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RAMALLAH, Monday, May 24, 2021 (WAFA) – Premier Mohammad Shtayyeh today called for a serious track to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and establish the Palestinian state.
In his speech opening the cabinet’s weekly session in Ramallah, Shtayyeh called for a serious and real track that would be conducive to bringing an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, establishing the Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and securing the return of refugees.
He pointed to the need to support an international political initiative to this end in line with the United Nations resolutions and international law, as he stressed the that current political vacuum and Israel’s policy of fait accompli should not persist.
Discussing the latest Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, which killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, 39 women, 17 elderly people, and five disabled people, wounded over 1,910 others and brought widespread devastation to the already impoverished strip, Shtayyeh said that the strip requires urgent relief besides to two programs; one for Gaza’s reconstruction and rehabilitation and the other for reviving Gaza’s already devastated economy.
He called on the Arab countries, particularly Egypt and Qatar, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations to engage as partners in Gaza reconstruction as he demanded that Israel life its 15-year siege on the strip so that reconstruction would proceed unhindered and for a political horizon forward to be offered to avoid future onslaughts on the strip.
Focusing on the situation in Jerusalem following more than a month of simmering tensions over the Israeli occupation authorities’ ban on sitting on the stairs outside Bab al-Amoud, also known as Damascus Gate, encroachments upon Al-Aqsa and forced expulsions of Palestinian families from their houses in Sheikh Jarrah, Shtayyeh noted that Israel’s aggression was still ongoing as families in Sheikh Jarrah were still at the imminent risk of expulsion to make room for colonial settlers to seize their houses.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)