The two reports by the Israeli Peace Now movement and the human rights organization, B’Tselem, on Israeli settlers’ crimes against the civilian Palestinian people should be a valid ground and incentive for countries and relevant United Nations institutions to act to save the two-state solution from the predicament of settlements, today said the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
It said in a statement that the two reports and many others by human rights organizations have agreed that the attacks by settlers and their armed terrorist organizations against the Palestinians and their presence in their homeland have broken record numbers and crossed all red lines in recent months, with the participation, protection and supervision of the occupation forces who often attack the Palestinians, beat them up and prevent them from protecting themselves against the settlers’ attacks.
The ministry held the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for the escalation in the crimes of the occupation army and settlers against the Palestinian people, their land, property and holy places, the latest of which was the uprooting of 130 fruitful almond trees, and the leveling of three dunums of land in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, in addition to dozens of injuries as a result of the occupation forces’ suppression of peaceful anti-settlement protests.
It also said that 25,000 Palestinian-owned homes and facilities in occupied East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank, which includes the Jordan Valley, are currently under threat of demolition.
The Foreign Ministry called on the international community to end its silence to these acts by the Israeli government and settlers and shoulder its legal and moral responsibilities in providing international protection for the Palestinian people, and take practical measures to implement the resolutions related to the Palestinian issue, which will guarantee an immediate end to the Israeli occupation.
Peace Now called in its report published yesterday on Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to stop covering up for the settlers and their crimes and violations against defenseless Palestinians and their lands and crops. B’Tselem also said violence by settlers, and sometimes Israelis in general, against the Palestinians have long since become an integral part of the occupation’s routine behavior in the West Bank.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency