The Egyptian Press Syndicate vowed in a statement on Friday to investigate claims that the Egyptian delegation travelling to Ramallah has crossed the occupied city of Jerusalem. The Egyptian delegation, which included three board members from the syndicate, travelled to join the Palestinian Press Syndicate in the anniversary of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. The delegation entered Ramallah through Jordan to avoid normalisation with Israel. Secretary General of the Egyptian Press Syndicate Karem Mahmoud said: "Since the 1980s, the Press Syndicate General Assembly had a resolution banning any professional or personal normalisation with Israel," adding that "An investigation will take place and if our colleagues have taken the Israeli visa on their passports, there will be legal consequences". The Egyptian Press Syndicate stressed that if confirmed, the allegations will be considered a violation of the General Assembly resolution. On 15 November 1988, the Palestinian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Algeria. The declaration was written by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and proclaimed by Yasser Arafat, who was the head of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), which was the legislative body of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The declaration marks Palestine's consent to the two states solution proposed in the United Nations General Assembly resolution in 1947. November also marks the anniversary of the death of Arafat, who died on 11 November 2004. Controversy arose recently concerning the cause of his death. His widow, Suha Arafat, claimed earlier this month that her husband was poisoned by radioactive Polonium, basing her allegations on an independent Swiss forensic test.
