Syria’s exclusion from Arab League ‘disgraceful’ for all Arabs, senior Fatah official says

The secretary general of the central committee of the Palestinian Fatah political party has denounced Syria’s exclusion from the Arab League as “disgraceful” for the entire Arab nations, especially as the war-ravaged country is a founding member of the regional organization.

Speaking at a press conference in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday, Jibril Rajoub said Syria must return to the Arab League, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

He said that his visit to Damascus at the head of a high-ranking Palestinian delegation would constitute a turning point in light of the Israeli regime’s stepped-up aggression and attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Rajoub noted that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to visit Syria in the near future, extending his gratitude to the Syrian people and leadership for their firm stances vis-à-vis the Palestinian cause despite all difficulties they have gone through over the past years, and for their hospitality towards Palestinians living there.

The senior Fatah official highlighted that the Palestinian cause is now at its most difficult stage, given the Tel Aviv regime’s relentless efforts to Judaize al-Quds city and advance its land expropriation and settlement expansion policies across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Bahrain appoints first ambassador to Damascus in major diplomatic shift toward Syria

Bahrain appoints its first ambassador to Damascus in a decade, in another step in line with Persian Gulf Arab states’ major policy shift toward Syria.

Last December, the speaker of the Jordanian House of Representatives, Abdul Karim al-Daghmi, called for Syria to be fully reinstated to the Arab League when Algeria hosts the next Arab summit in March.

“We, as the Arab Parliament, must put pressure on our governments and ask our leaders to green-light Syria’s return to the Arab League when next summit convenes in Algeria, and to allow its delegation to participate in the Arab Parliament sessions as well,” Daghmi said in a press conference on the sidelines of a session of the Arab Parliament in Amman on December 23.

He noted, “It is now high time for Syria to return to its Arab origins and rejoin the Arab League.”

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has already called for restoration of Syria’s membership in the Arab League, stating that Arab nations would not be able to reunify and resolve their differences in case Damascus is excluded from the regional organization.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, in Tunis on December 15, Tebboune said Syria should rejoin the Arab League in order for Arabs to unify again, SANA reported.

He noted that Algeria will stay away from discrimination and will not treat any country differently from others, when it hosts the Arab Summit in March 2022.

Syria must return to Arab League in order for Arabs to unify again, Algeria’s president

The Algerian president says Syria must return to the Arab League in order for Arabs to unify again.

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011, citing alleged crackdown by Damascus on opposition protests. Syria has denounced the move as "illegal and a violation of the organization’s charter.”

Syria was one of the six founding members of the Arab League in 1945.

Mikdad: Syria, Palestine constantly facing Israeli occupation

On Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad underscored that Syria stands by Palestinian people in order to restore their inalienable legitimate rights, including establishment of a sovereign state on their own lands.

He noted that Syria and Palestine are constantly confronting the Israeli regime’s occupation, attacks, criminal acts and violations of the international law.

Mikdad deplored crimes being committed by Israel against the Palestinian nation as well as the regime’s settlement construction and land grab policies, terming the Israeli decisions against the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and Palestinian territories as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

For his part, Rajoub congratulated the Syrian people and the leadership on victories in the fight against terrorism, and demanded immediate and unconditional removal of unilateral sanctions imposed on Syria.

He also delivered a letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

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