PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi and Head of the Austrian Representative Office in Ramallah Andrea Nasi. (Photo courtesy of Ashrawi‘s office.) 

RAMALLAH, December 5, 2017 (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi Tuesday urged Austria to recognize Palestine in the immediate future as to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination, freedom and dignity.

This came during Ashrawi’s meeting with head of the Austrian Representative Office to Palestine, Andrea Nasi, at the PLO headquarters in Ramallah.

Ashrawi expressed her gratitude to Austria for its continued backing of Palestine in international for and urged the Austrian government to recognize Palestine.

The discussion focused as well on the role of the US in peacemaking and the ramifications and consequences of relocating the American embassy to Jerusalem and/or declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“If the US follows through with such detrimental and unilateral decision-making, it will be recognizing Israel‘s illegal sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, eliminating the possibility of establishing the independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and it will be a death blow to the chances for peace and stability,” Ashrawi told her guest. “There can be no lasting solution based on justice unless it is consistent with international law and conventions and the will of the global community."

Both parties also reviewed Israel‘s persistent provocations and violations in Jerusalem, including its unlawful policies of ethnic cleansing and demographic engineering by means of the grave escalation of illegal settlement activities, home demolitions and revocation of Jerusalem IDs.

In that view, Ashrawi said, "There is an urgent need for positive intervention from members of the international community, in particular European countries, to provide protection for the Palestinian people and to curb Israel‘s violations and end its impunity.”

At the end of the meeting, both parties reviewed Palestinian-Austrian relations and emphasized the importance of continuing cooperation and coordination in various fields.

M.K.