In presence of the Presidential Office members of Palestine National Council (PNC) in the Jordanian capital Amman today, Thursday on 10thof Dec.2020, the Political Committee held a meeting. The participants discussed a range of internal and external issues, remembering the 72nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations on the 10thof Dec. 1948, Emphasizing that human rights are sacred rights that cannot be violated, and foremost among them is the right of peoples to self-determination.
The meeting participants emphasized the following:
First: The permanent and unconditional right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including their right to live in freedom, justice and dignity in their fully sovereign and independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital, and Palestinians return to their land, in accordance with the relevant international legitimacy decisions, especially since the State of Palestine has ratified all covenants and charters related to international human rights, however, the one who is still suffering from the violation of these rights and covenants is the Palestinian people.
Second: The meeting participants demanded the implementation of all the recommendations contained in the reports of the independent international fact-finding missions and the recommendations of the Human Rights Council related to the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, including occupied Jerusalem.
Third: Providing international protection for the rights of the Palestinian people from Israeli occupying racist policies and measures, especially the continuation of settlement activity and settlers terror, killing children in cold blood, as happened recently with the child Ali Abu Alia, destroying property and displacing its owners, burning churches and mosques, and violations directed against Palestinian detainees, and ensuring full accountability of the occupying power (Israel) and ensure that Israel will not go unpunished.

Fourth: The meeting participants asserted that the Israeli occupation state did not stop any crime to be committed against the Palestinian people, the latest of which was an attempt by a terrorist settler to burn the Church of Gethsemane in occupied Jerusalem, which is the same church in which Jesus was arrested and tried. Therefore, PNC holds the occupation fully responsible for this crime that took place under the protection and careof the occupation.
Fifth: The attendees affirmed that the meetings that brought together President Mahmoud Abbas with His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein and President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi formed the basis for an Arab move towards adopting the initiative of the President Mahmoud Abbas in the UN Security Council to hold an international peace conference, which stimulated a wide international response.
Sixth: The meeting participants demanded the incoming US Administration to abide by international resolutions and international law that stipulated the right to self-determination for peoples and independence, end the occupation and protect the two-state solution by establishing the State of Palestine with its capital, Jerusalem, in accordance with international legitimacy decisions, which represent the core of the Arab strategy which was illustrated by the Arab Peace Initiative, and became an integral part of International resolutions adopted to bring peace to the region.

Palestine National Council (PNC) said that the attempt to burn the Church of Gethsemane (Church of All Nations) in occupied Jerusalem by a terrorist Jewish settler ignites the need for urgent international protection for Palestinian people and their Christian and Islamic holy site to enable worshipers to perform their prayers in safety and peace.
In a press statement issued by the Speaker Saleem Al-Za’anoon this evening, PNC said that the attempt to burn the Church of Gethsemane in occupied Jerusalem is a condemned and disapproved act, and not separated from what is happening every day from the attacks and violations of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque Mosque, and other attacks and burning of mosques and churches in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.
PNC affirmed that the suffering of the Palestinian people will not end except with salvation from this Israeli racist occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the relevant international legitimacy resolutions.
The Council saluted the Palestinian people who failed the attempt to burn the Church of Gethsemane, recalling the steadfastness, solidarity and cohesion of Christian-Muslim that thwarted the occupation scheme in the battle of electronic gates at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which took place in 2017.

