11 aug 2019
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah on August 11, 2019
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Israel’s policy of expansion of settlements will end nowhere, insisting that the illegal houses built on Palestinian lands would collapse sooner or later.
“It is unimportant that they (Israelis) declare houses here and settlements there, they will all be gone, they will be on the dustbins of the history,” said Abbas while making a rare visit to a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.
The comments, covered by the Arabic section of Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, are among the most pointed coming from Abbas, a man whose 14-year-old tenure as President of the Palestinian Authority has proved to be mostly unpopular mainly due to his close security cooperation with the Israeli regime over the years.
However, Abbas has chosen to be more assertive in his criticism of Israel over the past months, especially now that the regime in Tel Aviv seems to be gaining more support from the United States in its illegal plans to annex more Palestinian and Arab territories.
Abbas said during his visit to the Jalazone camp that Israeli settlements will eventually fall down, no matter how much Israel wants to expand them.
“No matter how much Israel announces the construction of houses and settlements, they will fall down,” he said, adding, “And they will remember that the (Palestinian) land belongs to their owners.”
Official media outlets published images of Abbas flanked by senior Palestinian officials during his visit to Jalazone, located to the west of the occupied West Bank.
Many said the tour, believed to be a first in several years, was a response to a visit on Thursday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the the nearby Beit El settlement.
“The visit was greatly welcomed by the camp's residents,” said Mahmoud Mubarak, head of the popular committee in Jalazone camp, adding that the visit was a “first political response" to the Netanyahu's visit to Beit El.
Abbas said in his speech to residents of Jalazone that Palestinians will continue to resist Israeli occupation come what may.
“The Palestinian people will remain steadfast, resilient and struggling on its land,” Abbas said, according to remarks covered by the official WAFA news agency.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Israel’s policy of expansion of settlements will end nowhere, insisting that the illegal houses built on Palestinian lands would collapse sooner or later.
“It is unimportant that they (Israelis) declare houses here and settlements there, they will all be gone, they will be on the dustbins of the history,” said Abbas while making a rare visit to a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.
The comments, covered by the Arabic section of Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, are among the most pointed coming from Abbas, a man whose 14-year-old tenure as President of the Palestinian Authority has proved to be mostly unpopular mainly due to his close security cooperation with the Israeli regime over the years.
However, Abbas has chosen to be more assertive in his criticism of Israel over the past months, especially now that the regime in Tel Aviv seems to be gaining more support from the United States in its illegal plans to annex more Palestinian and Arab territories.
Abbas said during his visit to the Jalazone camp that Israeli settlements will eventually fall down, no matter how much Israel wants to expand them.
“No matter how much Israel announces the construction of houses and settlements, they will fall down,” he said, adding, “And they will remember that the (Palestinian) land belongs to their owners.”
Official media outlets published images of Abbas flanked by senior Palestinian officials during his visit to Jalazone, located to the west of the occupied West Bank.
Many said the tour, believed to be a first in several years, was a response to a visit on Thursday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the the nearby Beit El settlement.
“The visit was greatly welcomed by the camp's residents,” said Mahmoud Mubarak, head of the popular committee in Jalazone camp, adding that the visit was a “first political response" to the Netanyahu's visit to Beit El.
Abbas said in his speech to residents of Jalazone that Palestinians will continue to resist Israeli occupation come what may.
“The Palestinian people will remain steadfast, resilient and struggling on its land,” Abbas said, according to remarks covered by the official WAFA news agency.
10 aug 2019
During his visit to the site where Israeli settler Dvir Sorek was earlier this week found dead, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s response to the alleged murder will be to build what the “terrorists” destroy and plant what they uproot.
“These vicious terrorists, they come to uproot – we come to plant. They come to destroy – we come to build,” Netanyahu said. “Our hands will reach out and we will deepen our roots in our homeland, in all parts of it.”
