Ministerial Cabinet Meeting in Ramallah (18-2-2000)

The Holy Jerusalem Fund Meeting

The leadership conveyed its gratitude to His Royal Highness King Mohammed VI of Morocco for his generous sponsorship of the Holy Jerusalem Meeting and his generous donation to the city of Jerusalem and its people, who are being harassed by the Israeli government through its policies aiming to judaize the city of Jerusalem.

The leadership expresses its thankfulness to all Arab and Islamic countries who participated in this meeting and expressed its readiness to continue its support to the Holy City of Jerusalem, while working to free the city from occupation. The leadership also emphasizes its deep thankfulness to Egypt for its donation to the Holy Jerusalem Fund, which will enhance the Palestinian people’s steadfastness, recalling Egypt’s national role in guaranteeing the rights of the Palestinian people, the freedom of our land from occupation and building the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The leadership also expresses its full thankfulness to all other Islamic states who have made donations to the Holy Fund of Jerusalem.

The Histotoric Agreement between the PLO and the Holy See in the Vatican

This historic event constitutes a historic turning point for the sake of the Peace Process, the Holy City of Jerusalem, the protection of the national Palestinian people’s rights and the implementation of international resolutions related to Jerusalem.

The leadership considers this event as a very important and significant achievement for the Palestinian people, the future of Jerusalem and the enhancement of the Peace Process.

The leadership, while fully appreciating the valuable position that the Holy See has taken in reaching this historic agreement, reaffirms its great and deep welcome to the historic visit of the Pope to Palestine, which will take place in the coming month of March.

 President Clinton’s Letter: “The Palestinian Track is the Core of the Peace Process”

President Arafat received an important letter from the American President Mr. Clinton discussing the Peace Process and the crisis of the Palestinian-Israeli track. Mr. Clinton emphasised in his letter his continuing efforts to push the Peace Process forward, reaffirming his interest in the Palestinian track as the basic core of the Peace Process.

The leadership, while recognizing this significant position of President Clinton, stresses the weight of the American role in the Peace Process as whole and calls for a full and speedy participation in the negotiations in order to push the Peace Process forward.

 President Arafat’s meetings with the Egyptian President Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II.

President Arafat visited Amman as well as Cairo, where he held important talks with President Mubarak in Cairo and King Abdullah II in Amman. The talks evolved around the current status of negotiations.

President Mubarak and King Abdullah II expressed their full support to the current Palestinian position that calls for full adherence to the specific implementation of all signed agreements and the disapproval of all Israeli attempts to ignore these agreements and skip its obligation to effect redeployment, especially the third redeployment phase, which forms the substance of the Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian land. 

The leadership recommends to pursue the political and diplomatic efforts, both internationally and with Arab countries, in order to clarify the Palestinian position and what has become of the negotiations with Israel. Pinpointing the fact that the real reason behind this stalemate is the Israeli refusal to respect and apply the Sharm Al-Sheikh MOU, that basically deals with Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territory, and constitutes the essence of any progress in the negotiations. This is particularly true since the return of the Palestinian land to its people and its liberation from occupation are the bases of the Peace Process.