The United Nations and advocates of freedom in the world celebrate the 29th of November of each year, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in implementation of General Assembly Resolution No. (40/32 B) in 1977, as an expression of its
commitment the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and establishing their independent sovereign state, with Jerusalem as its capital, as approved by international institutions.
In a press release issued on this occasion, PNC said that security, stability and peace will not be achieved in the region without making the State of Palestine and the rights of its people its center and
foundation, and eliminating the Israeli occupation with all its terror, aggression and settlement imposed on Palestinian people and land.
PNC added that while Palestinian people are remembering the 73 years since the unjust and forced partition of Palestine and against its will into two states, according to UN Resolution No. 181 on 29th of Nov.
1947, it affirms the legal and moral duty of the world’s countries and institutions - foremost among which is the UN and the parties that supported Partition - in implementing the other part of this decision to establish the free and independent State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.
The international solidarity with the Palestinian people must lead to the establishment of the State of Palestine, in implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, especially Resolutions 1515 of 2003, 1397 of 2002 and 2334 of 2016, and ending the Israeli occupation of the territories of the Palestinian state, in compliance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 67/19 issued on Nov. 29, 2012, which recognized Palestine as an observer state on the borders of June 4, 1967, PNC affirmed.
In its statement, PNC continued: The successive UN resolutions that affirmed the inalienable rights of our people cannot be nullified or aborted by a renegade group who has corrupted international relations and violated international law, the United Nations Charter and its resolutions.
On this occasion, PNC called on all countries of the world to put pressure on the Israeli occupation government to stop implementing its plans to annex more of our Palestinian occupied land, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem, which is exposed to the most dangerous settler colonial project, targeting its history and future as the eternal capital of the State of Palestine.
The broad global solidarity with the rights of Palestinian people must be accompanied by the enforcement of the rules of international law and the four Geneva Conventions, in addition to punishing the aggressor, providing international protection for our defenseless people, and putting an end to the escalation of settlements, confiscating lands, demolishing homes, and arresting thousands of alestinians, PNC said.
PNC called on the parliaments and federations of the world, especially the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to do what was stated in the General Assembly resolution on solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to communicate with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and international human rights organizations to lift the injustice of the Palestinian people, end the Israeli occupation and enable the Palestinian people to obtain all their rights.
In its statement, PNC saluted the Palestinian people steadfast on their land, places of refuge and diaspora for continuous sacrifices and adherence to their rights, and also saluted all global solidarity
movements, foremost of which is the global boycott movement, BDS, denouncing at the same time the decision of Trump Administration’s Secretary of State to consider the movement an anti-Semitic one. PNC called on BDS to continue its activities against the occupation, which made the State of Palestine and its people the last occupied state and people in the world.

Palestine National Council (PNC) condemned the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to "Psagot" settlement built on Palestinian citizens' lands in the occupied city of Al-Bireh, which is the first for a US Secretary of State to visit the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
n a press statement issued by the Speaker, Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoon, today, Thursday, PNC considered this visit is a dangerous precedent in international relations, and an American flagrant challenge to the decisions of international legitimacy, especially the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2334, which considers all settlements illegal and invalid, and must stop.
The PNC Speaker called on the United Nations Security Council, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the parliaments of the world to condemn this colonial visit, and to take the necessary measures against Trump Administration and his Secretary of State, who defies all international norms, charters, agreements and covenants that criminalize settlement activity and everyone who supports it, or participates in its validation. The Speaker called on also the International Criminal Court to take the required legal measures in accordance with its mandate, which considers settlement a war crime.
This visit represents a provocation to the whole world, disregarding international institutions and the Geneva Conventions, and insistence by Trump administration in partnering of settlement and occupation, PNC said, this will neither change the legal reality of these colonial settlements, nor will it give them any legitimacy, or will it prove any occupation reality, that has been prohibited and denied by international law.
At the time the world’s countries and institutions denounce the Israeli continued settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories and the building of colonial units, PNC Speaker continues, the last is what the occupation government intends to implement in the occupied city of Jerusalem. Trump Administration is continuing its partnership with the Israeli occupation in all its violations of international law, international legitimacy decisions and aggression against rights of the Palestinian people, who are working to embody their independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, according to those internationa

"The Declaration of Independence in 1988 established the stage for global recognition of the Palestinian state, and its capital is the city of Jerusalem. Palestinian national unity is the shortest way towards defeating the occupation and the return of our people to their land and self-determination on it, and the embodiment of this national independence, in accordance with relevant international legitimacy decisions", PNC sad.
In a statement issued on this occasion, which is tomorrow, Sunday, 15th of November, our Palestinian people continue to recall with pride and glory the martyr Yasser Arafat when he stood before the members of PNC in its 19th session held in Algeria, where he declared: “In the name of God and in the name of the Palestinian Arab people, I declare the establishment of the State of Palestine on our Palestinian land, with Holy Jerusalem as its capital”, PNC added
On this anniversary, PNC recalled the sacrifices of the martyrs, prisoners, and wounded of Palestinian people, and the sacrifices of the martyrs leaders, headed by the leader Abu Ammar, his brothers and companions, who illuminated the path towards independence and preserved national unity, within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole and legitimate representative of Palestinian people.
The Council said: The declaration of the Independence Document opened the way wide for the world’s recognition of the right of Palestinian people to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, where about 110 countries recognized Palestine at the time, followed by the United Nations’s recognition in November 2012, when General Assembly Resolution 67/19 was issued. Now the number of countries that recognized our state reached 141 countries.
In its statement, PNC affirmed what was stated in the Independence Document, that our people have never stopped brave defense of their homeland, and its successive revolutions and uprisings have been a heroic embodiment of the will of national independence. Palestinian people will continue this struggle until the independence becomes a reality, and Palestinian people return to their land. The aggression and racism of the Israeli occupation will never prevent and will never panic the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian people's rejection of all plans and projects aimed at liquidating its national cause and canceling its legitimate rights guaranteed by international legitimacy resolutions, expressing confidence in the ability of our people and its leadership headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, to protect these inalienable rights, PNC reiterated.
PNC renewed its call for the need for the international community and its institutions to bear responsibility, to take their role in implementing international legitimacy and its relevant decisions, and to move to the square of actions to force Israeli - the occupying state - to stop its aggression and end its occupation of the Palestinian people, in order to achieve peace, security and stability in the region and the world.
PNC called for the need to respond quickly to President Mahmoud Abbas's call to hold general elections, so that Palestinian people can exercise their right to choose whoever represents them, in a manner that guarantees saving the institutions and the legitimacy, and achieving reconciliation and national unity within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
PNC concluded its statement by saluting the members of our heroic Palestinian people for their cohesion and steadfastness in the face of the Israeli occupation.

Palestine National Council (PNC) mourned the martyr Kamal Abu Wa'ar (46 years old), who died this evening in the Israeli occupation prisons, due to the policy of deliberate medical negligence pursued by the occupation authorities.
In a press statement, issued by the Speaker Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoon, today Tuesday, PNC confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities refused to release Mr. Abu Wa'ar even though he was suffering from an advanced laryngeal cancer case, in addition to being infected with the Coronavirus, and depriving him of access to appropriate health treatment and leaving the prisoner suffering pain and torment.
The martyr prisoner Kamal Abu Wa’ar was receiving chemotherapy while he was handcuffed, in a sadistic scene which was not witnessed even by the Nazis - in the Second World War - in the treatment of the resistance prisoners.
Israeli occupation authorities are committing a war crime by deliberately practicing medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners, and not providing them with the necessary health conditions and medical care stipulated in Articles (30, 31, 32) of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, PNC added, and pointed out that due to the policy of willful medical negligence and the failure of Israel - the occupying power - to abide by the provisions of this agreement and the additional protocol attached thereto, about (70) Palestinian prisoners have been died, out of (226) prisoners who have been died in the occupation prisons since 1967.
PNC warned of the danger to the lives of about (300) prisoners suffering from chronic diseases while they are in extreme danger, and are vulnerable to infection with the Coronavirus, which requires rapid action to save their lives and release them.
PNC pointed out that despite the spread of the Corona pandemic, the Israeli Prisons Administration did not take the necessary health measures to protect the Palestinian prisoners, as about 90 prisoners have so far been infected, which raises the level of fear of contagion to reach about 4,500 other prisoners.
PNC affirmed the duty of regional and international human and human rights institutions and parliaments of the world to assume their legal, humanitarian and moral responsibilities towards these prisoners, holding the Israeli occupation fully responsible for their lives, calling on the high signatories of the Third Geneva Convention to take urgent action to oblige the Israeli occupation to the Convention provisions towards these prisoners.