PA: Quartet ignores Israeli violations of international law

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised a recent statement issued by the Quartet saying the group’s statement “did not live up to expectations” and “ignored Israel’s apparent violation of international law”.

In a statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry said: “The Quartet’s recent statement did not quite live up to expectations, especially given the difficult conditions experienced in occupied Palestine including the economic blockade, withholding tax revenues, accelerating settlement construction, confiscating Palestinian lands to build more settlements, attacking Palestinians in area C, the continued attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Judaisation of Jerusalem and the absence of any political role to revive the entire political process.”

The statement added that the Quartet’s statement “did not live up to expectations as it reiterated what is normally said in this regard on the one hand, but ignored all the new-old facts or which have emerged regarding Israel’s clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law, on the other.”

“Although Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki tried, while at the Munich Security Conference, to speak with Quartet members in order to emphasise the importance of including these meanings in the statement, but the Quartet unfortunately has failed to deal with these issues which prompts us to question the statement’s added value,” it said.

“We believe the Quartet’s role does not only involve meeting once every year and issuing empty statements that do not contribute to alleviating the Palestinian people’s sufferings.”

On Sunday, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Quartet called on the Palestinians and Israelis to “resume talks and to refrain from actions that undermine trust or the final status”.

It also stressed on the “importance of addressing the severe financial challenges faced by Palestinians and supporting Palestinian institution-building efforts.”

The group expressed its “deep concern about the difficult situation in the Gaza Strip, where the pace of reconstruction needs to be accelerated to meet the Palestinian people’s basic needs and to ensure stability,” stressing that “donor funding is critical”.

In a statement earlier, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s war on the enclave last year would cost $7.5 billion.