"We will not leave," was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's answer to Israel's pressure to evacuate Gaza.
Abbas, who is 88 years old this year, rarely appears in front of the media, but this time the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is too fierce and there is no sign of a ceasefire, in order to help his compatriots in Gaza, he has repeatedly spoken and called on the world to help the Palestinians, hoping to force Israel to stop the bloody massacre through diplomatic pressure.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Compared with Hamas, which has a vengeance, the Palestinian National Authority, which advocates a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli issue through peace talks, is not very good, and is often criticized for being soft on Israel, which is still a good statement, and some people even call it a "puppet government", including many Palestinians.
Perhaps there are such people in the Palestinian National Authority, but Abbas will never be. In fact, although he does not appear regularly in media reports, he has been campaigning for the cause of Palestinian national liberation. Just four months ago, he paid a state visit to China to learn from China's experience in the struggle for independence, and hoped that China could play a greater role on the Palestinian-Israeli issue.
This is not Abbas's first visit to China, this is his fifth visit to China since he became president, and if you count the number of visits with former Palestinian leader Arafat, I am afraid that there are more than 20 times, which can really be called an old friend of the Chinese people.
Abbas is very satisfied with the outcome of each visit to China, saying that the topics discussed with China will always be friendly because there are no strings attached. Once, he also brought his wife with him on a visit to China, because he heard that Chinese medicine is very famous and hoped to treat his wife's rheumatism.
Abbas
For the rapid changes in China, Abbas's tone is always full of envy. He said that every time he came to Beijing, he found that it was more prosperous than the last time, and the clothes on people's bodies were getting more and more beautiful.
It doesn't seem like something a president would say, and it sounds a little too grounded. But for the Palestinian people, who cannot guarantee even the most basic daily food, clothing, shelter and transportation, it is a great luxury to live in a safe and lively metropolis and have money to buy new clothes to wear.
Abbas's childhood was poor but stable compared to today's "Gaza children", when Palestine was a British protectorate, and when the entire Eurasian continent was in full swing, the Arab world was a peaceful scene and fortunately escaped World War II.
However, the good times did not last long, and when Abbas was 13 years old, the first Middle East war broke out. After the war, he and his family became refugees, and his mother was tragically killed while fleeing.
Abbas
The family fled to Syria, and Abbas taught himself to attend Damascus University, and later went to Egypt and then the Soviet Union to obtain a doctorate.
If Abbas had been an irresponsible leader, as the outside world had said, he would not have returned to Palestine to fight for national liberation despite his success in his studies and a bright future. From beginning to end, he read for one purpose – to return Palestinians to their homeland.
In 1959, Abbas met his most important mentor, Arafat, and together with him formed the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, known as Fatah.
After a childhood displacement, Abbas has always been war-averse and refuses to solve problems through violent means. He hoped that the Palestinians would live a normal life in peace and stability, instead of becoming enemies of Israel and living henceforth in hatred and fear.
Abbas and Arafat
With his active good offices, the signing of the first peace agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides in Oslo in 1993 was a crucial step. After that, the development was not satisfactory, first fell out with Arafat, and Abbas, who insisted on peace talks, chose to resign.
Not long after, Arafat died, and Abbas returned to the center of power, but he was again on the stake with Hamas, which insisted on armed struggle, and the two sides once fought each other. In 2007, Hamas occupied Gaza and since then has controlled the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank, forming a rivalry between the two sides.
As mentioned earlier, Abbas would not be in a position to intervene in the conflict between Hamas and Israel had it not been for Israel's efforts to kill thousands of civilians. No matter how many festivals with Hamas have been had before, everyone is Palestinian after all, and they should stand together at critical moments to tide over the difficulties.
It is difficult for children in Gaza to grow up
For now, Abbas still hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite Israel's determination to eliminate Hamas, even at the expense of millions of Gazans.
Under the fire of this increasingly intense war, I wonder if the elderly Abbas will have the opportunity to return to his homeland and see the day when peace will come to the Palestinian land again.