RAMALLAH, January 12, 2009 (WAFA)- The Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called, Monday, for acceptance of the Egyptian Initiative without any delay, to save our people from an impending catastrophe and to prevent the loss of more lives.

In a press conference held, Monday, in Ramallah, PM Fayyad recalled the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1860, which calls for an immediate cease-fire, was issued last Saturday morning, and efforts to reach an agreement on the Egyptian Initiative, announced last Tuesday by President Mubarak.

The added that the Egyptian Initiative aims to secure immediate implementation of the cease-fire followed by the other elements that the UN Security Council resolution recognizes as necessary for the sustainability of the cease-fire; lifting the siege, opening up all border crossings, and resuming the Palestinian national dialogue with a view to reconciliation.

Yet, notwithstanding all these developments, Israel’s military aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip continues for the seventeenth day, with 900 martyrs and over 4,000 wounded, a large percentage of them children and women, PM Fayyad continued. The humanitarian crisis is deepening, with extensive destruction of infrastructure, lack of safe drinking water, and lack of safe shelter for the great majority of the population of the Gaza strip. Tens of thousands of Gazans have been displaced. There is an acute shortage of food and medical supplies, as the cities, villages and camps are besieged.

PM Fayyad explained that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) welcomed the UN Security Council resolution upon its adoption, stressing the need for its immediate implementation. He stated, “our top priority and our national responsibility are to find an end to the Israeli aggression and to the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe befalling our people.”

The PNA also welcomed the Egyptian Initiative, launched by President Mubarak, as a practical and rational mechanism for implementation of the UN Security Council resolution. “We continue to believe that the Egyptian Initiative serves our national interests, to save our people from this aggression, to stop the bloodshed, to establish a cease-fire, and to put in place measures to end the Israeli siege and achieve national reconciliation,” he commented.

PM Fayyad affirmed that the PNA strongly condemns Israel's rejection of the UN Security Council resolution and its continued disregard of the will of the international community as expressed by the Security Council. He further clarified that Israel has continued its aggression with disregard to the lives of civilians and to the principles and norms of international humanitarian law, confirming that the PNA renews its call to all international parties to take up their political, legal and moral responsibilities, and secure an immediate cessation of this aggression and the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution.

In light of the gravity of the situation, the PNA is shocked and dismayed by positions that delay implementation of the cease-fire and acceptance of the Egyptian Initiative. “We therefore call for a re-examination of such positions and for acceptance of the Egyptian Initiative without any delay, to save our people from an impending catastrophe and to prevent the loss of more lives,” PM Fayyad commented.

The PNA recalls that both the Egyptian Initiative and the UN Security Council resolution have underlined the need to re-open the Rafah crossing within a framework that protects Palestinian territorial integrity.

He also recalled that both the Egyptian Initiative and the UN Security Council resolution call for national dialogue and reconciliation to re-unify the homeland, and lay the foundations for national partnership and responsibility in the administration of all affairs of the whole country, not just the operation of one border crossing. Reconciliation will also secure re-unification of PNA institutions which will bring together all Palestinians inside the occupied Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to enable us to protect and salvage our national aspirations to put an end to occupation and to fulfil the legitimate rights of our people, foremost of which is the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with  East  Jerusalem as it capital on the 1967 borders.

The PNA calls on the UN Secretary-General and on all UN Security Council member states to take concrete and immediate steps to secure Israeli compliance with the Security Council resolution, to secure an end to the aggression against our people, and to provide international protection to our people as a prelude to a serious solution that addresses the roots of the conflict, by ending the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

The Prime Minister concluded by saying, “We are following closely all steps taken within the Palestinian national campaign to provide relief to Gaza, as well as all other relief initiatives. We underline the importance of co-ordinating all efforts with international agencies. The PNA has maintained contacts with the international community, as well as with our Arab brothers, to mobilize all efforts to secure shelter for all citizens who have lost their homes and to start without delay the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.”