Algeria, December 24 (RHC)-- The President of the Palestinian Unity Government Mahmoud Abbas says Palestine will regain its independence and put an end to the decades-old Israeli occupation. At a news conference at the Algerian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, Abbas said: "We are determined to recover the rights of our people, including the right to return and the release of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. We will not succumb to the policy of the Israeli hegemony and oppression."

The Palestinian president emphasized: "In case the Arab-Palestinian draft resolution submitted to the UN Security Council to end the occupation is not passed, we will be obliged to take necessary political and legal decisions," adding: "The Palestinian cause is both the key of peace and war in the Middle East and the very core of the preservation of peace and security."

Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank during the Six-Day War of 1967. Tel Aviv withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but its forces have been carrying out regular deadly forays into the blockaded enclave ever since the pullout.

Palestinians are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of Jerusalem.