Yesterday, a gathering of various Palestinian factions held an emergency meeting “to discuss the developments amid the zionist aggression against our Palestinian people on day 97 of the blessed Al-Aqsa Flood battle.” They issued a united statement which includes, among other things, the following elements:
• “We reaffirm our united national stance that no agreement or [prisoner] exchange deals will occur without a comprehensive halt to the aggression against our Palestinian people.”
• “Managing the Palestinian affair and the affairs of the Gaza Strip is an internal Palestinian national matter. We will not allow the occupation and its supporters to interfere or impose guardianship over our people in any form.”
• “We emphasize the need for our displaced people to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip governorates immediately and call on international and UN institutions, especially the United Nations, to take full responsibility and act immediately in the Gaza and North governorates.”
The statement also expressed full support for efforts to aid the people of Gaza and alleviate their suffering and for South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice, as well as for Egypt for refusing to accept Israeli efforts to displace the population of Gaza into Egypt.
It concluded: “All attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause have shattered against the rock of our people’s steadfastness and the firmness and bravery of our resistance. The Palestinian bloodshed across Palestine and places of Palestinian presence has no price but victory, freedom, return, self-determination, and the establishment of the Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital.”
TASS reported that Hamas was represented at the meeting, though it did not name the other factions in attendance.
