PA: international silence encourages more Israeli crimes

The Palestinian Authority condemned on Monday the silence of the international community towards Israeli crimes in the occupied territories. The PA stressed that this silence encourages Israel to continue carrying out such crimes against the Palestinians.

“Aggression by Israeli Jewish settlers and Israel’s occupation army against the Palestinian people and their lands continues overtly before the eyes of the international community,” said the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. The illegal settlers carry out their violations protected by the occupation army, it added. Soldiers stand and watch as the settlers attack Palestinians and their property, stepping in only if the Palestinians react in self-defence and the settlers themselves come under attack.

OPINION: As Israel rejects the ICC investigation, what are the possible scenarios?

Indeed, according to the ministry, settlers and soldiers have carried out joint attacks recently against the indigenous Palestinians. The attack on the home of Sameer Al-Saleebi and his family in Beit Amer was cited as an example. The family was obliged to leave their farm after their buildings and greenhouses were damaged.

Such attacks, the ministry confirmed, are being carried out on a daily basis across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. It condemned such ongoing Israeli aggression which is intended to reduce or end the Palestinian presence in so-called Area C of the occupied West Bank and make room for the expansion of Israeli Jewish settlements.

All of Israel’s settlements and the settlers who live in them are illegal under international law.

Anti-Semitism and Criticism of Israel – Cartoon [Cartoon Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]