President Abbas: We will take all appropriate legal measures to respond to Israeli government's actions

RAMALLAH, Thursday, January 5, 2023 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas said tonight that the leadership "will continue to take all legal measures that international legitimacy allows us in order to take all necessary and appropriate steps" to respond to the Israeli government's actions, including the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Speaking at the beginning of the meeting of the PLO Executive Committee in Ramallah, he said, "We will discuss all these issues, whether with regard to the Israeli government or with regard to the US government, because it is not a secret and there is nothing to hide, that he who stands behind this Israeli policy is the American administration".

The President continued: "I confirm that the storming [of Al-Aqsa Mosque] is the beginning of the implementation of the Netanyahu government’s policy, which we categorically reject. We have heard a lot of rejection of it [the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque] in various countries of the world, and we have also heard rejection inside Israel. This is because many segments of Israeli society reject this policy, not out of love for us, but in defense of the State of Israel and its future."

"After Minister Bin-Gvir’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, we went to the UN Security Council, and hours from now the Security Council session will start to discuss this issue", he added. "We hope that whoever used to give us a veto will not do so, especially since most countries of the world have condemned Minister Bin-Gvir’s act. He had said that he would storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and indeed he did, and this is a phenomenon that we will talk about. We cannot be silent about it at all."

President Abbas added that "there are meetings of the International Action Committee that have begun its work and preparations for international action. At the same time, we will take action at the local and regional levels with regard to responding to the program presented by the new Netanyahu government, a program that cannot be tolerated at all."

"A few months from now, there will be another event, which was approved by the United Nations regarding the commemoration of the Nakba, and this is the first time in the history of the United Nations that the Nakba is commemorated after it was denied by Israel, America and Western countries for a period of time," added the President.

He stressed: "We will also go to the International Court of Justice to determine the nature of the occupation. It took a long time and effort for this law to pass, and for it to go from the UN General Assembly to the ICJ. The issue is now before the court, and we hope that it will speed up the decision-making. We had been under great pressure to reverse this step, but we will not give up our rights."

M.N