Fatah official on US aid to the PA: “This…money is a right and an obligation of the US,” refers to Israel as “Zionist gangs”
Official PA TV program From Gaza, on America cutting the funding to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and the Dec. 21, 2017 UN General Assembly vote condemning America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, hosting Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita and political analyst Tawfiq Abu Shomar
Official PA TV host: “Many states have said that the American money is not for blackmail and that the decision-”
Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita: “It is important that we, our people, and our leadership will say these things, and we have said this, that the American and other money is not for the blackmailing of our Palestinian people. We say that all of the US money - not that which it is giving UNRWA - is not worth a grain of dirt from the land of Jerusalem to the Palestinian people. Therefore the Palestinian people will not submit to this blackmail, and we say more than this: This American money is a right and an obligation of the US and of the members of the international community. What is important is that this is a moral, human, and legal obligation towards the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) for which the international c ommunity and the UN are responsible. [The UN] is the one that gave Britain the mandate over Palestine, and therefore it was required to protect the Palestinian people and help it declare independence. However, the international policy unfortunately led to the theft of Palestine and the Zionist gangs taking control…
All of the decisions of the [UN] Security Council were based on the two-state solution from the partition resolution onwards. All of these decisions were based on which decision? On the two-state solution, including the partition resolution, according to which they had no legitimacy in this land (sic., the partition plan did not negate the legitimacy of the Jewish claim to the land of Israel). Unfortunately they took a birth certificate from the UN, which was called the partition resolution, [UN] Resolution 181, and according to it they established their alleged entity based on this great deceit committed by the UN that gave them this certificate and divided Palestine at the expense of its residents and its original people. Therefore, we say that the international community bears the historical, moral, human, and legal responsibility for the Nakba of 1948, which happened to the Palestinian people.”
Visual:
Caption on screen: “[Fatah] Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita”
In early January 2018, the US froze two planned payments to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) for more than $100 million, as the US administration spoke about reexamining and conducting a reform of the UN body.
US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel - On Dec. 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and instructed the State Department to begin preparations to transfer the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump added that the final borders of Jerusalem will be determined during negotiations.
UN Resolution 181 (the UN partition plan for Palestine) was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1947. It called for the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as a separate entity under the rule of a special international body. The Arab state was meant to be comprised of the western Galilee, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and the remaining territory of the Mandate west of the Jordan River would be the state of Israel - Jordan (known at the time as Transjordan) had already been established in what had been the part of the Mandate that was east of the Jordan River. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, but Arab leaders and governments rejected it.
Official PA TV host: “Many states have said that the American money is not for blackmail and that the decision-”
Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita: “It is important that we, our people, and our leadership will say these things, and we have said this, that the American and other money is not for the blackmailing of our Palestinian people. We say that all of the US money - not that which it is giving UNRWA - is not worth a grain of dirt from the land of Jerusalem to the Palestinian people. Therefore the Palestinian people will not submit to this blackmail, and we say more than this: This American money is a right and an obligation of the US and of the members of the international community. What is important is that this is a moral, human, and legal obligation towards the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) for which the international c ommunity and the UN are responsible. [The UN] is the one that gave Britain the mandate over Palestine, and therefore it was required to protect the Palestinian people and help it declare independence. However, the international policy unfortunately led to the theft of Palestine and the Zionist gangs taking control…
All of the decisions of the [UN] Security Council were based on the two-state solution from the partition resolution onwards. All of these decisions were based on which decision? On the two-state solution, including the partition resolution, according to which they had no legitimacy in this land (sic., the partition plan did not negate the legitimacy of the Jewish claim to the land of Israel). Unfortunately they took a birth certificate from the UN, which was called the partition resolution, [UN] Resolution 181, and according to it they established their alleged entity based on this great deceit committed by the UN that gave them this certificate and divided Palestine at the expense of its residents and its original people. Therefore, we say that the international community bears the historical, moral, human, and legal responsibility for the Nakba of 1948, which happened to the Palestinian people.”
Visual:
Caption on screen: “[Fatah] Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita”
In early January 2018, the US froze two planned payments to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) for more than $100 million, as the US administration spoke about reexamining and conducting a reform of the UN body.
US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel - On Dec. 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and instructed the State Department to begin preparations to transfer the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump added that the final borders of Jerusalem will be determined during negotiations.
UN Resolution 181 (the UN partition plan for Palestine) was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1947. It called for the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as a separate entity under the rule of a special international body. The Arab state was meant to be comprised of the western Galilee, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and the remaining territory of the Mandate west of the Jordan River would be the state of Israel - Jordan (known at the time as Transjordan) had already been established in what had been the part of the Mandate that was east of the Jordan River. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, but Arab leaders and governments rejected it.