President Abbas Emphasizes that Palestine Will Not Allow Its Citizens to Be Expelled from Gaza and the West Bank

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Wikimedia Commons/World Economic Forum)

JAKARTA - President Mahmoud Abbas emphasized that Palestine will not allow Israel to expel its residents from Gaza or the West Bank, after the end of the ongoing aggression in the Palestinian enclave.

In his speech at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Sunday, President Abbas emphasized that Jordan and Egypt strongly reject the movement of Palestinians from their homeland to their territories.

President Abbas emphasized that a political solution must be reached to unite Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in an independent Palestinian state through an international conference.

Furthermore, he also reiterated his demands for an immediate end to Israeli aggression in Gaza, as well as allowing the entry of all food and essential supplies for civilians throughout the region.

"Palestine will never accept the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, their homeland, and will not allow a repeat of the tragedies of 1948 and 1967," said President Abbas, as reported by WAFA, April 28.

"The situation in Gaza is very unfortunate. More than 200 days have passed, during which Israel took advantage of the opportunity to attack the Palestinian people under the pretext of revenge against Hamas, but in reality, they took revenge against the entire Palestinian population," said President Abbas.

President Abbas continued, Israel has killed more than 34,000 civilians, mostly children, women and the elderly. As well as injuring 75,000 people, in addition to destroying 75 percent of buildings, institutions, roads, mosques and universities in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry announced Sunday that Israeli soldiers killed 66 Palestinians and injured 138 others over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 34,454 and the injured to 77,575, since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, quoted from Xinhua.

President Abbas also urged countries that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine to immediately recognize it, as they did with Israel, as a precondition for future negotiations with Israel on borders and other issues.