Ahmed Jibril: “We will never bring our hands up as a symbol of surrender and will resist to the end”

News number: 8712131669 19:59 | 2009-03-03 Politics

Jibril Reiterates Palestinians’ Continued Resistance TEHRAN (FNA)- Palestinians will never surrender and will continue resistance against aggressors to the last drop of their blood until their country is set free, Founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Ahmad Jibril said on Tuesday.

Addressing an international conference on support for Palestine in Tehran, Jibril referred to the crimes committed by the Israelis in the recent 22-day war on Gaza, and said, “Today we witness war crimes against humanity and we want to try these criminals.” “The question is who issues the permission for them to do such massacres,” he asked. Israel’s recent military operation in Gaza killed some 1,400 Palestinians. Over 50,000 people were also left homeless in the enclave of 1.5 million. Israel’s casualties in the conflict were put at 13, including 10 military personnel, while over 5,500 Palestinians have been wounded. “While hundreds of people are dying in Gaza due to the lack of water, food and medicine which started before the Zionist regime’s aggression, we witness that humanity is trampled upon in Sharm-al-Sheikh (the international donors’ conference for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip) under the pretext of supporting Palestine and reconstruction of Gaza,” Jibril, who is currently the PFLP Secretary General, added. Referring to Hamas government which was elected by the Palestinian people, Jibril reiterated that although “some people want to resist against the Palestinian’s will and choice and insist that Palestine should recognize Israel, these are the Palestinian people who decide their fate”. “We will never bring our hands up as a symbol of surrender and will resist to the end,” he noted, urging the countries which have economic relations with Israel to hold such conferences to support Palestine and make efforts to inform everyone of the Zionist regime’s notorious acts. Calling Zionists “irreligious people”, the head of the PFLP General Command in Damascus underlines that if they were not pagans they didn’t commit such crimes. ———————————- Al-Masakin News Agency http://almasakinnewsagency.wordpress.com/ http://feeds.feedburner.com/Al-masakinNewsAgency http://almasakinnewsagency.wordpress.com/feed/ http://twitter.com/AlMasakin

$600 of the $900 million aid pledged will go to West Bank not Gaza

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/02/18574620.php

$600 million of the $900 pledged by the United States to rebuild Gaza will go to the Palestinian Authority to West Bank development

sharm_el-sheik_2march09.pdf
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Missoula, March 2 (Al-Masakin)—Acting Deputy Department Spokesman for the U.S. State Department Gordon Duguid at today’s daily press briefing that the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Sharm el-Sheik met first with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

During the course of the day the Secretary of State, in addition to attending the plenary session of the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza, met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Bahraini King Hamad. There was an informal Quartet meeting on the sidelines.

The Secretary then met with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and finally Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal. The Secretary of State also met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, with frequent ‘pull-asides with

Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, and Libyan foreign ministers. The U.S. Secretary of State reportedly did not meet with her Syrian counterpart.

With respect to the $900 million pledged by the Secretary, Mr. Duguid said he was awaiting a USAID fact sheet which detailed how that aid would be distributed, but said nevertheless the aid would be distributed in three tranches of $300, $200, $400 million.

The first tranche of $300 million will be provided by USAID in coordination with the United Nations, USAID grantees, and through the Department of State for the UN agencies, the ICRC, and other humanitarian organizations

$200 million will be given to the Palestinian Authority to address the organizations expected $1.15 billion budget shortfall for 2009.

$400 million will be used to support the priorities identified in the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan and will help the Palestinian Authority solidify economic and institutional reforms in the West Bank, which will include support for private sector development, essential public infrastructure improvements in the West Bank, and security sector assistance coordinated by the U.S. Security Coordinator.

Q: So the only bit that’s going to Gaza is the – up to 300 million?

A: That is new money that is going to Gaza. That is correct. But there has been funding previously that has been earmarked for Gaza.

Q: How much of that 300 million is actually for reconstruction and – rather than for –

A: I don’t have that breakdown for you. That’s the breakdown that we’re hoping to get by (inaudible).

Q: Right. I think you’ll find that the answer is zero when you do get the answer. So –

A: Well, we’ll wait and see what answer we get from USAID.

The Spokesman was uncertain whether the proposed $200 million to address the Palestinian Authority’s expected budget shortfall was money already planned for distribution in fiscal year 2009 or whether the money was new money pledged in 2009.

He likewise could not give an estimate as to how much of the $300 million pledged to aid Gaza would actually be used for reconstruction and could not give a breakdown between aid pledged for food and medicine and aid pledged for reconstruction

Q: Okay. If you could find out, and if it does turn out that, in fact, the reconstruction part of the 300 million is zero, can you explain why that is?

A: We’ll always explain why, Matt.

In a similar fashion the Acting Deputy Spokesman could not comment on either the demolition of two homes in Jerusalem or an Israeli army radio report that West Bank settlements are set to double

“What we do have to say we have said many times from this podium, that we call on both sides not to do – take any actions that exacerbate tensions in the region. But I don’t have any particular information on this report that you mention,” Mr Duguid said this morning.

EHC / EHC
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