Damascus - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday
called on the Syrian-hosted Arab summit to help the Palestinians
getting Arab and international protection in the Palestinian
territories.
'Amid the ongoing Israeli escalation in the West Bank, Gaza and
Jerusalem, we are seeking Arab and international protection of our
people,' Abbas said in a speech to the summit.
Abbas focused in his speech on the Israeli practices in the
Palestinian territories, mainly the expansion of Jewish settlements,
building the wall, arrests in the West Bank and the military
offensives on the Gaza Strip.
'Israel is practicing collective punishments against the
Palestinian people. It hasn't stopped the ongoing arrests of
Palestinians in the West Bank, keeping in jail more than 11,000
people,' said Abbas.
Abbas said he had offered a full and mutual truce with Israel
and a plan to rule Gaza Strip crossings, including the crossing on
the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Abbas also said that the PA accepted the Yemeni initiative of
reconciliation, where he called on Hamas 'to end its control of Gaza
and accept the commitments of Palestine Liberation Organization to
the peace process.'
The seven-point Yemeni-brokered initiative of reconciliation
between rival Fatah and hamas called for holding early legislative
and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories.
'We accepted the Yemeni initiative and we believe that it should
be implemented without any amendment or changes,' said Abbas about
the Yemeni plan which calls for a restoration of the Gaza situation
to that before June 2007 when Hamas took sole control of the strip
after bloody fighting with Fatah.
However, Hamas said it only accepted the Yemeni
initiative as being the basis to resume a dialoge on all the
outstanding issues.
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