{"id":39904,"date":"2019-06-28T05:22:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T05:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=39904"},"modified":"2019-06-28T05:22:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T05:22:51","slug":"palestinian-leaders-call-for-anti-manama-unity-to-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=39904","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian leaders call for anti-Manama unity to continue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nEAST JERUSALEM: Palestinian officials breathed a sigh of relief as the controversial Manama economic workshop \u2014 which they considered a failure \u2014 ended on Thursday, but warned against complacency in its aftermath.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Bahrain workshop was an exercise in futility,\u201d said Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nShe called for robust efforts to build on the united stand adopted by Palestinians in opposition to the US-led conference and the economic plan it promoted, and to seize the chance to reinvigorate the Palestinian national cause by working with allies around the world.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe need to return to our people and build on the national unity that was accomplished, through giving the people a chance to cast their vote in general elections,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\nPalestinian Deputy Premier Ziad Abu Amer echoed Ashrawi\u2019s comments by calling for serious engagement, in particular with countries that have stood by Palestine.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe were not against the economic workshop, had it been done within the context of a political process that was focused on the two-state solution,\u201d said Amer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHe added that Palestinians must build on the unity that Gaza and the West Bank had witnessed, and engage with the world using a proactive strategy that can reinforce the consensus coming out of Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe workshop in Manama showed clearly that you can\u2019t place the cart before the horse,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of us have been involved in track-two diplomacy and we are convinced that it is futile unless it is a fulfilment of a political process, and not a precursor to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAmer said that the failure of the Bahrain workshop was due in large part to the steadfastness of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cPresident Abbas had the courage to stand up and say \u2018no\u2019 and this inspired many people and countries to reject an American process that attempts to circumvent the two-state solution,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nAbbas met Sabastian Pinera, the president of Chile, in Ramallah on Thursday and presented him with the Medal of Bethlehem. During a joint press conference, Abbas said that national rights are not real estate property that can be bought and sold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHe added that the correct political process will require \u201cfreedom, dignity, independence and justice for the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nWhile he rejected the Bahrain workshop, Abbas said that Palestinians yearn for peace.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cDespite all that has happened, we are holding on to the aspirations for peace on the basis of international law, signed agreements and the Arab peace plan,\u201d he said. Palestine will work with any international mechanism that can help Palestinian institutions to develop and empower the economy, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EAST JERUSALEM: Palestinian officials breathed a sigh of relief as the controversial Manama economic workshop \u2014 which they considered a failure \u2014 ended on Thursday, but warned against complacency in its aftermath. \u201cThe Bahrain workshop was an exercise in futility,\u201d said Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi.\u00a0 She called for robust efforts to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}