The leftist Palestinian People Party (PPP) called on the Palestinian factions to act on saving the National Unity Agreement by forming a large democratic-social coalition to prevent the collapse of the deal, and to actively push for holding national and presidential elections.Waleed Al Awad, member of the Political Bureau of the PPP, stated that freedom of expression and freedom of speech must be protected at all times, and all violations must be ended.
During a meeting organized by the PPP in Gaza, Al Awad said that, during its last week meeting in Gaza, the Central Committee of the PPP specified the main tasks that must be achieved, mainly ensuring international recognition of the Palestinian State in all Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem.
He added that recognizing an independent state and determining its borders would foil the Israeli attempts to avoid its obligations, in addition to Israel’s attempts to impose transitional solutions without any talks on main issues such as borders, the refugees and Jerusalem.
Al Awad further stated that resistance against the occupation is legitimate as the Palestinians are fighting for their rights to live free from the occupation and its ongoing violations.
He warned of American and Israeli attempts to prevent the Palestinians from heading to the United Nations this coming September, and called for rejecting the recent European initiative that calls for regarding the speech of U.S. president Barack Obama, as the foundation for peace talks.
Al Awad said the Unity Agreement must be implemented, as it came to assure the legal and political unity in Palestine, including in occupied East Jerusalem, and added that the Palestinian constitution must be the base of implementing unity and holding legislative and presidential elections, in addition to ensuring public freedoms, and forming the unity government.
He warned of the current deteriorating social and economic conditions in the Palestinian territories, and stressed on the importance of national and economic struggle to defend the workers, the poor and all marginalized sectors of the society, and to combat the irrational increase in prices amidst the lack of monitoring the local market.
On his part, Sobhi Al Jadeely, member of the Central Committee of the PPP, secretary of the PPP in Gaza, said that the Palestinian rights and freedoms must be protected at all times.
Head of the Cultural Committee of the PPP in Gaza, Mohammad Kaheel, called for protecting and advancing the cultural and social aspects of the party, and presented an educational plan, that will be implemented by the party, in order to boost the creativity of its members, to ensure they implement their tasks in a moral and intellectual way that protects the future of Palestine.
All speakers affirmed the Palestinian rights of liberation and independence, and their right to continue their legitimate nonviolent resistance against the occupation and settlements.
Bassam Salhi, secretary-general of the PPP stated recently that any new government must be presented to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for approval, an issue that would end the domination of the executive authority over the legislative and legal authorities.
Salhi added that protecting national unity requires boosting the roles of the social sector, and called for forming a national coalition of all social and democratic sectors in order to ensure elections are held next year under a unified political system that protects that basic law, and protects the upcoming general and presidential elections.
He also called for unity to ensure a strong front in countering the Israeli attempts to prevent the Palestinians from heading to the United Nations to seek independence and statehood.
