After three days of meetings, Fatah's Revolutionary Council (RC) called for escalating the unarmed popular resistance to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and called on all Palestinian factions to join in this struggle. 'Based on the leadership role of the Fatah movement, the (Revolutionary) Council stressed the continuation and escalation of the popular resistance everywhere, and the importance of the formation of popular resistance committees to confront the settlers' aggression,' said the Council in its final statement at the conclusion of its 11th session held in Ramallah and chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas. 'The Council also calls on all national factions to give this matter the utmost attention and to engage in the popular resistance everywhere.' The RC, which decided to convene Fatah's eighth congress on December 17, also said the movement, which is headed by President Abbas, will proceed in the national dialogue with its partners in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and those not members in the PLO, 'to activate and develop its (PLO) departments and bureaus in all fields, and to give proper attention to our people in the diaspora, especially in the refugee camps in Lebanon, particularly Ain al-Hilweh,' and to 'end the division and its catastrophic fallouts on our entire national project.' The RC emphasized that Jerusalem is the core of the Palestinian national project and Palestine's eternal capital, stressing that there will be 'no peace, no security and no stability without the embodiment and the independence of our state with its capital East Jerusalem, the Arab Islamic and Christian city.' It said the all-out popular resistance will continue in the capital, Jerusalem, reiterating the call for a boycott of the Israeli municipal elections in East Jerusalem either through voting or nomination. The RC rejected all pressures to end the financial support for the families of Palestinian freedom fighters incarcerated in Israel or those killed or injured by Israeli gunfire. 'Fatah's Revolutionary Council also stressed the movement's moral approach to looking after the families of martyrs, prisoners and the wounded, no matter what the sacrifices and the intensity of pressures because they are in Fatah's heart and conscience and will remain so,' said the statement. Israel regularly withholds millions of dollars from the Palestinian tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) claiming the withheld money amounts to the stipends the PA pays families of Palestinians killed, injured, or imprisoned by Israel. Lately, reports said Israel wants to get a universal declaration condemning the PA's financial support to these families. President Abbas addressed the RC on its opening day on Thursday during which he commended the peaceful popular resistance in Palestine, affirming its ability to achieve its desired goals. However, he emphasized the need for concerted efforts to expose what he described as the true face of the occupation before the world, reiterating that the Palestinian people deserve their freedom and independence like any other free nation in the world. He also discussed the latest political developments and the current situation in the Palestinian cause and briefed the members on regional and international efforts aimed at garnering Arab and international support for Palestine's endeavors to safeguard the rights of the Palestinian people and stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the land and holy sites. President Abbas emphasized the significant global solidarity with the Palestinian cause as the Palestinian people continue their just struggle to achieve their rights, justice, and freedom, pointing out that the Palestinian people and leadership will not allow the Israeli occupation's plans to pass, which aim to entrench the occupation through the implementation of racially driven expansion plans and an apartheid regime.
Source: En - Palestine news & Information Agency - WAFA