Without hesitation, Netanyahu assumed that the Israeli settler was murdered by Palestinians, calling them “vicious terrorists” who come to “uproot” and “destroy”. Is Netanyahu right when he referred to Palestinians as “vicious terrorists” who come to destroy and uproot, while the Israeli occupation has come to build and plant?
Before visiting the site of Sorek’s death, Netanyahu took part in a ceremony to lay a cornerstone for a new project to build 650 settlement units in the Israeli settlement of Beit El, in the occupied West Bank. He vowed to “secure our sovereignty over our historic homeland.”
He also said during the ceremony: “We promised to build hundreds of housing units – today we are doing it, both because we promised and because our mission is to establish the nation of Israel in our country, to secure our sovereignty over our historic homeland.”
Netanyahu is building and is promising to build more and more settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories. Beyond this, he is promising to annex these territories.
Yes, he is building and establishing a nation, but on the ruins of unlimited number of Palestinian homes, mosques, cemeteries and the dreams of the Palestinians – owners of the territories who have been there for thousands of years.
If we go back several decades, we will see that Netanyahu’s predecessors have built their state on the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian cities and village, as well as on the skulls and bones of hundreds of Palestinians who were massacred by Zionist paramilitary groups in 1948, which later became the core of the Israeli army.
Menachem Begin, who at that time headed one of these paramilitary organisations, the Irgun, later became Israeli prime minister and miraculously became a dove of peace by signing a peace treaty with Egypt.
In the past 15 years – during most of which Netanyahu was prime minister – the Israeli occupation has destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes in the occupied Palestinian territories and homes of Palestinian citizens of Israel. It has also destroyed scores of homes during major offensives in the Gaza Strip, as well as complete villages and residential quarters such as Khan Al-Ahmar, Al-Araqeeb and Wadi Al-Hummus.
According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, “from 2006 until 31 July 2019, Israel demolished at least 1,449 Palestinian residential units in the West Bank, causing 6,336 people – including at least 3,189 minors – to lose their homes.” This number did not include East Jerusalem, where over 80 homes have been recently demolished and more than 500 Palestinians made homeless.
In addition, the same Israeli right group said that Israel demolished the homes of at least 1,048 Palestinians living in “unrecognised” villages in Israel between 2006 and 2019. However, these villages were established before the creation of Israel.
B’Tselem also said that the Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank demolished 733 non-residential structures such as fences, cisterns, roads, storerooms, farming buildings, businesses and public buildings during the same period.
Regarding uprooting and planting, Israel has uprooted over a million Palestinians trees since 1967. According to a report by B’Tselem, Israeli settlers’ vandalism, “fully backed” by the Israeli authorities, led to the uprooting of thousands of trees. “In just over two months, from the beginning of May to 7 July 2018, B’Tselem documented ten instances in which settlers destroyed a total of more than 2,000 trees and grapevines and burned down a barley field and bales of hay.”
B’Tselem argued that under the guise of a “temporary military occupation,” Israel has been “using the land as its own: robbing land, exploiting the area’s natural resources for its own benefit and establishing permanent settlements,” estimating that Israel had dispossessed Palestinians of some 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of land in the occupied Palestinian territories over the years.
In light of these facts and figures, Netanyahu is requested to clarify how he builds and plants when Palestinian “terrorists” destroy and uproot. Everything which is being built and planted by Netanyahu is based on racism and racial discrimination.
Netanyahu believes that only Israeli settlers are entitled to build, plant and live in the land of Palestine, whether the parts occupied in 1948 or the parts occupied in 1967. Demolishing homes and uprooting farms belonging to the Palestinians is therefore simply part of the process of building the state of Israel.
“These vicious terrorists, they come to uproot – we come to plant. They come to destroy – we come to build,” Netanyahu said. “Our hands will reach out and we will deepen our roots in our homeland, in all parts of it.”
Without hesitation, Netanyahu assumed that the Israeli settler was murdered by Palestinians, calling them “vicious terrorists” who come to “uproot” and “destroy”. Is Netanyahu right when he referred to Palestinians as “vicious terrorists” who come to destroy and uproot, while the Israeli occupation has come to build and plant?
