The Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) kicked off its 31st session Sunday in the West Bank city of Ramallah under the shadow of a boycott by some Palestinian factions.
The two-day Central Council meeting, held under the title "Developing and activating the PLO, protecting the national project and popular resistance," will discuss Israeli settlement activity, especially in occupied Jerusalem, as well as the deadlocked peace process and other political and domestic issues, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The council is scheduled to elect members of the PLO’s Executive Committee to succeed those who have died or resigned and a new head of the National Council to replace Salim al-Zanoun, who recently submitted his resignation.
“We will not accept the continuation of the Israeli occupation and its colonial practices that perpetuate apartheid and settler terrorism," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at the opening session of the meeting.
"In the face of the Israeli occupation authority's undermining of the two-state solution, options remain open, and the entire existing situation must be reviewed in order to preserve the interests of our people and our cause.”
Underlining that it is impossible to continue implementing agreements unilaterally, Abbas said “contacts with the Israeli side are not a substitute for a political solution based on international legitimacy."
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