The National Popular Conference for Jerusalem: Global Recognition of the State of Palestine is a Significant Step Towards Ending Occupation

SadaNews - The General Secretariat of the National Popular Conference stated that global recognition of the Palestinian state is considered a significant step towards ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 in all its military and settlement forms. It pointed out that the real bet on the international community revolves around the possibility of transforming these recognitions into tangible, practical steps on the ground to liberate the Palestinian people from the last occupation in modern history.

The General Secretariat added in a statement today, Monday, welcoming these recognitions, that this was achieved thanks to the significant political and diplomatic efforts led by President Mahmoud Abbas "Abu Mazen" in international forums and the United Nations, on one hand, and the world's conviction that the Palestinian people have been living under historical injustice since 1948 and that it is time to correct this mistake that has left our unarmed people suffering for decades from the oppression and cruelty of the occupation, which is still waging a genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip, while continuing to control the West Bank as part of what is called the annexation plan that has turned Israel into a state of apartheid, working to restrict the right to self-determination in Palestine to Jews only.

The General Secretariat emphasized that the Palestinian struggle in all its forms over the past decades has resulted in positive outcomes expressed intensively in the international recognitions of the Palestinian state under occupation. It called on Britain in particular, as the author of the Balfour Declaration that granted Palestine a national home for Jews worldwide, to move forward with its political steps that we hope will lead to liberation from the occupation forever.

The General Secretariat stressed that what is also required from the states recognizing the Palestinian state is to compel Israel to lift the blockade imposed on the city of Jerusalem, which is completely isolated from the rest of the West Bank and has been under severe siege since the Gulf War until today. Israel has intensified its separation process after October 7, 2023, as the city has become a ghost town under coercive military rule and an economic and political siege, in addition to tightening the noose on citizens to force them to flee the city towards other neighboring areas. In this context, the General Secretariat referred to the recent occupation measures that have subjected villages and towns in northwest Jerusalem to a "ghetto" that separates them from Jerusalem and the West Bank through the issuance of magnetic cards and crossing permits to a number of these towns as part of the process of isolating and annexing them to Israel, ignoring all calls, demands, and international appeals to stop its practices which kill any hopes of achieving lasting and comprehensive peace in the region, as well as killing the two-state solution for which both France and Saudi Arabia are organizing an international conference.

The General Secretariat of the National Popular Conference for Jerusalem, in its statement, confirmed that international recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to establish their independent state with its capital in Jerusalem must be followed by concrete measures, the foremost of which is to boycott Israel economically and stop exporting weapons to it, which it uses to kill the Palestinian people and arm settlers who rampage through villages, towns, and cities, killing and confiscating land and properties without any deterrent from the occupying state. On the contrary, they are protected by army forces that endorse their rampage throughout the homeland.

The General Secretariat affirmed that the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with its capital in Jerusalem, led by President "Abu Mazen", is a right guaranteed in international charters and norms, which has finally been translated by the countries that recognized this state suffering under the weight of occupation, which has received a strong slap from the international community that has become more aware than ever that the Palestinian people deserve to live, deserve freedom and therefore deserve a state.