Before visiting the site of Sorek’s death, Netanyahu took part in a ceremony to lay a cornerstone for a new project to build 650 settlement units in the Israeli settlement of Beit El, in the occupied West Bank. He vowed to “secure our sovereignty over our historic homeland.”
He also said during the ceremony: “We promised to build hundreds of housing units – today we are doing it, both because we promised and because our mission is to establish the nation of Israel in our country, to secure our sovereignty over our historic homeland.”
Netanyahu is building and is promising to build more and more settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories. Beyond this, he is promising to annex these territories.
Yes, he is building and establishing a nation, but on the ruins of unlimited number of Palestinian homes, mosques, cemeteries and the dreams of the Palestinians – owners of the territories who have been there for thousands of years.
If we go back several decades, we will see that Netanyahu’s predecessors have built their state on the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian cities and village, as well as on the skulls and bones of hundreds of Palestinians who were massacred by Zionist paramilitary groups in 1948, which later became the core of the Israeli army.
Menachem Begin, who at that time headed one of these paramilitary organisations, the Irgun, later became Israeli prime minister and miraculously became a dove of peace by signing a peace treaty with Egypt.
In the past 15 years – during most of which Netanyahu was prime minister – the Israeli occupation has destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes in the occupied Palestinian territories and homes of Palestinian citizens of Israel. It has also destroyed scores of homes during major offensives in the Gaza Strip, as well as complete villages and residential quarters such as Khan Al-Ahmar, Al-Araqeeb and Wadi Al-Hummus.
According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, “from 2006 until 31 July 2019, Israel demolished at least 1,449 Palestinian residential units in the West Bank, causing 6,336 people – including at least 3,189 minors – to lose their homes.” This number did not include East Jerusalem, where over 80 homes have been recently demolished and more than 500 Palestinians made homeless.
In addition, the same Israeli right group said that Israel demolished the homes of at least 1,048 Palestinians living in “unrecognised” villages in Israel between 2006 and 2019. However, these villages were established before the creation of Israel.
B’Tselem also said that the Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank demolished 733 non-residential structures such as fences, cisterns, roads, storerooms, farming buildings, businesses and public buildings during the same period.
Regarding uprooting and planting, Israel has uprooted over a million Palestinians trees since 1967. According to a report by B’Tselem, Israeli settlers’ vandalism, “fully backed” by the Israeli authorities, led to the uprooting of thousands of trees. “In just over two months, from the beginning of May to 7 July 2018, B’Tselem documented ten instances in which settlers destroyed a total of more than 2,000 trees and grapevines and burned down a barley field and bales of hay.”
B’Tselem argued that under the guise of a “temporary military occupation,” Israel has been “using the land as its own: robbing land, exploiting the area’s natural resources for its own benefit and establishing permanent settlements,” estimating that Israel had dispossessed Palestinians of some 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of land in the occupied Palestinian territories over the years.
In light of these facts and figures, Netanyahu is requested to clarify how he builds and plants when Palestinian “terrorists” destroy and uproot. Everything which is being built and planted by Netanyahu is based on racism and racial discrimination.
Netanyahu believes that only Israeli settlers are entitled to build, plant and live in the land of Palestine, whether the parts occupied in 1948 or the parts occupied in 1967. Demolishing homes and uprooting farms belonging to the Palestinians is therefore simply part of the process of building the state of Israel.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and HUMENA for Human Rights and Civil Participation said in a statement today that the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes and property in occupied East Jerusalem amount to ethnic cleansing and is approved by the US administration, which legalized these crimes by declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel amid international silence that amounts to complicity.
In a report that monitored human rights violations in Jerusalem during July 2019, Euro-Med and HUMENA said that Israeli authorities have stepped up their arbitrary violations against Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem.
