PA calls on UN, US to stop settler violence, activate international protection

The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday called on the United Nations (UN) and the US to stop Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank and activate international protection for Palestinians.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, the PA urged the US administration to pressure Israel as an occupying power: “To stop the settlers’ terrorism, attacks and crimes committed against defenceless Palestinians, their towns and villages.”

The ministry called on the UN secretary-general to immediately activate the international protection system for Palestinian civilians under Israeli occupation.

In the statement, the PA’s ministry condemned: “The escalation of the systematic attacks by settlers that took place today against Palestinian towns and villages, especially in Nablus’s villages of Qaryut and Burqa.”

According to the statement, the PA’s ministry also condemned Israeli settlers’ attacks on the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and other places, which left dozens injured.

The statement elaborated: “Groups of armed Jewish terrorists, protected by Israeli occupation forces, opened live fire with the intention to kill unarmed Palestinian citizens. They raided homes, inspected them and attempted to kidnap Palestinians.”

The ministry attributed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with “full and direct responsibility for the settler violence and terror, as well as “the dangerous consequences and repercussions on the situation in the region.”

Concluding its statement, the PA’s ministry said that it has been cautious about the increasing violence of the Israeli settlers and raised this with several parties, “but no deterrence has been implemented.”

Bennett: Jewish settlers in West Bank ‘serve as a protective wall for all of us’