The Palestinian National Council (PNC) congratulated Palestinian women and women worldwide on the occasion of International Women's Day, which meets Friday, March 8th.

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) praised the Palestinian woman for her steadfastness and sacrifice. She is the partner of the Palestinian man in his struggle and resistance since the beginning of the Palestinian revolution. She is the mother who fought in her home when her husband is arrested or martyred, and she is the martyr who sacrifices her life in defense of her homeland. .

PNC in its statement explained that more than 16,000 Palestinian women have been detained in Israeli jails since 1967, while 50 of them in prisons are still subjected to the worst treatment of torture, intimidation and inhumane conditions, including 9 women are wounded prisoners, and one captive woman in administrative detention.

The Palestinian National Council stressed that Palestinian women are still waiting for the world and its relevant institutions to support them, and free them from the suffering and racial discrimination practiced by the Israeli occupation against them, and to stop the crimes of terrorism, murder and persecution, as is the case with other members of Palestinian people.

PNC praised the pioneering role of Palestinian women in Palestinian society and the achievements they have made at all levels whether it’s political, economic or social.

PNC stressed that Palestinian women constitute the main pillar in Palestinian life, struggle and parliamentary work. They occupied the highest leadership positions in the institutions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the institutions of the Palestinian state and called for the necessity of exerting all efforts to obtain Palestinian women's rights in these institutions.

The Palestinian National Council called on the Palestinian institutions to adopt more legislations that protects Palestinian women, end all forms of discrimination against them and strengthen their stature and role in building society.

The Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union concluded its conference today under the theme: “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine”, in Amman the Jordanian capital, where it issued a closing statement and adopted a set of resolutions recommended by the political committee of the Union. The resolutions are generally on the Palestinian issue, and particularly on Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Palestine.

The resolutions of the Conference emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian issue as the first issue of the Arab nation and that there is no peace and stability in the region without a permanent and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue, on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative. It ends the Israeli occupation of all the occupied Arab territories and leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and return of the Palestinian refugees to their land from which they were displaced and to compensate them for the losses incurred in accordance with UN Resolution 194 on the right of return.

The Conference also affirmed its total rejection of all American initiatives, especially the so-called "Deal of the Century". And the support of the Palestinian people under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine in his categorical rejection of those initiatives that detract from the rights of the Palestinian people to return and establish its independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, on the borders of fourth of June 1967.

The conference also condemned the Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gates, the last of which was the closure of the Gate of Mercy with the iron chains, as well as the daily incursions into the mosque and preventing worshipers from reaching it and protecting the settlers during their storming of the mosque, as preparation for the spatial and temporal dividing of Jerusalem Holy Mosque.

The conference also condemned and rejected the decision of the Israeli occupation government to pirate the money of the Palestinian people by deducting part of the Palestinian tax revenues on the pretext that part of it goes to care for the families of the martyrs and the wounded, and the families of the heroic detainees, and a clear violation and flagrant violation of Israel's obligations under the agreements signed, Paris Economic Protocol in particular.

The conference also called upon Arab parliaments to work with their governments to re-activate the Arab financial security net approved by the Arab summits to support the Palestinian people and their legitimate institutions in the face of the American financial siege and Israeli piracy of the Palestinian people's money.

The conference also called upon the Arab parliaments to take urgent and effective financial and political measures and measures and to activate the financial funds established to protect Jerusalem to face the dangers of Christian and Islamic sanctities and to address the policies of ethnic cleansing of the city.

The conference stressed the Arab peace initiative, which has become international according to the Quartet and the road map, which states that no normalization and peace with the Israeli occupation state until after the withdrawal of its forces from all occupied Arab territories and after the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.

The conference condemned the continuation of the Israeli occupation by following the policy of ethnic and racial cleansing in the city of Jerusalem, which was recently notified of the eviction of the inhabitants of 200 houses in Old Jerusalem to evacuate their homes. The family of Abu Assab, whose home has been inhabited for 56 years, was the first of this arbitrary racist decision.

