RAMALLAH, September 5, 2016 (WAFA) – Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah Monday told visiting Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that Israel, by stepping up settlement construction and expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories, is pushing toward a one-state solution and an apartheid system.
The prime minister expressed his government’s commitment towards a two-state solution of Palestine and Israel.
He said President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking by all legal and diplomatic means the creation of an independent state of Palestine on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
Hamdallah also expressed appreciation for Australia’s constant support to the Palestinian education and health sectors.
He called on Australia to increase its financial support to the Palestinian people in the midst of the financial crisis facing the Palestinian government and decline in foreign aid.
He said if Israel allows the Palestinians to use what is defined as Area C of the West Bank, which makes 64 percent of its area and is fully controlled by Israel, and lifts the 10-year-old blockade on Gaza then the government will be able to benefit financially from investing in these areas and from their natural resources.
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