Abbas condemns murder of Palestinian by Jewish settler

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the murder of a Palestinian man by an illegal Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank. PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh also condemned the killing of Ali Harb, 27, in the village of Iskaka, near Salfit.

After he was stabbed, Israeli occupation soldiers in the area, who protect the settlers, prevented Palestinians from approaching Harb for an hour, letting him bleed to death, reported Wafa news agency.

“This heinous crime confirms the ugliness of the occupation, whether its soldiers or settlers, and its crimes against our defenceless people,” said Abbas. His statement recalled the settlers who burnt alive the Dawabshe family in the village of Duma and young Mohammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem. “This is a continuation of the daily crimes committed by the occupation in different forms through the exchange of roles between the army and settlers, which cannot be tolerated.”

The PA leader demanded accountability for the killers and protection for the Palestinian people through ending the occupation and the creation of the independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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Shtayyeh, meanwhile, held the international community and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court fully responsible for this latest murder. “These crimes occur as a result of the lack of a deterrent punishment for the perpetrators, who continue to flout international legitimacy,” Shtayyeh said in a statement. “The terrorists, soldiers and settlers, take part in shedding the blood of innocent people, including elders, young people, women and children, taking advantage of the impunity they have, represented by the silence of the international community.”

Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, who also condemned the killing of Harb, stressed that, “The perpetrators of violence must be held accountable and brought to justice swiftly.”