The Political Committee of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) confirmed its absolute rejection of the American workshop in Manama and called on the Arab brothers to boycott it.

In a statement issued after its meeting at the headquarters of PNC in Amman on Monday, headed by Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoun, Speaker of the PNC, and in presence of Father Constantine Qarmash, Deputy Speaker of the PNC, and Mr. Mohammed Sbaih, the Secretary of the PNC; The Political Committee rejected all the workshop efforts aimed at replacing the political solution with the economic solution, marketing the so-called "Deal of the Century", the normalization of relations with the occupying power, the ending of our right to self-determination, the return of refugees to homeland, and establishing of an independent and sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.

The Committee assured that the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine is the main reason for the destruction of its economy, while its salvation is the only way to achieve prosperity and liberate the national economy from domination, subordination, annexation, and enabling our people and institutions to control its resources and natural and economic wealth.

The Committee stressed that the unity and consensus of the Palestinian public and official position, which was most evident in rejecting the "Deal of the Century" and its economic part (Bahrain Workshop), entails accelerating of ending the divide of Palestinians by implementing the reconciliation agreements, and enabling the Palestinian government to takeover in Gaza Strip to achieve the national unity, and to enable our people to steadfast with the leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people. PLO is the mandate of the Palestinian people and the guarantor of its rights and representative of its interests. PLO did not delegate anyone to speak on behalf of Palestinian people or represent their interests, especially in this workshop called by Trump’s Administration.

It also called upon the Arab brothers to boycott the workshop, which was boycotted by major countries such as China, Russia, the European Union and many other Arab countries, and appreciate the position of peoples, states, trade unions, parties and heads of parliaments who refused normalization with Israel, and rejected the "Deal of the Century" and its economic part, including all projects and plans aimed at the liquidation of the rights of the Palestinian people.

In its statement, the Committee called for an official and popular Arab consensus to thwart the objectives of the workshop, which is suspicious of its objectives, outputs and applications. And to abide by the text and spirit of the resolutions of international legitimacy, the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002, the resolutions of the Arab and Islamic summits and the Non-bias countries that recognize the State of Palestine under occupation, the right to return to homeland, self-determination, and the establishment of Palestinian independent, national and sovereign state.

The Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Arab Parliament and the Union of Islamic Parliaments have also been invited to announce their rejection of the Bahrain Workshop, whose organizers want it to be an Arab platform to announce the launch of the "Deal of the Century", starting particularly with the economic part, in order to legitimize what has actually a US - Israeli decisions to replace the international references with new ones originated from the US administration and fully consistent with the Israeli vision to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

The Committee stressed the importance of informing the regional and international parliamentary unions on the reality of the objectives of this workshop, turning the Palestinian cause from the issue of the Palestinian people under occupation seek to liberate their homeland and return to, and achieve national independence, to a humanitarian cause, seeking to improve economic and living conditions under occupation, and turn the political solution of the Palestinian cause into an economic solution. However the real experiments proved that any economic development under Israeli occupation is impossible, especially that the nature of the Israeli occupation is a colonial and substitutive occupation based on the most extreme forms of apartheid, which undermine the development and progress, and based on the dominance of the racial and ethnic factors.

At the end of its statement, the Committee saluted our heroic people at home and the Diaspora, and its institutions and leadership headed by President Mahmoud Abbas for their steadfastness and their rejection of all conspiracies and projects for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, and calling on all factions and forces to consolidate the leadership of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and to give priority to national interests over narrow partisan interests.

In his speech in the opening of the meeting, Mr. Al-Za’anoun said that the Bahrain workshop will not bring good to our people, and that the Trump administration is trying to mislead the world public opinion that it is keen on Palestinian people and its prosperity, while the truth is Trump’s administration is selling illusions to Palestinians, trying to exchange the rights against money, forcing Palestinians to coexist with the occupation and accept the results of its aggressive decisions on the city of Jerusalem, the capital of our Palestinian state, and the liquidation of the refugee issue, and recognize the right of Israel to annex the Palestinian territories and colonize it.

Mr. Al-Za’anoun called on the Arab brothers not to deal with the outcomes of this workshop, because our people and leadership rejected it and refused to deal with its outputs which will not bring good to our people. Those who want to help our people and save them from their financial crisis do not wait for anyone. The door was always open to strengthen the Palestinians steadfastness before the Bahrain workshop. The door is still open. Jerusalem is waiting to be saved from Judaization and ethnic cleansing, and support the steadfastness of its people there. Now there are 100 Palestinian houses in Wadi Al-Homs/Sur Baher in Jerusalem waiting within days for demolition and displacement of its dwellers.

Mr. Al-Za’anoun said that the US administration continues its desperate attempts to impose its deal which is completely biased to the Israeli occupation with the aim of ending the Palestinian cause by replacing the solutions references based on international law and international legitimacy with the references of Trump and Netanyahu.

Over the past year and a half, the Trump administration and the occupation government have used all forms of pressure, extortion, financial blockade and other means to pass their bad deal, Mr. Al-Za’anoun continued "Our people and leadership under President Mahmoud Abbas steadfastly, bravely stood up for the Palestinian rights, resisted pressure and refused the deal and the workshop.

Mr. Al-Za’anoun stressed that we are confident of the solidity of our position and our ability to confront those who try to undermine our existence, identity, history and rights. The people and the leadership are united in rejecting this deal, refusing to bargain and resisting extortion wisely and powerfully, despite the threat, intimidation and lack of commitment of some to what they endorsed in Arab summits and initiatives that prevent normalization with the occupation before the withdrawal from our land and the establishment of our state.

Our position is clear and explicit, and we will not take advantage of our rights, Mr. Al-Za’anoun added, any justification for participating in this workshop under the pretext of contributing to the suffering of our people is an unconvincing argument. We are the owners of the case; we refused to participate in the Workshop and called for its boycott, because its goal is to replace the political solution with economic illusions.