The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef Al Hajraf has demanded an apology from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of the Palestinian factions for the inappropriate remarks on Gulf states.
Al Hajraf has condemned in an official statement the “language of incitement and threats” by Palestinian officials during a meeting of the leaders of Palestinian factions that included Fatah, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine last week, to discuss the recently announced Peace Accord between the UAE and Israel.
The GCC chief said the organisation was dismayed by the position of Abbas and others who questioned the unequivocal GCC support for Palestinians and their legitimate rights to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The UAE has clearly declared that its treaty with Israel will lead to reviving the almost-dead peace process. Relations with Israel would also be leveraged to the benefit of the Palestinian people, with potential investment, creation of jobs and political support in future talks
During the meeting, the Palestinian officials also questioned the right of the UAE to establish ties with Israel, which is a sovereign decision by the UAE.
The accord has led to the suspension of the Israeli plans to annex large parts of the West Bank, a move the Palestinian leaders have deliberately omitted from their statement, which was riddled with historical and political fallacies.
Reviving the peace process
The UAE has clearly declared that its treaty with Israel will lead to reviving the almost-dead peace process. Relations with Israel would also be leveraged to the benefit of the Palestinian people, with potential investment, creation of jobs and political support in future talks.
Despite those clear facts, the Palestinian leaders went on to justify their inability to safeguard the rights of their people and their chronic failure to offer a viable and sustainable state structure 26 years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, by placing the blame on the UAE and other Arab countries that have established ties with Israel.
Instead, they called on the Palestinian communities in Gulf states to “rise and resist” any move by the GCC to establish relations with Israel, in a brazen inciting language that was condemned and rejected by the Palestinians who have been living, working and raising their children for decades in the UAE and other GCC countries.
In a statement posted on social media, leaders of the Palestinian community in the UAE said they were “shocked” by the factions’ provocative statement and expressed their “strong condemnation of the abusive language, incitement, and disgraceful statements” made during the Palestinian leaders’ meeting.
The statement stressed the Palestinians community has the utmost faith in the UAE and its leadership’s historic and solid-rock support for Palestine and its people.
This statement is the best response to the ludicrous statement of Abbas and other Palestinian officials. On Tuesday, Abbas issued a short statement saying he was against the offensive language directed by his official against “Arab countries”. His statement fell way short of an apology. An official apology by the Palestinian president is in order.
