Israel’s plan to build new housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank,
especially in the area known as E1, is a red line because it will divide the
Palestinian lands, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cautioned
Wednesday.
Speaking to Palestinian journalists in his Ramallah office,
Abbas said that the PA leadership has been in contact with several international
parties to prevent Israel from implementing its plan.
“If that happens,
we will resort to all legitimate and legal methods,” Abbas said, hinting at the
possibility that the PA may lodge a complaint against Israel with the
International Criminal Court. “There is what we could do and say to prevent this
dangerous decision.”
Abbas said that all Israeli measures on the ground
must be removed “because international law forbids the occupation from taking
any action in the lands of an occupied state.”
Today, Abbas added, “We
are an occupied state and the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to us as a
non-member observer state in the UN General Assembly.” Abbas revealed that the
PA has set up a special committee to discuss the Palestinians’ future steps in
wake of their success at the UN.
The committee will discuss all legal
aspects and ways of applying for membership in various international
organizations and agencies, he said.
Abbas said that the decision to go
to the UN was not aimed at delegitimizing or isolating Israel.
“Rather,
we want to live in security and stability with Israel,” he stressed. “Israel
used to say that this is a disputed land. We went to the UN to affirm that this
is a state under occupation and it is forbidden to change its demographic
character.”
The PA president said the Palestinians would file a complaint
against Israel with the International Criminal Court “when it attacks
us.”
Palestinians were entitled to defend themselves against “occupation
through a peaceful and unarmed resistance as ensured by international law,” he
added.
Also Wednesday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described
Israel’s plan to build new housing as a “war crime.” He said the Palestinians
were now studying their response to the Israeli decision.
Erekat said
that “all of Israel’s actions since 1967 on Palestinian territories – including
building settlements and the separation wall, as well as the transfer of
civilians [to the settlements] and holding Palestinians in Israeli prisons –
were all tantamount to a war crimes.”