At the end of the conference, Atef al-Tarawana, chairman of the Jordanian parliament, received the chairmanship of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union from the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament, Ali Abdel-A

Mr. Za'anoon calls on the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union to adopt resolutions that prohibit all forms of normalization with the Israeli occupation state, and the wave of American financial siege and Israeli piracy, in addition to providing Palestinians with material support to boost the steadfastness of Jerusalemites.

Palestinian National Council (PNC) Speaker Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoon called on the Arab Inte-Parliamentary Union (APU) to adhere to Arab summit resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative, which prohibits all forms and levels of Arab normalization with the Israeli occupation state prior to its full withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied since 1967 , and to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with Resolution 194, and to consider that any kind of normalization violates those resolutions, and weaken the Palestinian position in the face of the criminal occupation.

In his address to the 29th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, which meets today and tomorrow in Amman the Jordanian capital under the title: “Jerusalem is the Eternal Capital of the State of Palestine”, Mr. Al-Za’anoon said: “Palestine is a trust in the necks of the Arab nations, including Jerusalem, jewel of Palestine, and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," he said in his address to the 29th Arab Parliamentary Union meeting in Amman today. The first of the two Qibla and the third of the two holy places including the Church of the Resurrection and the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

He called on Arab parliaments to urge their governments to activate the financial security net approved by the Arab summits to support our people and legitimate institutions to face economic sanctions and the American financial blockade on our people and to confront the decision of the Israeli government to steal and piracy of Palestinian funds.

He called on Arab parliamentarians to reaffirm that the Palestinian cause as central and the first issue of Arabs. This issue is superior to any other issue, and rises over any dispute.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon added: "This holy country, whose people are fighting the battle of dignity and freedom is steadfast in its land, adhering to its eternal right. It will not bow down and will not break its will, struggling to death, no matter how hard it is.

In his speech, Mr. Al-Za'anoon praised the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's steadfast positions on the Palestinian cause, led by King Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein, the custodian of the Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem, and the Jordanian people, the strong supporter of the Palestinian people.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon added that the Kingdom of Jordan is exerting all its energies and dedicating all its capabilities to defend the first cause of the Arabs and the city of Jerusalem, the capital of our state, and Jordan sponsoring of the Islamic and Christian sanctities, treating it as one of Jordan top internal and external policies.

In his speech, Mr. Al-Za'anoon called for confronting the aggressive war launched by the occupation against the city of Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, and providing financial support for the steadfastness of the Jerusalemites in their city, in accordance with the Arab Summits and APU resolutions.

The Speaker of the PNC paid greetings and pride to our people who are stationed in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, for their legendary steadfastness, and who came to break the siege of the Gate of Al-Rahma in the eastern part of Al- Aqsa Mosque, which was shut down since 2003.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon affirmed to the Arab parliamentarians the hardness of the official and popular Palestinian position under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and facing the plans followed by a great strain of pressure, blackmail and bargaining. Mr. Al-Za'anoon asked the Arab parliamentarians to support and strengthen the Palestinian people, due to their role as the first line of defense for the Arab nation in the face of the occupation projects to establish the Greater State of Israel.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon presented to the speakers of Arab parliaments what is going on in occupied Palestine and what is being plotted plans and projects, foremost of which is the so-called "Deal of the Century", to liquidate the Palestinian cause and its essence self-determination, the return of refugees and the establishment of full sovereignty Palestinian state and its capital the city of Jerusalem.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon stressed the official Palestinian position that this deal will not pass because it is an Israeli colonial settlement project aimed at seizing the Palestinian land, separating the Gaza Strip from the homeland and establishing a self-rule in the West Bank. It undermines the right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and abolishes the right of refugees to return to their homes.

