President Mahmoud Abbas affirmed today that Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites are a red line, and that the Palestinian people and leadership will not tolerate Israel’s attacks on worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. “The attacks that we saw today on our people celebrating Holy Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem, as well as the preceding attacks on worshipers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the desecration of its courtyards, are condemned and rejected,” said the President during a Ramadan Iftar banquet at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah. He said these Israeli attacks “reveal the dishonesty of the [Israeli] occupation, which claims to allow freedom of worship in the holy places.” Meantime, President Abbas affirmed the firm Palestinian position adhering to international legitimacy as a basis for resolving the Palestinian issue and ending the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He pointed out that on upcoming May 15, the United Nations will celebrate for the first time the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, and what Palestinians everywhere are required to do is to commemorate this tragedy, “because it is the first time that the global community does not deny our Nakba.” “Commemorating the Nakba must be at the top of our priorities in order to preserve our narrative, which we must adhere to and convey to the whole world,” said the President, who urged all the Palestinians to commemorate the Palestinian tragedy of 1948 in order “to confront all lies and false narratives that attempt to distort history and facts.” The President continued, “On these blessed days, we call on all our people to stand together to face the challenges facing our cause, our land and our sanctities, and to focus our compass towards confronting the occupation and getting rid of it.”
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)