Palestinians in diaspora launch campaign to confront Israel annexation plans

The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) on Monday launched the “Down with Annexation” campaign which aims to confront the Israeli plan to annex large areas of the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley.

The PCPA announced the campaign during a virtual press conference, in which its Secretary-General, Hisham Abu Mahfouz, said that Israel is taking advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic in order to consolidate its control over the Palestinian territories.

Abu Mahfouz stressed on the importance of working to confront the Israeli policies, calling to unite the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic efforts to prevent Israel from implementing its settlement projects, to end the Israeli occupation and return Palestinian refugees to their homes.

READ: Israel escalates arrests in West Bank to silence anti-annexation voices 

The campaign’s key goals were outlined as being: “Challenging the Zionist policies, blocking the means to the Occupation’s expansion in occupied Palestine, defending the West Bank, and every piece of Palestinian and Arab land, as well as resisting the accelerating annexation policy and the occupation infiltration.”

Political Sciences’ Professor Abdul-Sattar Kassem said the situation in the West Bank is not fit for restoring any of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people.

“The Palestinian national culture has retreated and led to a retreat of the Palestinian cause in the hearts of the Palestinian people themselves,” he said.

Kassem called for the rebuilding of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on a unified basis, shared by all Palestinian factions, stressing on the importance of drafting a new national pact that reflects the aspirations and hopes of the Palestinian people.

READ: Benny Gantz says he’s preparing for consequences of West Bank annexations