In a joint address, delivered Thursday with the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, PA President Mahmoud Abbas warned Israel not to turn the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict into a “religious” dispute.Abbas briefed Greek Prime Alexis Tsipras on the “intolerable, unacceptable and harsh conditions” of the Palestinians as a result of Israel’s actions.
He said, according to the PNN, that the “continuation of Israeli occupation, settler crimes, harassment, arrests and summary executions of our youths, as well as the economic siege against our people and the absence of a political horizon, have all prompted Palestinian youths to respond.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, Abu Mazen added that the Palestinians do not want negotiations for the sake of negotiating and would not accept provisional or partial solutions. He said that the Palestinians would pursue their efforts to join more international treaties and conventions to salvage the two-state solution. Abbas also reiterated his demand for international protection for the Palestinians.
Abbas also accused the Israeli government of derailing all opportunities over the last 22 years to achieve peace with the Palestinians: “Israel has destroyed the foundations of all political, security and economic agreements [it has made with the Palestinians].”
According to the World Bulletin, the Greek Prime Minister expressed his concern about the ongoing construction of “Jewish-only” settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
“We are concerned about the [Israeli] policy of settlement expansion, which comes at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people,” Tsipras said.
He also stressed the importance of safeguarding the historical status of Jerusalem’s holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Tsipras went on to urge Israel to take “bold steps” on the Palestinian issue, stressing his support for any international initiative in this regard, as reported by World Bulletin.
“We must achieve a two-state solution with a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.
Archive IMEMC story: Alexis Tsipras: Israeli Brutality Against Palestinians Must End