The Trump administration has declared its aggressive war on our rights since December 2017, when it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the occupying state and transferred its embassy to it, Mr. Al-Za'anoon said, Trump administration imposed the financial siege as a means of pressure and compromise to accept the deal. But the Palestinian rejection was unequivocal and firm and we are confident that you share this rejection with us. It violates the rights of the Arab nation in Palestine.

The evils have united in their aggression against our rights, Mr. Al-Za'anoon continued that Trump's actions go hand in hand with the terror of the Israeli occupation against our people, land and sanctities. Jerusalem is being attacked by a Jewish settlement that targets its identity, history and Arab and Islamic landmarks, Just as in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories of subjected to settlements, arrest, and unjust siege of the Gaza Strip.

Israel is trying to undermine the holiness of the Palestinian struggle, Mr. Al-Za'anoon added, and is pirating and stealing Palestinian tax funds, on the pretext that part of it goes to care for the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the heroic prisoners. Stressing the continued sponsorship of these heroes as a national duty and legal obligation to all of us, because they are the address of sacrifice and redemption.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon called on the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union to firmly reject and steadily steadfast all projects and actions led by the Trump administration and the occupation government, foremost of which is the so-called deal of the century, to impose a solution that is not based on the resolutions of international legitimacy that guarantee our people's right to self-determination, return to their land, and establishing of their independent state, and its capital the city of Jerusalem.

Mr. Al-Za'anoon concluded by saying: All these pressures and attempts of cheap extortion, the threat and intimidation, political and economic pressure and field exercised by Israel and Trump management of our people and leadership, will never succeed in changing our positions, and will not barter national rights with money. Our people are able to overcome the stage and thwart attempts to violate our rights in return and state.

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) condemned the decision of the Israeli mini cabinet today, which activates the deduction and theft of the allocated allowances amounts for the prisoners, their families, and the allowances of the families of the martyrs and wounded Palestinians. These amounts are tax revenues collected by Israel on behalf of the State of Palestine.

In a statement issued today, PNC said that the decision comes as part of series of measures aimed at undermining the sanctity of the struggle of the prisoners and the wounded, and a pressure on the Palestinian leadership to stop paying the allocations to them. This is a political and financial terrorism practiced by the occupation government to force the Palestinians to accept what is so-called "Transaction of the Century".

PNC stressed that the war of financial sanctions against our people and its leadership, which are shared by the American administration and the Israeli occupation government, is targeting compromising of the inalienable rights of return and independence, and the establishing of a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.

PNC stressed that our people and national institutions will confront this aggressive decision with full capacity, and stressed too that the Palestinian prisoners, are prisoners of war, who struggle for the liberation from occupation and live in dignity in their homeland. PNC asserted on the continued Palestinian institutions to provide full care for prisoners and families of martyrs and wounded.

PNC confirmed that Israel's decision is a serious breach to the signed agreements, which oblige the occupying state to collect the Palestinian revenues against 3% collection fees of the tax revenues. The tax revenues collected is representing more than 50% of the Palestinian treasury's income, which comprises about 70% of the current expenditure of the State of Palestine to cover the salaries of its employees. This Israeli act is considered a theft, extortion and burglary on the funds of the Palestinian people. As such, the Palestinian counterpart will be non-binding of its obligations and will not accept to continue to honor laterally implementation of the agreements with the Israeli occupation.

PNC called upon the countries worldwide and the relevant human rights organizations to shoulder their responsibilities towards the Palestinian prisoners, and confront this punitive Israeli decision, to protect security and stability in the region before it is too late, and to put an end to the occupation's arrogance and its violation of the principles of international law.

PNC called also on the Inter-Parliamentary Union and all parliamentary associations to condemn this decision, which is an interpretation of an apartheid law passed by the Israeli Knesset last July 2018. Therefore, The Israeli parliament is a full partner in all crimes committed against our people and their rights.

PNC further states that articles 81 and 98 of the Geneva Convention require the occupying power (Israel) - which detains protected persons - to support them, provide them with medical care, support the persons to whom the detainees are dependent, and to provide allowances to detainees who may receive subsidies from their state, and provide all facilities to the detainee to send subsidies to his/her family.

