Japan Press Weekly

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2012 January 18 - 24 [JCP]

JCP vice chair meets with PLO official

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo on January 17 met with Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), at the JCP head office. He is visiting Japan at the invitation of the Japanese government.

The PLO official talked about the moves of the Israeli government to “unprecedentedly” expand the settlements and about the progress of Palestine-Israel negotiations as well as Palestine’s efforts to obtain U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state. Abed Rabbo requested international help to deal with these matters.

Ogata stated that the JCP calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, and that the party also supports the Palestinian right to national self-determination, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

He also said that when he participated as a guest observer in ministerial meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries in Indonesia last May, he noted that they were putting special importance on their solidarity with Palestinians. Ogata stated that the JCP will continue to support the Palestinian struggle.