Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh rejected today an Israeli court’s view of the Palestinian Authority as a supporter of “terrorism” because it pays the families of the martyrs and prisoners, stressing that his government’s support for the families is not supporting “terrorism” rather it is “our duty towards the orphan sons of martyrs, and the prisoners and their families who need all our help.”
Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, Shtayyeh said this claim is unacceptable, illegal and illegitimate, considering the court to be “one of the tools of the occupation.”
The Prime Minister said that Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, and in Jerusalem in particular, and the repeated intrusions into Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as attacks by settlers and calls by Israeli officials on their public to arm themselves “fuels the escalation and a call for murder.”
Israel practices a “shoot to kill” policy, he said. “This policy, along with the intensification of settlements and completion of the construction of the wall, is used by the Israeli parties to preserve themselves, and as a basis for their electoral campaigns on the one hand and the preservation of their coalitions on the other.”
He stressed that the absence of a political horizon and the anger of the Palestinians at the double standards of the international community “is a serious warning that the situation is getting worse and therefore the international community is required to curb the Israeli aggression and stop the policy of killing.”
The Prime Minister stressed that what is required from the international community is a political horizon to end the occupation, stop the aggression against the Palestinian people, provide them with protection and stop double standards, stressing that the solution lies in ending the occupation and enabling the Palestinian people to have sovereignty over their land and establish their state on the internationally recognized borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)