Last month witnessed the largest mass destruction in a single day since 1967 as Israeli authorities demolished 11 residential buildings (72 apartments) in a crime amounting to ethnic cleansing.
The report, entitled "Wadi al-Hummus in Jerusalem; facing Israeli ethnic cleansing," said that the destruction of Palestinian buildings resulted in the displacement of 22 people, including 14 children, and deprived more than 70 families from their apartments, most of which were still under construction.
The report added that since the beginning of 2019, Israeli authorities destroyed more than 59 houses in East Jerusalem until mid-2019, while 2018 witnessed 215 demolitions.
In addition to Wadi al- Hummus neighborhood, Israeli occupation forces destroyed a car park, a garage, a warehouse, a car wash and five shops in the last month.
Euro-Med and HUMENA monitored five complex violations as part of crimes of settlement expansion and Judaization of the occupied city, most notably the seizure of a Palestinian house and a building evacuation by force in order to hand both over to Israeli settlers. Moreover, at the same time of the demolition of Palestinian homes, Israeli occupation authorities approved the establishment of 216 new housing units in the Gilo settlement.
Several parties, including the Israeli government, municipal authorities of Jerusalem or judicial authorities, collude to carry out systematic demolitions aimed to forcefully displace Palestinians, which falls within the occupation's efforts to change the demographic reality in the occupied city.
This systematic policy pursued by Israel takes place without any regards to the principles of international law, which reflects Israel’s pursuit of demographic change in East Jerusalem by employing all its government, political and security arms, said the two rights organization.
On the other hand, the two organizations documented two incidents that signify the Israeli occupation's disregard for Palestinian childhood; such as the summoning of 4-year-old Mohammed Rabi Illian, and the 6-year-old Qais Firas Obeid, under the pretext of throwing stones at their forces.
The report also documented 43 Israeli raids on different towns and neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem; which entailed the arrest of 102 civilians, including 19 children, a woman, a girl and a female journalist.
For instance, in five raids that included shooting and direct assault in the neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces injured seven civilians, including a child, a journalist and an elderly.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and HUMENA called on the international community to break their silence and undertake serious actions to re-tribute the crimes of the occupation and its serious violations of the international law and the international humanitarian law.
The report warned that the silence of the international community after said home demolitions in Wadi al-Hummus – which amounts to a war crime of ethnic cleansing – would essentially encourage the Israeli occupation to continue and escalate the policy of house demolitions and forceful displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli policy of handing notifications of imminent demolition to Palestinians in the city continues, especially amidst rumors of Israeli plans to destroy more than 25 Palestinian houses under the pretext of lacking permits, which Israel rarely grants to any Palestinian properties in the city.
The report also called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards protecting East Jerusalem and its Palestinian population as inhabitants of an occupied territory, in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, particularly resolution 181.
The two organizations stressed the need for ending the policy of racial discrimination between Palestinians and Israelis through advancing necessary investigations, prosecution and trial procedures to put an end to such violations. They finally called on international organizations concerned with childhood to urgently intervene to protect Palestinian children in East Jerusalem from Israeli arbitrary arrests, summons and house arrests.
Full Report [pdf]
In a report that monitored human rights violations in Jerusalem during July 2019, Euro-Med and HUMENA said that Israeli authorities have stepped up their arbitrary violations against Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem.
Last month witnessed the largest mass destruction in a single day since 1967 as Israeli authorities demolished 11 residential buildings (72 apartments) in a crime amounting to ethnic cleansing.
The report, entitled "Wadi al-Hummus in Jerusalem; facing Israeli ethnic cleansing," said that the destruction of Palestinian buildings resulted in the displacement of 22 people, including 14 children, and deprived more than 70 families from their apartments, most of which were still under construction.
The report added that since the beginning of 2019, Israeli authorities destroyed more than 59 houses in East Jerusalem until mid-2019, while 2018 witnessed 215 demolitions.
In addition to Wadi al- Hummus neighborhood, Israeli occupation forces destroyed a car park, a garage, a warehouse, a car wash and five shops in the last month.
