PA foreign ministry: Israeli government shows racist face to Palestinians daily

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the occupation government displays its racist, colonial and violent face to the Palestinian people on a daily basis. Their rights, land, property and sanctities face an integrated set of repressive and punitive measures, insists the ministry.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry accused the Israeli government led by Naftali Bennett of engaging in illegal settlement activity which is a major obstacle to peace. “It seems as if the Bennett government wants to prove itself by committing more violations and crimes against Palestinians, as if it is competing to impose more collective punishment, restrictions and torment.” The ministry suggested that the presence of far-right individuals within the coalition pushes the government to reinforce the occupation and repression, and Israel’s “racist, abhorrent, apartheid regime”.

PA officials pointed out that there has been a “significant increase” in the number of violent attacks by illegal settlers against Palestinians. “Such attacks have been documented by local, international and Israeli human rights bodies, including the UN, Human Rights Watch, Peace Now and B’Tselem.”

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Indeed, “Israeli violations affect all aspects of Palestinian life across the length and breadth of the occupied territories, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.” These violations include illegal settlement construction and expansion announced by far-right extremist Ayelet Shaked, the Israeli Minister of the Interior. “The occupation municipality in Jerusalem has also approved a new plan to construct more than eighty settlement units and two tower blocks.” These activities are accompanied by the forced displacement of Palestinian residents and restrictions on their continued presence in their own land.

The ministry listed some of the latest violations by the Israeli occupation authorities: trees have been uprooted; a well has been destroyed; homes have been demolished; armed incursions by settlers and soldiers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and towns across the occupied territories have increased; and fishermen have been attacked in the Palestinian territorial waters off the coast of Gaza.

The statement concluded by condemning the “racist, separation wall” just built by Israel around the Gaza Strip, which has had “devastating environmental consequences” for Palestinian farmers, who continue to be shot at by Israeli soldiers.