Palestinian Authority welcomes House resolution backing two-state solution

The PA also called on the US administration to back down on its “erroneous” policies regarding the status of Jerusalem, settlements and the two-state solution.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures beneath a poster of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (photo credit: FINBARR O'REILLY / REUTERS)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures beneath a poster of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
(photo credit: FINBARR O'REILLY / REUTERS)
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday welcomed a United States House of Representatives resolution that expresses support for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Friday’s non-binding resolution also warned Israel against any attempts towards annexation of territory in the West Bank. The resolution declared that “only the outcome of a two-state solution…can both ensure the state of Israel’s survival as a Jewish and democratic state and fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own.”
It also noted US opposition to “settlement expansion, moves toward unilateral annexation of territory, and efforts to achieve Palestinian statehood status outside the framework of negotiations with Israel.”
The PA president’s office said in response to the resolution that it “appreciates the resolution taken by Congress in support of the two-state solution, and which rejects Israel’s policy of settlement and annexation.”
The resolution, the PA said, comes in response to the US administration’s “erroneous policy,” including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent announcement that settlements are not inconsistent with international law.
“The resolution is a clear message to the US administration and Israel,” the PA said. “This is a message that states that peace can only be achieved by the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and fulfilling the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”
The PA said that “real peace can’t be achieved without referring to international law and legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative” – reference to the peace plan endorsed by the Arab League in 2002 at the Beirut Summit.
The initiative calls for normalizing relations between the Arab states and Israel, in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel to the pre-1967 lines and a “just settlement” of the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN resolution 194.
The PA also called on the US administration to back down on its “erroneous” policies regarding the status of Jerusalem, settlements and the two-state solution.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said that Congress Resolution 326 “represents a blow to the attempts of [US President Donald] Trump’s administration to legitimize illegal settlements and annexation.” The resolution, he noted, “supports our right to self-determination. We must work to stop Israel’s violations of international law and destruction of the two-state solution.”
On Friday night, the PLO Executive Committee, which held a meeting in Ramallah under the chairmanship of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, again lashed out at the US administration and accused it of seeking to impose its unseen plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the “Deal of the Century,” on the Palestinians.
The committee accused the Trump administration of working towards “solidifying” divisions among the Palestinians and undermining the status of the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”
The committee repeated its strong condemnation of Pompeo’s announcement on the settlements and said the Palestinians were determined to “confront all attempts to eliminate the Palestinian cause.”
Referring to the construction of a field hospital in the Gaza Strip with the help of a US NGO, the PLO committee said that such projects are nothing but a “distraction on the part of the US administration that has tried and is still working to close East Jerusalem hospitals and destroy the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).” The committee also took the Trump administration to task for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, considering settlements legal, closing the PLO diplomatic mission in Washington D.C. and halting US funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Abbas said during the PLO committee meeting that the PA “won’t allow the American hospital and other projects [in the Gaza Strip] to pass.” The PA, he said, is also opposed to initiatives calling for the establishment on an airport and artificial island port in the Gaza Strip.