Abbas stresses Palestinians' rejection to abandon single inch of their land

Palestinian president discusses with Olmert negotiation progress; warnings against attacking Gaza

Salam Fayad calls for reviving Quartet role to implement road map

Moussa: Palestinian division won't be accepted at Arab level

Arab leaders call int'l community, UN to penalize Israel in accordance with Chapter VII

Palestinians marked the 20th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence for the State of Palestine signed in Algiers in 1988.

On 15 November 20 years ago, the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat addressed the Palestinian National Council (PNC) to officially declare Palestinian independence.

The close of the declaration, written by the renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who died this year, read:

Therefore, we call upon our great people to rally to the banner of Palestine, to cherish and defend it, so that it may forever be the symbol of our freedom and dignity in that homeland, which is a homeland for the free, now and always.

More than 100 countries recognize the existence of a Palestinian state in exile, and host offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) acknowledged as Palestinian embassies.

schools and government institutions went on official holiday to commemorate Independence Day.

In Gaza, Fatah asserted that the Palestinian people “call upon all world countries, and all other organizations, including the International Quartet, to exert pressure on Israel to adhere to international treaties and UN resolutions.”

Fatah also said it expects “more support for the Palestinian struggle and resistance” against the occupation.

“We expect more from other countries,” Fatah said in a statement. “We expect more from [them], to influence the course of international policies and support the Palestinian people in their demands to return to their homeland.”

The movement also called for independence and a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.

President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to withdraw to the borders of June 1967 as a condition for mutual security and peace in the name of Palestinian independence, declared twenty years ago.

Abbas sent a letter from his office in Ramallah to the Palestinian people saying that on this anniversary, if Israel wants peace they simply have to return withdraw to the borders established in June 1967 and return the West Bank lands to their rightful owners.

The only alternative to this solution, the letter said, is war.

“The passage of years and decades of occupation over our land will not force us to abandon or surrender a single inch but will make us keen on building our Palestinian state and obtaining our right to an independent state.”

The president indicated that meetings and negotiations were being held with Israel so that a comprehensive peace on Palestinian terms might be achieved.

The role of Europe in the Quartet must be activated so a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders can established, agreed Palestinian Prime Minister of the care taker government Salam Fayyad and French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner during a joint press conference.

During two separate meetings with French Prime Minister François Fillon and Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner, Fayyad agreed that the future of the peace process requires international intervention to insure Israeli compliance especially in halting settlement construction.

Discussions between Fayyad and the French leaders covered the parameters of peace negotiations, which they agreed should focus on the mechanisms of implementing resolutions rather than on the resolutions themselves. They further agreed that guarantees and assurances would have to be built into any agreement.

Fayyad noted after the meetings that the role of the international community in the political process is to support Palestine in its journey towards statehood.

The French officials congratulated the Palestinian Authority (PA) on its accomplishments in the fields of security, institution building and ensuring governmental transparency. The PA successes, they said, allowed donor countries to fully implement the plans set out at the Paris conference and ensuring the provision of the 1.6 billion US dollars promised to support Palestine.

Asked about the Palestinian unity crisis and Hamas’ boycott of the Cairo talks Fayyad responded: “division and separation are negatively affecting the status of the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.” He also said that “preconditions” to dialogue must be abandoned for the more important cause of unity.

Following the press conference Fayyad delivered a speech at the UNISC international conference on water entitled “water for peace, peace for water.” He was invited by former French President Jacques Chirac.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to release 250 prisoners affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.

During a meeting in Jerusalem, the prime minister vowed to make the gesture before the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday on 8 December, a spokesperson for Olmert told reporters.

As a political as much as diplomatic gesture, none of those released will be members of Islamic factions, including Fatah’s rival, Hamas.

Israel last released 198 Palestinians in a goodwill gesture in August. There are over 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, who are regarded as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation.

Palestinian officials said that during the meeting Abbas asked Olmert to extend a five-month-old truce in the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire is due to expire in December. Renewed cross-border violence, including deadly Israeli incursions, has thrown the truce into question in recent days.

Olmert reportedly vowed to avert a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, to which Israel has laid siege for over a week, blocking critical shipments of food, fuel, and medicine.

During the 40-minute meeting the two leaders also addressed recent Israeli-approved deployments of Palestinian security forces in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Hebron.

The two also agreed to hold more meetings following Olmert's upcoming visit to Washington.

Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused the democratically elected Hamas movement of "shattering" the Gaza truce.

Olmert told the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel could not stand idly by while it came under repeated rocket fire and said he had ordered security chiefs to draw up action plans against Hamas's 17-month-old rule in Gaza.

But several more rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel, leaving one person with light shrapnel wounds to the head and the arm, the army said.

Defense officials said that Israel's border crossings would remain closed to humanitarian deliveries to the aid-dependent territory, despite mounting international pressure for a resumption of desperately needed food and fuel.

Abbas was expected to press Olmert on the issue in talks, following appeals from both the European Union and the United Nations.

Olmert said that "the responsibility for the shattering of the calm and the creation of a situation of prolonged and repeated violence in the south of the country is entirely on Hamas and the other ... groups in Gaza."

He said he had asked security chiefs to "present different action plans against the Hamas ... rule without its hampering our ability to use all necessary force in our response to violations of the calm."

Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz urged Israel to assassinate leaders in the Hamas-controlled government of the Gaza Strip in response to the launch of homemade projectiles from the Gaza Strip.

Mofaz said his country must "stop talking and launch a personal targeted killing policy, against the Hamas government."

If implemented, the assassinations would be an escalation of a present Israeli assault on Gaza which began with a truce-breaking incursion on 4 November.

Another Israeli air strike killed four Palestinian fighters in Northern Gaza, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 15 since 4 November.

Two homemade rockets also landed in the vicinity of Gaza, causing no damage. According to the Israeli military, Palestinian resistance groups have launched 170 projectiles into Israel since the aggression began. There have been no injuries reported as a result of the projectiles, and no damage to any buildings.

Mofaz, a member of the ruling center-right Kadima party, also advocated assassinations when he served as defense minister and military chief of staff.

Mofaz explained, "It turns out that Israel's policy – cutting the supply of goods, electricity and water, is failing to yield the desired results. Moreover, it appears that we are the ones acting like the ones interested in a truce, not Hamas. This approach and policy is wrong.”

"We must convene immediately, form a policy and bring it to the cabinet's approval as soon as possible," Mofaz said.

"The responsibility for the shattering of the calm and the creation of a situation of prolonged and repeated violence in the south of the country is entirely on Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza," Olmert told Israeli ministers in remarks reported by AFP.

Olmert gave no timeframe for wide-spread military action, and made no comment on the discussions on Gaza border closures.

The Likud has asked for a special Knesset recess debate focusing on "the groveling of the Olmert-Livni-Barak government and the absence of a response to the attacks on Ashkelon, Sderot, and the western Negev."

MK Gideon Sa'ar, chairman of the Likud faction, said that "the Kadima government has failed in defending Israeli citizens in the south, after failing in the north as well, and is currently eroding Israel's deterrence abilities while allowing Hamas to turn the truce into a one-sided ceasefire on Israel's part."

Recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip show the “weakness” of the five-month-old Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, an official in the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said.

Ziad Jarghon, a member of the DFLP central committee said in a statement that the Israeli attacks are intended to “end the resistance” to the Israeli occupation. He urged all Palestinian factions to unite and fight back against the Israeli attacks.

Israel killed four Palestinian fighters during an incursion in Gaza.

Jarghon said the conditions of the ceasefire itself should be reviewed.

“Israel is trying to create all possible obstacles to interrupt the national dialogue and to keep the state of division between Fatah and Hamas,” he said.

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an armed Palestinian group based in Gaza, announced that the truce with Israel is “over.”

The PRC’s official spokesperson, Abu Mujahid, vowed to retaliate for Israel’s killing of four of its members.

“The price Israel will have to pay will not only include projectiles and mortar shells; it will include more things that will make Israel regret starting such atrocities,” said Abu Mujahid.

An Israeli air strike in northern Gaza killed four men affiliated with the PRC's An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades. The attack was the latest in a series of Israeli attacks that have thrown the five-month-old ceasefire into question. The truce is set to expire on 16 December.

“There is no such thing called truce after those crimes and resistance sides have right to respond,” he said.

“Truce is over within this ongoing Israeli aggression and blockade and resistance factions have to get ready for revenge,” he added.

“Israel departed truce with such crimes and retaliations are a matter of time and Israel is responsible for all consequences,” said Abu Mujahid.

Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades called for a reconsideration of the ceasefire agreement between Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel.

