RAMALLAH, Sunday, December 29, 2019 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas said tonight that he is determined to pursue Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which last week decided to open an investigation into Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
"The one who attacked us we will hold him accountable," he said at the start of a meeting for Fatah‘s Consultative Council held in Ramallah. "This will cost us a lot, and Israel has begun its actions against us. These things that they are taking, such as the decision today (in reference to an Israeli cabinet decision to withhold more than $40 million of the Palestinian tax revenues) are part of the measures that they are taking against us. But we will not be deterred because we are right and we were treated unfairly, and because we speak the truth and demand it. So we tell the world that we will go to the International Criminal Court."
The president also reiterated his position that there will be no elections without Jerusalem.
"We will not hold elections without Jerusalem being part of these elections, which means the resident of Jerusalem votes in the heart of East Jerusalem," he said, explaining that he will not issue a decree for legislative and presidential elections without guarantees that elections will be held inside occupied Jerusalem as well.
He stressed, marking the 55th anniversary of the launch of his Fatah organization as a liberation movement, that "we will not stop the struggle to reach the goal we want, which is our Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and not in East Jerusalem."
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