Published yesterday (updated) 21/07/2009 09:47

 Bethlehem – Ma’an –

 The Israeli occupation government intends to eliminate Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian character, President Mahmoud Abbas insisted in a speech in the central West Bank on Sunday evening.

Abbas' remarks came while commemorating the Isra and Mi’raj (the prophet Muhammad's night journey from Makkah to Jerusalem, then to heavens), mentioned in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah, emphasizing the importance of East Jerusalem, Palestine's capital, for all Muslims.

"Israeli excavations across the holy city endanger its historical buildings and holy places, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque," Abbas said in Bethlehem, a city among the closest to Jerusalem that Palestinians can visit. While in the city, Abbas also visited a home for the elderly and the Terasanta College, which is planned venue for the upcoming Fatah summit.

"Demolishing houses owned by Muslims and Christians in the city, as well as levying high taxes on Muslims and Christians there, are aimed only at forcing them to leave," the president said, stressing recognition of Palestinian rights in the city holy to three faiths as the "key to peace."

Israel captured Palestinian East Jerusalem in 1967, declaring it the "eternal, undivided capital of Israel." The international community has never signed on to Israel's claims, and thus maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.

"Creating a just and comprehensive peace needs honest will, however, peace can never be made by one side," added Abbas, who has in the past accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dictating terms to the Palestinians.

Abbas insisted that the Israelis would have to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian lands and end all settlement activities if the country ever wants to achieve a lasting peace in the region.

Negotiations between Palestine and the former Israeli government led by Ehud Olmert were suspended in the wake of Israel's assault on Gaza, which killed more than 1,500 Palestinians last winter. Abbas and his negotiators have refused to continue negotiating with the new right-wing government until it agrees to begin fulfilling its prior commitments.

Abbas' remarks came amid escalations between Israel and its strong ally, the United States, which on Sunday demanded that Israel stop settlement activities in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu refused in no uncertain terms, reiterating his assertion that the occupied half belongs to Israel.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian presidency condemned Netanyahu's Sunday remarks. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said that "East Jerusalem is a red line that should not be compromised," according to AFP.

Bethlehem tour

On Monday donated a plot of land and $50,000 to an elderly people’s organization in the Beit Sahour, just outside of Bethlehem.

Abbas was accompanied by the governor of Bethlehem Abdul-Fattah Hamayil, secretary-general of the Palestinian presidency At-Tayyib Abdul-Rahim, an aide on settlement affairs, Salah Ta’mari, the former Bethlehem governor, Rafiq Al-Hussaini, the director of the president’s bureau. Abbas shook hands with elderly people in Elderly People Club in Beit Sahour while he announced his donation. Salah Ta’mari asserted he would follow on with allocating the piece of land which the president promised.

The director of the elderly people club Elaine Qassees welcomed the president and his delegation and thanked him for caring about elderly people, and demanded that the Palestinian Authority provide social benfits for them.

“What is special about the Palestinian people is that the young love the old, and the old have compassion for the young. This is the typical family which the Palestinian people like where everyone sympathizes with the other and loves the other,” Abbas said.

After visiting the elderly people club, Abbas visited Terasanta College to inspect its conference hall where the sixth Fatah conference will be held on 4 August.

Abu Mujahid: Jerusalem part of Islamic creed

[ 21/07/2009 - 09:25 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Abu Mujahid, the spokesman of the popular resistance committees, has said that Jerusalem is part of the Islamic creed and could not be surrendered or judaized.

He said in a press statement on Monday on the occasion of Isra' wal M'irage (prophet Mohammed's night journey and ascension to heaven) that the anniversary would continue to link Muslims to the holy Aqsa Mosque from where their prophet ascended to heaven.

He called for confronting Israeli attempts to judaize Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque and to confront Israeli daily crimes aimed at eliminating Islamic landmarks of the city.

Abu Mujahid said that it was a religious duty on all Muslims to stand up to those schemes.

Published today (updated) 21/07/2009 12:25 [Ma'anImages] Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Jordan rejected the Israeli occupation government prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of Israel on Monday.

"The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are occupied territories according to several resolutions issued by the United Nations," Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communication Nabil Sharif was quoted as saying by the official Petra news agency.

"In particular, the UN Security Council resolution 242 of 1967 and resolutions 476 and 478 of 1980 consider Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem null and void and call on Israel to end its occupation of East Jerusalem," he was quoted as saying.

He said that remarks Netanyahu’s statements about Jerusalem were nothing more than "fallacies that negate the well- established legal and political realities" and place obstacles "in the path of peace and US efforts that seek to establish peace through the realization of the two-state vision."

The Jordanian official was responding to Netnyahu’s pronouncement on Sunday that Israel would not curb construction of illegal settlements in East Jerusalem, in response to a US request.

The US State Department summoned the Israeli ambassador in Washington over the weekend to express concern over an Israeli development plan that would demolish an East Jerusalem hotel and build another.