Opposition to displacement of Gaza residents grows amid Israeli strikes

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, at the opening of the 32nd session of the Palestinian Central Council in Ramallah, West Bank, on Wednesday, stressed his state's rejection of Israel's attempts to uproot Gaza Strip residents from their homes on the first day of the two-day meeting.

Abbas insisted that Gaza Strip is an inseparable part of Palestine and went ahead in describing the tragic event as a "new Nakba", referring to the mass displacement of some 700,000 Palestinians in Israel's 1948 War of Independence.

Abbas also slammed Israel for "besieging our people financially by stealing Palestinian clearance revenues, which have so far exceeded $2 billion", and seizing citizens' lands.

Abbas had also called on Hamas to cooperate with the efforts to stop the Palestinian bloodshed, and refrain from giving Israel any new pretext to continue its aggression.

Also at the meeting, Abbas emphasized the need for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an end to attacks in the West Bank, and the need to secure further international recognition of the State of Palestine and to obtain full membership in the United Nations.

At least 147 out of 193 UN-member states, representing 75 percent of the international community, recognize Palestine. But this is changing, with French President Emmanuel Macron recently saying France could recognize Palestine in June while Japan had announced it was reconsidering last year.

The committee said the world, especially the UN Security Council, must assume its responsibilities and compel Israel to halt its "war of extermination in the Gaza Strip "and the "dangerous attacks launched by the occupation forces and terrorist settlers in the West Bank".

The PLO meeting is also scheduled to establish a vice-presidential position for the first time in its history while discussing ways to end the crisis in the Gaza Strip, Wafa News Agency reported.

Internal decision

Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency that the new position was a purely internal decision aimed at addressing functional needs within the organization and not a response to foreign pressure. The candidate must be a current member of the PLO Executive Committee.

Meanwhile, mediators are working on a proposal to end the Israel-Hamas conflict that would include a five- to seven-year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said on Wednesday. An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed 23 people, according to local health authorities.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the strike. France, Germany and Britain meanwhile said Israel's seven-week-old blockade on all imports to Gaza, including food, was "intolerable", in unusually strong criticism from three of the country's closest allies.

Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Agencies contributed to this story.

jan@chinadailyapac.com