President Mahmoud Abbas says Palestine will never allow the United States to sell Jerusalem al-Quds to Israel, reiterating that the occupied city will remain the eternal capital of the state of Palestine.
Jerusalem al-Quds “is not for sale,” Abbas said in a speech marking the 54th anniversary of the Fatah party’s founding in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday.
“We will not allow anyone to advance a plot against Jerusalem (al-Quds),” he noted, stressing that the city “will remain the eternal capital of the Palestinian state, as the late President Yasser Arafat said that a Palestinian child will raise the flag of Palestine on the walls, minarets and churches of Jerusalem (al-Quds).”
Israel lays claim to the whole Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the city’s eastern sector as occupied territory.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds during the Six-Day War in 1967 and later annexed the city in a move not recognized by the international community.
US President Donald Trump sparked anger among Palestinians and the entire international community in December 2017, when he recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the Israeli “capital.”
Washington also moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied city months later in defiance of global warnings.
Abbas said that the embassy relocation would fail to undermine the right of Palestinians to Jerusalem al-Quds and would not cause them to give up their principles.
He also emphasized that the Palestinian people would press on with their struggle until they establish their independent state, saying, “The revolution goes on and will continue.”
Abbas further said that the Palestinian nation would not accept Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the wake of Trump’s policy shift on Jerusalem al-Quds, the Palestinian president described the US president’s proposed plan, which is yet to be unveiled, as the “slap of the century,” saying Washington could no more act as a mediator in the so-called peace process due to its bias towards Tel Aviv.
Abbas went on to say that Washington’s punitive measures against Palestinians would not change their position on “refugee rights.”
Amid tensions with Palestinians, the US ended its decades of funding for the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees and slashed aid for projects in the West Bank and Gaza.
“The continuation of the colonialist settlement and the occupation of the land of the State of Palestine will not break our willpower, nor will it harm our resolve, because our people will not kneel but to Allah, and this is our land and holy places, and this is the land of our forefathers and grandfathers,” Abbas pointed out in his latest remarks on the subject.
He also warned that Israel’s “racist” laws and measures would not bring security and peace to the occupied territories, but would rather expand the cycle of violence and bloodshed there.
Abbas further congratulated the families of martyrs and prisoners, insisting that Palestinians will ultimately emerge victorious in their struggles against the Israeli occupation.