In a statement, spokesperson of the Al-Quds Brigades Abu Ahmad said Israel had failed to respect the 19 June ceasefire agreement and called for it to be canned.

“It is unbelievable that when Palestinian factions fire homemade projectiles at Israel in response to Israeli atrocities, everybody intervenes and ask for self-restraint, meanwhile the enemy kills and assassinates us and unfortunately nobody comments,” Abu Ahmad said.

The spokesperson aimed several comments about the failure of the truce to Egyptian leaders, who brokered the deal, and accused them of standing by while Israel broke the agreement.

Abu Ahmad said military wings must take responsibility for the voices of those who have died at the hands of Israel, and take action on their behalf.

“The enemy must realize that the resistance is capable of retaliation for this crime and other crimes to follow,” he concluded.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the Palestinian Presidency Spokesman, called condemned the Israeli aggressions on Gaza, he stated that, “escalation of acts of violence by Israel and the ongoing assassinations and deliberate murders committed against Palestinians, would disrupt opportunities for truce.”

Senior Israel Defense Forces officers criticized certain cabinet ministers for beating the drum for military action in the Gaza Strip.

The General Staff officers called for weighing more aggressive action against Hamas if the rocket fire into the Negev from the strip continued. However, they do not support reoccupying the territory at this stage. Top IDF brass also expressed concern that some politicians were trying to drag the IDF into the political debate.

President Bashar al-Assad discussed with the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa the latest regional and international developments, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territories and Iraq.

President al-Assad and Mr. Moussa also discussed the next meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council on the level of Foreign Ministers scheduled for late November where President al-Assad expressed Syria's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip due to the Israeli siege and practices.

The President stressed the necessity for the Arab League to shoulder its responsibility and come up from this meeting with successful decisions and recommendations that guarantee the breaking of the Israeli siege imposed on the Palestinian people.

His Excellency also said the Arab Foreign Ministers have to work in their meeting to reach a mechanism for the establishment of the Palestinian national unity to guarantee the unity of the Palestinian people.

The President and the Arab League Secretary stressed that the establishment of the Palestinian people's objectives depends on the unity of the Palestinian unity, and this necessitates that all the Palestinian factions look for common grounds rather than engaging in elements of division.

President al-Assad renewed Syria's support and readiness to exert all possible efforts to achieve the Palestinian national unity.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and his Deputy Dr. Fayssal Mikdad.

Later, vice President Farouk al-Shara met the Arab League Secretary General.

In a statement to reporters following the meeting, Mr. Moussa said his meeting with President al-Assad focused on the Arab situation in general and the Palestinian situation in particular as well as the current and future developments in the region.

Mr. Moussa added that talks also touched upon the forthcoming meeting of the Arab League Ministerial Council which will discuss the Palestinian issues and the role Syria plays in this regard in its capacity as Head of the Arab Summit.

He stressed the AL commitment to continuously work for the national unity and accord among the Palestinians for the interest of the Palestinian issue and ending the inter-Palestinian dispute before it is too late.

Answering a question on the Syrian-Lebanese relations, the AL chief emphasized that these relations are based on social firm bonds that go beyond the traditional relations that exist between two countries.

Mr. Moussa expressed the hope that the election of Obama as President of the US will lead to the change which he carries as his slogan and around which a lot of voters rallied, adding that this gives the hopes that the next administration will adopt a new policy in the Middle East.

He added that this American role in the Arab-Israeli conflict must be honest as bias to Israel would lead to many repercussions in the peace process.

Mr. Moussa takes part in the underway meetings of the Arab Culture, Information and Communication Ministers in Damascus.

King Abdullah II of Jordan made a phone call with US vice President-Elect Joe Biden after his second phone call with US President-Elect Barack Obama. During the phone conversations, the Jordanian monarch urged the new US administration to be more actively engaged in the efforts exerted to establish peace in the Middle East as soon as possible, press statement issued by the Royal Court said. King Abdullah II expressed willingness to work with Obama and Biden to strengthening relations between Jordan and the US and activating the mutual cooperation in all political and economic fields. They also discussed the situation in the Middle East, with focus on efforts to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution to bring about security, peace and stability in the region.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak rebuffed a call by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through crossings Israel has largely sealed in two weeks of violence.

Asked by Israeli Army Radio about Ban’s appeal and whether Israel intends to reopen the passages, Barak said: “No. There needs to be calm in order for the crossings to be opened.”