PNC points out that while Israel has been occupying our people, especially the martyrs, the prisoners and the wounded, and their families, it provides material and political care to the murderers, Israeli soldiers and terrorist settlers, provides funds to Israeli prisoners and their families, and provides monthly allowances and compensation to Israeli citizens killed or injured in hostile acts Against our people.

We would like to direct your attention that the so-called Israeli Security Cabinet adopted a decision this evening to deduct more than 502 million Israeli shekels from the Palestinian tax revenues collected by the occupation government on behalf of the Palestinian government.

On 6th of February 2019, The United States disrupted a resolution or a statement by the UN Security Council to condemn or criticize Israel's conduct on the non-renewal of the International Monitoring Mission in Hebron city in the West Bank.

The US administration aims to continue protecting Israel as an occupying power that insists to violate its international legal obligations, acts as a supra-law state and not subjected to international accountability, and to support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision on 29th of January 2019 to end the work of the International Observer Mission in Hebron. The mission was deployed after the February 1994 massacre when an Israeli settler shot and killed 29 Palestinians while they were praying inside Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the city. On 18th of March 1994, the United Nations Security Council issued the Resolution 904, which strongly condemned the massacre at Al-Ibrahimi Mosque and called for measures to provide protection and security for the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian National Council PNC affirms that these attitudes lead to the release of hands of the Israeli occupation forces and settlers, for assaulting, killing, destroying houses and stealing Palestinian land, especially in the city of Hebron, in which more than 400,000 Palestinians live.

PNC warns that the decision of Israel and American protection means the beginning of a darker era in the city of Hebron, whereby Israeli occupation and its settlers will escalate their crimes. This Israeli decision is a step towards revoking and canceling all agreements since the Oslo Accords, and to perpetrate new and more horrific massacres against the Palestinian population, away from the photographers' shots and international reporting.

PNC points out that the Israeli occupation authorities aim at excluding any witness to their crimes against Palestinians anywhere, especially in Hebron where the mission is located in the downtown of old Hebron which houses Al-Ibrahimi Mosque. whereby about 400 settlers live, and guarded by approximately 1,500 Israeli soldiers. Therefore, the presence of the mission is especially protective for schoolchildren, because the mission members do patrol the city in the morning and afternoon when the schoolchildren go and return from schools.

PNC calls upon you to circulate this memorandum to all members of your Union and your Assemblies and to call for efforts to protect and activate the resolutions of international legitimacy on the international protection of the Palestinian people and to adopt the necessary mechanisms to implement it on the ground, and confronting the practices of the American and Israeli administrations that violate the principles of international humanitarian law and United Nations resolutions.

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) mourned the captive prisoner Faris Baroud, who was martyred in Israeli prison because of the intentional medical negligence by the Israeli prisons authorities.

The Speaker of PNC Saleem Al-Za’anoon, in a press statement issued on 6 Wednesday said that the Israeli occupation authorities deliberately exercise medical negligence against the Palestinian prisoners and the lack of required health conditions and medical care, as stipulated in Articles 13, 30, 31, 32 of Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

PNC pointed out that because of Israel's non-compliance with the provisions of Geneva Convention and the Additional Protocol thereto, which applies to Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, last year five prisoners joined the convoy of martyrs, they are: (Yasir Al-Saradih, Mohammad Anbar, Aziz Awaisat, Mohammad Marshoud, and Mohammad Zaghloul Al-Khatib) The number of martyrs of the Palestinian Prisoners Movement reached to 218 prisoners in Israeli prisons.

PNC holds the Israeli occupation government responsible for the lives of all prisoners and detainees in its prisons. Mr. Al-Za’anoon called on the high signatories’ parties of the Third Geneva Convention to act urgently to abide by Israel's provisions, especially in light of the repression and persecution of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons.