Mahmoud Aloul, deputy chairman of Fatah, said that the decision to terminate agreements with Israel announced by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was fundamental to confront annexation plans.
“The alternative to that was the choice of humiliation, to be supportive of the occupation and its policies, and to accept its crimes and settlers against our land and our people,” Aloul said, confirming that the decision to end all agreements with Israel was a warning to the world before the latter moves forward with its plans to annex parts of the West Bank.
Abbas had announced terminating all agreements with Israel and the United States, including security agreements.
However, the PA has been maintaining constant contact with all world countries in an attempt to mobilize a position that could prevent Israel from implementing its plans to annex parts of the West Bank, a plan that threatens the future of the PA and the entire political process.
PA and Fatah officials have called for “mass protests” in the West Bank to foil the Israeli plan.
Several PLO and Fatah officials participated in Monday’s demonstration in Ramallah, during which hundreds of protesters chanted slogans denouncing the plan and calling for unity among Palestinians.
Despite the wide range of officials attending the protest, the number of demonstrators was limited.
Aloul said in a speech during the protest that the rally proves that the Palestinian public supports the Palestinian leadership’s policies, including Abbas’s decision to “end all agreements” with Israel.
“We came here to say that we are all united in confronting the occupation,” Aloul said. “We are fully confident of our capability to thwart their [Israel’s] schemes. But this requires joint work and unity,” he added.
Wasel Abu Yusef, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told the protesters that the Palestinians would continue to demonstrate against the Israeli plan.
“Our people are united in their rejection of the Israeli annexation policy,” he said. “This policy comes in the context of the so-called American ‘Deal of the Century.’”
