PLO: Israel practices ‘systematic aggression’ against Palestinian rights

Palestinians suffer “systematic aggression” at the hands of Israeli occupation forces, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said yesterday.

In a statement, Erekat condemned the Israeli aggression against and detention of the monk from the Orthodox Coptic Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Erekat also condemned the Israeli killing of the Palestinian youth Mohammad Bsharat, 23, in the West Bank city of Tubas last on Tuesday night.

He also accused the Israeli occupation of “undermining the power” of the Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, stressing that the attack on the monk came in line with a “systematic campaign against Christians”.

This “systematic campaign”, Erekat added, keeps up with the racist Israeli Jewish nationality law, “which violates the rights of everyone who is not a Jew and paves the way ahead of carrying out more aggression.”

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The PLO official called for “immediate interference” by the international community and the European countries in order to “afford protection” for the Palestinians.

Erekat said that the escalating violations against the Palestinians are a “result of the official illegal Israeli violations and practices,” noting that “this is protected by the impunity policy afforded by [US President Donald] Trump and the inability of the international community.”