Palestinian Authority accuses Israel of destroying potential for peace

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Palestinian Authority has called on the international Middle East Quartet mediators to adopt a more serious position which holds the Israeli government fully responsible for thwarting the peace process and negotiations. The international group has also been asked to condemn Israel’s ongoing aggression against the people of Palestine.

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The PA released a statement setting out its demands: “The recognition of the State of Palestine, based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, by all states committed to international legitimacy and the right of peoples to self-determination, would represent a deterrent response to Israel’s Judaisation of occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.” Such international recognition would, believes the PA, be a positive reaction to Israeli attempts to destroy the principle of the two-state solution in compliance with international resolutions and the terms of reference of the peace process.

At the same time, the PA has demanded that “all peace-loving countries to stand by the Palestinian rights and to support the proposal submitted to the UN Human Rights Council for the establishment of a fact-finding committee to look at the effects of Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Ramallah condemned Israeli actions and violations, saying, “Israel closes its eyes to international resolutions and thus destroys any potential opportunity for peace and negotiations between the two sides.” The ministry called on the Quartet, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the international community to take all the necessary steps to bring an immediate end to Israel’s occupation and aggression; stop its targeting of the Palestinian people; and lift the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip.