Washington DC: In a direct plea to the White House, thousands of American activists have signed an online petition urging President Joe Biden to intervene immediately and cease the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
The petition, which demands Biden to utilize his powers to halt the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza, also calls for imposing a weapons embargo on Israel, which has been carrying out daily massacres for nearly three months.
It underscores the moral imperative to prevent further loss of innocent lives, asserting that the safety and lives of Palestinian civilians should not be a selective ethical concern or a bargaining chip in electoral politics.
The petition insists on the importance of President Biden’s intervention to stop the war and alter the U.S. stance on this assault.
With over 21,000 Palestinians killed to date, the petition warns that without an immediate cessation of gunfire and an arms embargo, more lives will be lost among the Palestinian population every day.
Source: Agence
Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA
Chairman of State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said Thursday 28/12/2023 the proposal for forming a Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank, as outlined in the Egyptian three-phase ceasefire initiative, is exclusively a Palestinian matter.
In its first official statement on the move, Rashwan said the formation of the Palestinian government has already been discussed among all Palestinian parties.
He added that the proposal entails three successive and linked stages ending with a permanent ceasefire, stressing that the proposal was drafted after considering the perspective of all concerned parties.
The initiative aims to reach an understanding among these parties in a bid to prevent Palestinian bloodshed, stop the aggression against Gaza, and restore peace and stability to the region, added Rashwan.
He noted that a detailed draft of the proposal will be formulated and declared once Egypt receives the responses from the concerned parties.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh welc
omed the Egyptian proposal during a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, stressing Egypt’s keenness on Palestinian unity.
He noted, however, that any regional or international arrangement should pass only through Palestinian legitimacy, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Egyptian officials have recently held separate talks in Cairo with delegations from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad on ceasefire and prisoner-captive swap efforts.
Ismail Haniyeh headed the Hamas delegation, whereas the Jihad delegation was headed by its Secretary-General Ziad Nakhaleh.
Last week, Nakhaleh said any swap deal must be carried out only after the ceasefire and based on the principle of “all for all,” which means releasing all captives held in Gaza in return for all Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Egypt and Qatar helped mediate a week-long ceasefire in November, in which Hamas freed over 100 captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian children and women detainees.
The UN Security Council has failed more than once t
o call for an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn strip.
Since the beginning of its bloody war on Gaza, Israel has killed over 20,000 Palestinians, including women and children, and wounded thousands more.
Source: State Information Service Egypt