Euro-Med and HUMENA monitored five complex violations as part of crimes of settlement expansion and Judaization of the occupied city, most notably the seizure of a Palestinian house and a building evacuation by force in order to hand both over to Israeli settlers. Moreover, at the same time of the demolition of Palestinian homes, Israeli occupation authorities approved the establishment of 216 new housing units in the Gilo settlement.
Several parties, including the Israeli government, municipal authorities of Jerusalem or judicial authorities, collude to carry out systematic demolitions aimed to forcefully displace Palestinians, which falls within the occupation's efforts to change the demographic reality in the occupied city.
This systematic policy pursued by Israel takes place without any regards to the principles of international law, which reflects Israel’s pursuit of demographic change in East Jerusalem by employing all its government, political and security arms, said the two rights organization.
On the other hand, the two organizations documented two incidents that signify the Israeli occupation's disregard for Palestinian childhood; such as the summoning of 4-year-old Mohammed Rabi Illian, and the 6-year-old Qais Firas Obeid, under the pretext of throwing stones at their forces.
The report also documented 43 Israeli raids on different towns and neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem; which entailed the arrest of 102 civilians, including 19 children, a woman, a girl and a female journalist.
For instance, in five raids that included shooting and direct assault in the neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces injured seven civilians, including a child, a journalist and an elderly.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and HUMENA called on the international community to break their silence and undertake serious actions to re-tribute the crimes of the occupation and its serious violations of the international law and the international humanitarian law.
The report warned that the silence of the international community after said home demolitions in Wadi al-Hummus – which amounts to a war crime of ethnic cleansing – would essentially encourage the Israeli occupation to continue and escalate the policy of house demolitions and forceful displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli policy of handing notifications of imminent demolition to Palestinians in the city continues, especially amidst rumors of Israeli plans to destroy more than 25 Palestinian houses under the pretext of lacking permits, which Israel rarely grants to any Palestinian properties in the city.
The report also called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards protecting East Jerusalem and its Palestinian population as inhabitants of an occupied territory, in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, particularly resolution 181.
The two organizations stressed the need for ending the policy of racial discrimination between Palestinians and Israelis through advancing necessary investigations, prosecution and trial procedures to put an end to such violations. They finally called on international organizations concerned with childhood to urgently intervene to protect Palestinian children in East Jerusalem from Israeli arbitrary arrests, summons and house arrests.
Full Report [pdf]
UN human rights experts have called on the international community to honor their obligation to protect the Palestinian people’s rights and to take decisive action to prevent Israel’s planned construction of a record number of settler homes in its settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The experts refer in their comments to Israel’s recent approval of around 2,400 housing units and public infrastructure in 21 settlements and outposts in the West Bank.
“These settlement housing units are clearly meant to solidify the Israeli claim of sovereignty over the West Bank,” Leilani Farha, the special rapporteur for the right to housing, and Michael Lynk, the special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, said in a statement.
“Building civilian settlements in occupied territory is illegal, as is the annexation of territory. The international community has spoken out against the Israeli settlements, but it has not imposed effective consequences for the country’s defiance of international law.”
“Israel’s actions indicate it plans to remain permanently and advance a claim of sovereignty,” the human rights experts warned further. “The Israeli prime minister made this clear when he said recently that: ‘No settlement and no settlers will ever be uprooted.’ Should we not take him at his word that Israel has no intention of complying with international law?”
“Criticism without consequences is hollow. The international community has a wide menu of commonly-used countermeasures to push recalcitrant states into compliance with their international duties. If the international community is serious about its support for Palestinian self-determination and its opposition to Israeli settlements then, surely, the time has come for meaningful action.”
Occupying powers are forbidden under the Fourth Geneva Convention from building civilian settlements in occupied territory. The Rome Statute has defined the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory, as a war crime. The United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 2334 (23 December 2016), stated that the Israeli settlements constitute “a flagrant violation under international law”.
