Erekat: Trump, Netanyahu plans to liquidate Palestinian cause ‘doomed to failure’

Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Saeb Erekat has played down American and Israeli plans to “liquidating the Palestinian cause”.

“Attempts by the [US President Donald] Trump administration and the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government to impose dictates to liquidate the Palestinian cause and destroy the national project are doomed to failure,” Erekat said during separate meetings with foreign diplomats and lawmakers on Thursdayestery.

“The Gaza Strip can not be separated from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and it is impossible to remove the files of Jerusalem, refugees and settlements from the negotiation table.”

There is no peace without East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, without resolving the refugee issue in all its aspects based on UN resolution 194 and considering Israeli colonial settlement illegal.

Erekat called on the international community to reject attempts by the US administration to abolish the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), calling to support the body in order to fulfill its responsibilities towards the Palestinian refugees until their cause is resolved in all its aspects.

The Palestinian official has also stressed that “internal reconciliation is a focal point in the Palestinian strategy,” adding “we cannot face the so-called ‘deal of the century’ without national unity”.

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