Al-Bireh – “Jerusalem” dot com – The first national conference against apartheid kicked off today, Sunday, in the city of Al-Bireh, with the participation of members of the Executive Committee of the PLO, ambassadors, consuls, representatives of diplomatic missions, thinkers, activists, and researchers.

The conference, which was organized by the Anti-Apartheid Department of the PLO, in cooperation with the NGO Network, the Palestinian Human Rights Organization, the Boycott and Divestment Movement (BDS) and the Ministry of Justice, included three sessions on “Zionism and Apartheid” and “International Accountability.” International law, the prospects for confronting Israeli "apartheid" legally, and the "international campaign to isolate and punish Israel".

During his speech, the deputy head of the "Fatah" movement, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, stressed the need to confront Israeli crimes and the apartheid regime through popular resistance, intensify diplomatic efforts in the world, through various United Nations institutions, and follow the legal path in order to isolate the occupation and its racism in the world.

He said: "The new extreme right-wing government poses great risks, which was evident in the requirement for the new ministers to add powers to their ministries, such as the files of the Galilee and the Negev. Occupation and jumping over internal disputes.

He added, "We do not need a great effort to show the extent of the occupation's crimes, as it is proud of itself and defends its perpetrators, as it practices killing and destruction, settlement construction, attacks on holy places, and sponsors terrorist gangs such as hilltop youth, paying the price, and protecting extremist criminals who burn people." Such as the crime of burning the young martyr, Mahmoud Abu Khudair, and the Dawabsha family.

And he added: "The occupation practices the most heinous forms of persecution and terrorism against our people, disregarding all international laws and norms, which was evident in its disavowal of the crime of martyrdom of journalist Sherine Abu Aqleh, in addition to allocating roads for settlers that Palestinians are forbidden to use, steal our water, and sell us the little part." Among them, apart from the difficulty of describing what he is doing because of the detention of the bodies of the martyrs, this is an issue that cannot be understood at all.

Al-Aloul said: "There is no doubt that there are many things that the human mind cannot comprehend, with regard to the Israeli crimes against our people, such as the issue of prisoners who are staying between four walls, including sick prisoners such as: the prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, Walid Daqqa, and Fouad Al-Shobaki, so how can For a person to imagine how the two prisoners, Karim Younes and Maher Younes, would spend 40 years in the occupation prisons.

He pointed out, "The occupation authorities focus in their system of apartheid within the lands of 1948 on the Zionist intellectual side, which claims that they are the chosen people, and the rest of the peoples are at their service.

In turn, the head of the Anti-Separation Department, Ramzi Rabah, stressed the importance of uniting the Palestinian house to confront the next extreme right-wing government, by ending the division, and building on the Algeria Declaration that leads to the restoration of national unity.

He added, "We are facing a very dangerous stage with the formation of a bloody government that places on top of its priorities the abortion of everything related to the right to self-determination, and the prevention of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, because they consider it an existential threat to Israel, which means an intensification of settlements, and undermining any efforts to confront establishment of this state.

Rabah continued, "The next Israeli government also seeks to abort the right of return for the refugees, as they affect the Jewish demographic composition, and see that the solution is settlement, while dealing with the Palestinians within the 48 lands as second-class citizens, in addition to proceeding with the Judaization of lands and annexation, while These endeavors will only be achieved through repression and terror, not only through the army, but also by unleashing settler gangs.

Jordanian MP Khalil Attia: The Conference is an Opportunity to Unify Efforts to Confront Apartheid

For his part, Deputy Speaker of the Arab Parliament Khalil Attia said that the conference is an opportunity to unite efforts to confront the Israeli apartheid regime in all its forms.

He stressed that framing the anti-apartheid department in the PLO constitutes a strategy in the struggle, to expose the crimes of the Israeli occupation, and the first step towards ending it and establishing an independent Palestinian state.

Attia stressed that the position of the Jordanian Parliament is to do everything in its power to stand by the Palestinian right, expose the crimes of the occupation to the world, and support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in their various places of residence.

Source: The official news agency "Wafa"