The experts refer in their comments to Israel’s recent approval of around 2,400 housing units and public infrastructure in 21 settlements and outposts in the West Bank.
“These settlement housing units are clearly meant to solidify the Israeli claim of sovereignty over the West Bank,” Leilani Farha, the special rapporteur for the right to housing, and Michael Lynk, the special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, said in a statement.
“Building civilian settlements in occupied territory is illegal, as is the annexation of territory. The international community has spoken out against the Israeli settlements, but it has not imposed effective consequences for the country’s defiance of international law.”
“Israel’s actions indicate it plans to remain permanently and advance a claim of sovereignty,” the human rights experts warned further. “The Israeli prime minister made this clear when he said recently that: ‘No settlement and no settlers will ever be uprooted.’ Should we not take him at his word that Israel has no intention of complying with international law?”
“Criticism without consequences is hollow. The international community has a wide menu of commonly-used countermeasures to push recalcitrant states into compliance with their international duties. If the international community is serious about its support for Palestinian self-determination and its opposition to Israeli settlements then, surely, the time has come for meaningful action.”
Occupying powers are forbidden under the Fourth Geneva Convention from building civilian settlements in occupied territory. The Rome Statute has defined the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory, as a war crime. The United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 2334 (23 December 2016), stated that the Israeli settlements constitute “a flagrant violation under international law”.
9 aug 2019
Ashrawi: International Sanctions are required to confront escalating Israeli settlement construction
The Palestinian leadership strongly condemns the approval of nearly three thousand illegal settlement units in the past 48 hours by the Israeli government.
Israel’s Prime Minister is expanding illegal settlements in the heart of the occupied West Bank, like “Beit El”, for cynical election calculations that leverage traditional financial and political support from senior US administration officials, including Jared Kushner and David Friedman.
Constructing settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is a grave violation of international humanitarian law that the Rome Statute specifically considers a war crime.
This is a criminal act of hostility and aggression that requires immediate and unequivocal international steps to ensure accountability, including imposing sanctions.
The actions of the Israeli government reflect the willful commitment of the Israeli political establishment to the agenda of colonial control, land grab, and permanent denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to self-determination and freedom.
They are also part of an escalating and relentless campaign of oppression and systematic violence aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people and dictating facts that are irreconcilable with a future of peace and stability in the region.
These are the actions of a group committed to permanent conflict, whose abject disregard to legality and morality are practically and brutally evident.
In this regard, the Palestinian leadership welcomes the principled statements of condemnation by responsible international actors, including the European Union, France, and others, which reflect their commitment to international law and the requirements of peace.
Further, we call on all states that have reaffirmed their positions to take a more proactive and effective role in protecting the rules-based international order by holding Israel accountable for its wanton violations of international law and Palestinian rights.
Without exacting a political and financial price to these egregious actions, and in light of the ideological partnership between Israeli right-wing elements and the Trump administration, Israel will continue to accelerate its destructive policies and escalate its unabashed aggression.
Israel’s Prime Minister is expanding illegal settlements in the heart of the occupied West Bank, like “Beit El”, for cynical election calculations that leverage traditional financial and political support from senior US administration officials, including Jared Kushner and David Friedman.
Constructing settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is a grave violation of international humanitarian law that the Rome Statute specifically considers a war crime.
This is a criminal act of hostility and aggression that requires immediate and unequivocal international steps to ensure accountability, including imposing sanctions.
The actions of the Israeli government reflect the willful commitment of the Israeli political establishment to the agenda of colonial control, land grab, and permanent denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to self-determination and freedom.
They are also part of an escalating and relentless campaign of oppression and systematic violence aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people and dictating facts that are irreconcilable with a future of peace and stability in the region.
These are the actions of a group committed to permanent conflict, whose abject disregard to legality and morality are practically and brutally evident.
