On the 54th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories (the setback), Palestine National Council (PNC) said that the escalating crimes of the Israeli occupation will not affect the will of our people to continue their struggle to return to their land, and to embody the independence of their state with its capital, Al-Quds Al-Sharif (the Holy Jerusalem) as its capital.

In a statement issued today on this occasion, PNC added: This is a critical moment in the march of our people’s struggle, and in light of the open war carried out by the Israeli occupation and terrorist settlers’ gangs on our land and our holy sites, it requires every Palestinian to unite, end division and achieve national unity within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as it is the legitimate and sole representative of our heroic people in all places of residence, to confront the aggression of the occupation and its racist policies that aim at ending the Palestinian existence from their land.

Our heroic people wrote the most wonderful meanings of steadfastness and sacrifice during the long years of occupation, PNC affirmed, the Palestinians confrontation is united, and their united struggle was strengthened on the ground in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the territories of 1948, this is what happened during the aggression of last May to defend their existence and their rights, stressing that without ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, including the city of Jerusalem, the region will not enjoy peace and stability.

PNC said: The continuation of Israel, the “occupying power,” to implement the policy of Judaization in the city of Jerusalem, and the forced displacement of Jerusalemites from their homes in the neighborhoods of our occupied capital, especially in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, and the Israeli escalating attacks on holy sites, confiscation of land and building settlements and other works, is violating the foundations of any solutions to the Palestinian issue, especially the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 67/19 of 2012, which promoted Palestine to an observer state, on the 1967 borders, including its capital, Jerusalem, and the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2334. of 2016, which considers settlement, in all its forms and manifestations, to be null and must be stopped, as well as Resolution 194 on the Palestinian refugee issue.

PNC called on international institutions, foremost of which is the UN Security Council, to assume their responsibility to respond strongly and decisively to Israel’s continued violations of UN Security Council decisions, and to take effective measures that oblige it to the requirements of a just peace based on the right of Palestinian people to practice their self-determination on their land like other peoples of the world, and to establish a sovereign Palestinian state with its capital city Jerusalem, and solving of the refugee issue on the basis of Resolution 194, a solution that forms the basis of the international will to solve the Palestinian issue in accordance with the relevant international legitimacy resolutions.

PNC concluded the statement by saluting the pride and honor of Palestinian people for their steadfastness, adherence to their rights and land, their defense of their sanctities, and their determination to realize the dream of the martyrs by embodying the goals of the Palestinian people in a sovereign state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif (the Holy Jerusalem) as its capital.