RAMALLAH, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian People's Party (PPP) Secretary General Bassam Salhi called for the establishment of a council to run state affairs and hold elections beyond the framework of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), he said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
"We have proposed to form a state building council to hold elections beyond the legislative framework of the PNA and to renew the interim status of the PNA," said Salhi.
He said that the upcoming meeting of Palestinian factions, including Fateh and Hamas parties on Nov. 21 in Cairo, would discuss the launching of the second phase of the agreement signed between the two rival parties in October.
However, Salhi said that several issues still remained in the way and that the final resolution of a national reconciliation must be able to finally give rise to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967.
"First, on the political and national level, we need to stop deepening the division between Gaza and the West Bank, which would lead to the abortion of the Palestinian state," he said.
Salhi went on saying that another important issue was that the reconciliation had to secure the rights of Palestinian people, who had been suffering from the differences between Gaza and the West Bank.
"The suffering of our citizens must end quickly, that is why we want a reconciliation that would guarantee the rights of our citizens, improve their living conditions and alleviate their pains," said the PPP leader.
The third issue that PPP is considering is that the reconciliation needs to guarantee democratic life in the state through redefinition of laws, judiciary, justice, freedom of expression and opinions, said Salhi.
"If the government fails to meet these goals, the reconciliation will become a superficial issue between factions instead of serving the community's interest," he added.
The fourth issue on the PPP's agenda is to "reinforce the former diverse, illuminating and open nature of the Palestinian community," according to Salhi.
"We want a reconciliation that would bring back the diverse and civilized Palestinian society, with innovative thinking replacing the closed society prone to extremism ideology, obscuration, lawlessness and rejection to new thoughts," he added.
The party leader said that the public will needed to be respected if people prefer to hold general elections, as that would mean reactivating Palestinian democratic practice.
"If the citizens do not want to hold direct elections, we can respect that, as long as we guarantee that the interim phase of Oslo Accords does not continue," he said.
Salhi criticized the U.S. intervention into the reconciliation process, warning that risks might emerge as the United States was about to announce the peace proposal for Palestinians and Israelis.
He said that the consolidation of the internal front and a national consensus based on the national strategy is essential at this point, rather than the U.S. politics.
He also warned of the U.S. bias for Israel, especially that it remained unclear about the two-state solution, which failed to recognize the state of Palestine.
"It is necessary to know whether or not the United States, Israel or other relevant parties such as Europeans accept the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and then to determine the timeline for ending the occupation over Palestinian territory," he said.
He said that the peace proposal of Chinese President Xi Jinping plays an important role in resuming the peace process, because the Chinese president's proposal sets the basis that the Palestinians accept and call for.