In this regard, the Palestinian leadership welcomes the principled statements of condemnation by responsible international actors, including the European Union, France, and others, which reflect their commitment to international law and the requirements of peace.
Further, we call on all states that have reaffirmed their positions to take a more proactive and effective role in protecting the rules-based international order by holding Israel accountable for its wanton violations of international law and Palestinian rights.
Without exacting a political and financial price to these egregious actions, and in light of the ideological partnership between Israeli right-wing elements and the Trump administration, Israel will continue to accelerate its destructive policies and escalate its unabashed aggression.
8 aug 2019
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the construction of 650 new housing units in Beit El illegal settlement located near Ramallah, northern West Bank.
Speaking at the foundation stone, Netanyahu mentioned the Israeli soldier who was found dead in Etzion settlement this morning.
The Israeli government decided to expand a neighborhood on the verge of construction in the settlement of “Beit El” adjacent to the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, to include the construction of 650 new units in the settlement instead of 296 units approved earlier.
The construction of the new settlement neighborhood is allegedly “compensation” granted by the Israeli government to the settlers, following the evacuation of the illegal Olbana neighborhood in 2012 and the Darinov neighborhood in 2015, which are illegal settlements as well.
The establishment of the new settlement, which is scheduled to include 650 housing units, will increase the population density of settlers in the region by 65%.
Presidency condemns Netanyahu’s laying of foundation stones for illegal settlement units
Nabil Abu Rudainah, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned today the lying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the foundation stone for new 650 housing units in the illegal settlement of Beit El, north of the West Bank city of Al-Bireh.
“This condemned and unacceptable act is contrary to all resolutions of international legitimacy, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which was adopted unanimously and which confirmed the illegality of settlements on Palestinian land,” Abu Rudainah said in a press remark.
He continued, “The continuation of these provocations and hostilities is a disregard of international law and requires effective decisions, especially after the Palestinian leadership has decided to stop working on the agreements signed with Israel.”
Abu Rudeinah said President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to include this issue in the file submitted to the International Criminal Court.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas has sent orders to Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki to file a case of the illegal Israeli settlements issue to the International Criminal Court for action, in response to Netanyahu's recent plan.
The statement added that the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the UN, Riyad Mansour, was given orders by the President to embark on talks with the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union and the Arab and Islamic countries to coordinate the following steps in response to the plan.
Speaking at the foundation stone, Netanyahu mentioned the Israeli soldier who was found dead in Etzion settlement this morning.
The Israeli government decided to expand a neighborhood on the verge of construction in the settlement of “Beit El” adjacent to the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, to include the construction of 650 new units in the settlement instead of 296 units approved earlier.
The construction of the new settlement neighborhood is allegedly “compensation” granted by the Israeli government to the settlers, following the evacuation of the illegal Olbana neighborhood in 2012 and the Darinov neighborhood in 2015, which are illegal settlements as well.
The establishment of the new settlement, which is scheduled to include 650 housing units, will increase the population density of settlers in the region by 65%.
Presidency condemns Netanyahu’s laying of foundation stones for illegal settlement units
Nabil Abu Rudainah, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned today the lying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the foundation stone for new 650 housing units in the illegal settlement of Beit El, north of the West Bank city of Al-Bireh.
“This condemned and unacceptable act is contrary to all resolutions of international legitimacy, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which was adopted unanimously and which confirmed the illegality of settlements on Palestinian land,” Abu Rudainah said in a press remark.
He continued, “The continuation of these provocations and hostilities is a disregard of international law and requires effective decisions, especially after the Palestinian leadership has decided to stop working on the agreements signed with Israel.”
Abu Rudeinah said President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to include this issue in the file submitted to the International Criminal Court.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas has sent orders to Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki to file a case of the illegal Israeli settlements issue to the International Criminal Court for action, in response to Netanyahu's recent plan.
The statement added that the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the UN, Riyad Mansour, was given orders by the President to embark on talks with the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union and the Arab and Islamic countries to coordinate the following steps in response to the plan.
