RAMALLAH, Friday, March 29, 2019 (WAFA) - The Palestinian National Council (PNC), the parliament in exile and top Palestinian decision-making body, affirmed that our people will firmly defend and continue their legendary steadfastness on the land of their fathers and grandfathers, and will determine their destiny and return to their homeland to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
PNC in a statement issued on the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the eternal Earth Day recalled the the sacrifice of our people in the 1948 lands, when the pure Palestinian blood was shed and six young Palestinians were killed in the areas of Galilee, Almuthallath, and the Negev on March 1976, in response to the decision of the Israeli occupation to confiscate 21 thousand acres in those areas.
PNC confirmed that the policy of ethnic cleansing against our people, pursued by Israel since 1948 has not succeeded in uprooting and displacing the Palestinians from their land, stressing that even Palestinian population in historic Palestine has increased to reach about 6.5 million, of which about 1.7 million are in the Occupied Territories since 1948.
PNC stressed that all acts of occupation, including the expropriation of land and the building of settlements, with the protection and partnership of the Trump Administration, is an attack against international law and the resolutions of international legitimacy. The latest of which of Security Council resolution 2334.
Establishing settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories is a war crime and violates resolutions of international legitimacy, the Hague Convention of 1907, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, said the statement.
PNC reiterated that the decision of the American administration to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem is null and void; as it takes place on occupied Palestinian lands, stressing that the Israeli legislation to establish settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories is completely illegitimate.
PNC called on the upcoming Arab Summit [scheduled for March 31 in Tunis] to address the Trump policies and decisions and protect the Palestinian and Arab lands.
PNC called on the United Nations and its institutions to implement its resolutions on the Palestinian issue, which exceeded 700 resolutions and obliges Israel to end its occupation of Palestine, stop its organized crimes and enable the Palestinian people to self-determination and to return to their land.
PNC renewed its demand for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to condemn the Israeli occupation Parliament, the Knesset, which regulates the theft of the occupied Palestinian land, through expelling its legitimate owners and building settlements under its racist laws, first and foremost is the "Settlement" Law, which was approved in February 2017 and legalized the theft of Palestinian land. “This law is a full-fledged crime.”
PNC concluded its statement by stressing that our people everywhere are determined to get rid of the occupation and defend their rights. PNC paid tribute to the souls of the Palestinians killed by Israel, citing the case of Sajid Abdul Hakim Mezher, 17 years old, the medic who was killed in Dheisheh Camp in Bethlehem.
It should be noted that the Israeli occupation exploits by force more than 85% of the historical area of Palestine, amounting to about 27 thousand Square kilometers, while the proportion of Palestinian population is currently 48% of the total population in historic Palestine.
The number of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank reached 653,621 settlers by the end of 2017. The colonial sites and the Israeli military bases reached at the end of 2017 in the West Bank was 435 sites, of which 150 settlements and 116 outposts, and the rest are military bases and others.
T.R.
