Fatah leaders 'salute' Palestinians for rising to defend al-Aksa Mosque

The members of the Fatah Central Council, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called on Palestinians to “preserve the popular nature” of the current protests.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Updated: OCTOBER 8, 2015 00:57
24 hours of terror in Israel
Fatah leaders who met in Ramallah on Wednesday “saluted” the Palestinians for “rising to defend their al-Aksa Mosque and confronting terrorist settlers.”
The members of the Fatah Central Council, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called on Palestinians to “preserve the popular nature” of the current protests “as part of a comprehensive national strategy to avoid sliding into the Israeli square.”
A statement released at the end of the meeting said that the Fatah Central Council stands behind Abbas’s policies as expressed in his recent speech at the UN General Assembly.
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, said that the PA president briefed the Fatah leaders on the outcome of his contacts with various parties “in order to secure international protection for the Palestinians, who are facing wanton Israeli aggression.”
Abu Rudaineh said that the Palestinians would ask the UN Security Council to issue a statement calling for an end to settlement construction, providing protection for the Palestinians and recognizing a Palestinian state on the 1949 cease-fire lines, with Jerusalem as its capital.
He said Abbas reiterated during the meeting his position that the Palestinians would revise signed agreements with Israel if the Israel government does not abide by them.