RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday stressed that East Jerusalem will be the capital for the future Palestinian state.
“Today, we are celebrating Jerusalem as the Capital of Arab Culture and no one can compete with us on this. Jerusalem is ours and will stay ours and would remain the capital of the Palestinian state and the Arab and Islamic nation,” Abbas said in a speech in West Bank city Nablus summing up a series of activities marking selection of Jerusalem by the Arab League as the rotating Capital of Arab Culture for the year 2009.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan also attended the ceremonies in Al-Najah National University in Nablus.
Meanwhile, Israeli police dispersed an assembly by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and international activists who gathered in East Jerusalem to celebrate the end of the cultural activities.
Jihad Abu Znaid, Jerusalem’s representative in the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Arab News that the policemen beat up the participants with sticks and arrested nine attendants, including Omar Shibli, an official from Abbas’ Fatah movement.
Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of Israeli Knesset, slammed the police activity, saying: “I guess the occupation feels threatened by the Palestinian culture and narrative. This is a struggle between occupying police and the songs of freedom and the song will win in the end.”
Last week, the European Union called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate on Jerusalem as a future capital of two states.
In a separate development, a senior Fatah official said that the extension of the term of Abbas as Palestinian president and the term of the Hamas-dominated Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) would not be unlimited.
Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah Central Committee, said during a press conference in Ramallah that his movement “will not leave the doors open forever to Hamas’ blocking of the presidential and parliamentary elections and the reconciliation efforts.” Al-Ahmad added “the elections are the final sword to settle the political turmoil on the Palestinian side.”
Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council on Wednesday extended Abbas’ term as Palestinian president until June.
The legislature also extended the mandate of PLC to June 28, 2010.
Hamas rejected the decision and said in a statement that “anything issued by the Central Council is illegal since the council has expired its term and its decisions are no longer binding to the Palestinian people.”
Al-Ahmad said “if Hamas maintained its position, we will have to think about taking serious steps in order to hold elections while securing the participation of Gazans.” For his part, Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary general of PLO’s Executive Committee, played down Hamas’ rejection of the extension.
“Hamas argues that the Central Council is illegal. However, Hamas violated the law when it carried out a coup against the legitimate authority in Gaza,” Abed Rabbo told the Voice of Palestine Radio.
