliterate Palestinian presence there and impose new facts on the ground in an effort to thwart the establishment of a future Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, similar to settlement expansion in the West Bank. His overarching objective is to create a continuous and autonomous state.
Abu Youssef emphasised the illegality of settlements in accordance with all international legitimacy and legal resolutions, particularly those passed by the UN Security Council. The most recent of these resolutions, Resolution No. 2334, confirmed the illegality of settlement expansion, including in the occupied city of “Jerusalem.”
In his speech, Abu Yousef discussed the violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank, particularly in the northern governorates of Jenin and Nablus. He claimed that the occupation government, its army, and the settlers are waging an integrated campaign of violence against the Palestinian people, wreaking havoc and cutting off streets, uprooting trees, and attacking Palestinians’ homes and property in these two areas as well as throughout the West Bank.
During the campaign for the upcoming Knesset elections, which are expected to take place in early November, he said that Israel’s recent escalation in the West Bank is an effort to appease the right and the extreme right.
Abu Yousef warned against the transfer of the “violence” between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank to “Jerusalem,” and said that the “temple” groups announced financial rewards for those who could blow the “shofar” horn or bring offerings to the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the celebration of the Jewish Throne Day after In a few days, it may ignite a “third intifada”.
He pointed out that Al-Aqsa Mosque is exposed to great serious risks, not only in terms of what was previously planned to divide it in time and space, but the occupation seeks to undermine its status and position, and the matter is not limited to Al-Aqsa Mosque only.
As a result of the occupation, which aims to undermine the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s prestige and position, as well as the prior plans to divide it in time and space, he emphasised that the mosque faces very real risks. However, this problem is not specific to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to Abu Yousef, the occupation has tried everything to subdue the Palestinian people, but it has been ineffective. He noted that during the previous two intifadas, this population had given thousands of martyrs, wounded, and prisoners, and that it continues to do so today, demonstrating that its determination to achieve freedom and independence has not been weakened.
He continued, saying that as long as the two-state solution is not linked to defining the boundaries of the state, defining the capital of the Palestinian state (which is East Jerusalem on the borders of 1967), and without addressing the fate of illegal settlements in Palestinian territories and the right of refugees to return, it has become “a cracked cylinder.”
He emphasised that the occupation shut down the political process for a considerable amount of time under the mistaken belief that it could impose facts on the ground, avoid obligations related to the political process based on international legitimacy and international law resolutions, and attempt to banish Jerusalem from any forum in which it could be discussed.
Since elections cannot be held in an area without Jerusalem, which is considered to be occupied Palestinian territory, “we urge for substantial regional and international demands on the occupation to allow elections to take place in Jerusalem.”
Egypt has made every effort to help the Palestinian cause at all levels, according to the Palestine Liberation Front.
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