Dr. Ashrawi: Nation-building requires the end of the occupation
PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi met with Deputy Head of Mission of the Office of
the Quartet John Clarke at the PLO Headquarters in Ramallah.
The discussion focused on the latest political developments and the alarming conditions on the ground, in particular Israel’s expansion of its illegal settlement enterprise in and around the Occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem).
Both parties reviewed the work of the Quartet and its projects and where they can be most useful in supporting the Palestinian economy and institution and nation-building. Dr. Ashrawi stressed, “The military occupation of Palestine is the real obstacle preventing genuine development and nation-building; the occupation needs to end so we can control our land and resources and exercise sovereignty on our state on the 1967 borders.”
The flaws of the July 2016 Middle East Quartet Report were also raised, and in that view, Dr. Ashrawi called on the Quartet to reexamine its role in dealing with Israel’s military occupation and its destruction of the two-state solution and the requirements for peace and stability. She also affirmed the imperative of both the Quartet and the international community to exercise the political will necessary to bring Israel to end all settlement activities and to abide by international law and conventions.