Palestinian president’s speech interrupted in Cairo, journalists asked to leave
At 1122 gmt, Palestine TV breaks from its regular programming to show a live feed from the Arab foreign minister meeting in Cairo. At 1124 PNA President Mahmud Abbas starts delivering a speech.
He says he wishes to talk about three issues. The first is the “unjust” war in Gaza that lasted 51 days. The second issue is where the political process is going. The third issue is “the local and regional terrorism, that the Arab and Islamic nations are facing”.
Regarding Gaza, he says “as you know, 29 March we decided to restore Palestinian national unity after we tried several times since 2007 after the coup in Gaza. These past attempts did not succeed. The most important of these attempts is the one that took place in the Saudi kingdom and the blessed Ka’abah when we went to carry out this reconciliation.”
At this point a man approaches Abbas and passes him a note. Whispering can be heard on the microphones. Abbas asks “you mean, close it?”
Another person takes the microphone and says “excuse me, I would like to ask the journalists to leave the hall. Guests and journalists should leave the hall”.
The Palestine TV anchorwomen says the meeting will be closed for the media, and the channel resumes it regular programming.
Source: Palestinian Satellite Channel TV, Ramallah, in Arabic 0000 gmt 7 Sep 14