Ban telephoned outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and “strongly urged (him) to facilitate the freer movement of urgently needed humanitarian supplies” and UN aid workers into the Gaza Strip, the UN press office said.

Israel closed the crossings after Palestinian militants responded with daily rocket salvoes to an Israeli army incursion on November 4 into the Hamas-run territory, where a five-month-old, Egyptian-brokered ceasefire had largely been holding.

In addition to running out of food for 750,000 Palestinians, about half of Gaza’s population, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it would be forced to suspend cash assistance to 98,000 poor Gazans because of a shortage of currency in the territory.

Barak acknowledged in the radio interview that the violence was touched off by the Israeli raid, which the army said destroyed a tunnel at the frontier that Gaza militants dug and could have been used to try to seize Israeli soldiers.

More than a dozen Palestinian fighters have been killed in the past two weeks. Several Israelis have been slightly wounded by dozens of rockets.

The UN and humanitarian agencies have voiced concern that Israel’s blockade of the aid-dependent Gaza Strip could soon spiral into a humanitarian crisis.

“Israel is sensitive and attentive to the humanitarian needs. But also, Hamas has to impose the ceasefire on smaller groups and this will help it receive more goods through the crossings,” Barak said.

“Should the other side choose to go back to the ceasefire, there will be a ceasefire,” Barak said. “And if they choose to escalate there will be an operation. We are not scared of an operation but neither are we eager for it.”

Olmert said he commissioned a new plan for military action in the Gaza Strip to curb rocket attacks.

But he appeared to rule out any swift move towards a large ground operation, saying his government would monitor the situation and act in a “calm and settled” manner.

Amnesty International is urging the Israeli authorities to allow the immediate passage of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and fuel to the Gaza Strip.

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Program Deputy Director Philip Luther said.

'Israel's latest tightening of its blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse. This is nothing short of collective punishment of Gaza's civilian population and it must stop immediately.'

Even the trickle of humanitarian aid previously allowed into Gaza (on which 80% of the population depends) has now been stopped for nine days by the Israeli army. The delivery of medical supplies and the industrial fuel donated by the European Union and needed to power Gaza's power plant, has also been blocked. This has led to a blackout in large parts of Gaza.

'Gaza is cut off from the outside world. Israel is seemingly not keen for the world to see the suffering that its blockade is causing to the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there', Philip Luther added.

The breakdown last week of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza has generated a renewed wave of violence. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Israeli air strikes and ground attacks on 4 November prompted a barrage of Palestinian rockets on nearby Israeli towns and villages. Five other Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces and others injured in recent days. Palestinian rocket attacks have continued. No Israeli casualties had been reported, when one Israeli was lightly wounded by shrapnel in an attack on the Israeli city of Sderot.

'This dangerous spate of attacks and counter-attacks must be swiftly halted. Both sides know from past experience that their actions are putting the lives of civilian populations of Gaza and southern Israel at risk', Philip Luther said.

Since the beginning of the year and prior to the ceasefire of 19 June 2008, approximately 420 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, half of them unarmed civilians, including about 80 children. In the same period, Palestinian armed groups killed 24 Israelis, 15 of them civilians, including four children.

For the civilian population in Gaza and southern Israel the five-and-a-half-month ceasefire brought a welcome respite from the daily attacks that had blighted their lives for the past eight years. During this time some 4,750 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis were killed. Most of the victims on both sides have been unarmed civilians, including some 900 Palestinian children and 120 Israeli children.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh called the United Nations, represented by its secretary general Ban Ki-moon, to take actions to lift the unfair blockade on the Gaza strip and help the people there.

In a statement, president Saleh said instead of issuing ineffective statements to Israel to stop its siege as well as double-standard policy in favor of Israel a state that exercises all illegal acts and infringes international law , the UN is rather asked to use force against this country according to the 7th term of the UN Charter.

The UK-based aid agency Oxfam warned that Gaza faces a humanitarian disaster unless Israel’s blockade is lifted.

The British-based aid agency urged world leaders to exert pressure on Israel to secure an end to the blockade and also called for a truce agreed in June to be maintained.

“World leaders must step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza," Oxfam's executive director Jeremy Hobbs said.

"As a matter of humanitarian imperative, Israeli leaders must resume supplies into Gaza without further delay. If Israelis and Palestinians alike don't exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns," he added.