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PA: New Israel gov’t should start working to end the occupation

June 15, 2021 at 1:09 pm

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh speaks to press in Ramallah, West Bank on 30 July 2019 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said yesterday that the new Israeli government should start working to bring an end to the occupation, Rai Al-Youm reported.

Speaking at the weekly meeting of his cabinet, Shtayyeh said that the new government would not survive if it does not empower the Palestinians.

“The new Israeli government should start working to end its occupation and remove its colonial tools first and foremost illegal settlement,” Shtayyeh said.

He went on to condemn remarks made by the new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in which he voiced his support for illegal Israeli settlement mainly in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

He also warned of the “dangerous consequences” of the “provocative” Flag March which is to be held in occupied East Jerusalem today.

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“This march is considered an aggression on our people in Jerusalem, as well as an aggression on holy sites,” he said, stressing that “this aggression should be reined in.”

The Flag March sees far-right Israeli ultra-nationalists flooding through Muslim areas celebrating the capture of East Jerusalem by Zionist occupation forces following a second wave of ethnic cleansing in 1967. Chanting “death to Arabs” and singing racist and highly offensive songs, thousands are seen parading through Muslim areas flying the Israeli flag.

On Sunday, Bennett was sworn in as Israel’s new prime minister as part of a coalition which united to overthrow the occupation state’s longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who held the post for 12 years.