Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that the Palestinians are committed to peace but not to agreements that Israel does not acknowledge.
Abbas made his statements during a speech he gave in the Djiboutian parliament after attending the opening of the Palestinian embassy’s headquarters in Djibouti, the country’s capital.
His speech was attended by President Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed and the parliament’s speaker Mohamed Ali Houmed.
During the speech, Abbas called on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people from Israel.
The occupation “is the cause of all our miseries”, Abbas explained, calling for holding an international conference for peace and creating an international support group.
Abbas also called on the UN Security Council to adopt a multilateral mechanism for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through resolutions that would impose a halt of settler expansion.
He urged for a clear timetable to be laid out for the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative.
The ultimate result, he added, would be an end to the occupation, freedom and independence for the Palestinians, and security and stability for all.
“This region will not enjoy security, peace and stability unless our people enjoy this too. War starts with Palestine and peace starts from Palestine. We will remain committed to noble ethical and humanitarian principles, and we will build the foundations of our state and our present. Our generations will remain in our homeland, Palestine. We will not surrender or give in,” he said.
Abbas added that the Palestinian territories are currently witnessing a state of anger and tensions. “This is because of the state of hopelessness and despair among the youth,” he said.
The political horizon does not herald a better future or a solution to the current impasse, which is caused by the continuation of the occupation and the attacks on Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem, and especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, he added.
The Palestinian president also thanked Djibouti for its support for the Palestinian cause and praised the country’s “democratisation” achievements.
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