RAMALLAH, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 (WAFA) - The Palestinian Cabinet strongly condemn on Tuesday Israeli settlers’ calls to attack President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli army raids on Palestinian cities, the last of which was in Ramallah, the transitory Palestinian capital, and called on France to recognize the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Cabinet said in a statement after its weekly meeting held in Ramallah and headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah that it holds the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the consequences of the flagrant incitement to assassinate President Abbas. The cabinet stated that "President Abbas takes these incitements seriously, and he is demanding the international community to condemn such provocative incitements."

The cabinet also strongly deplored the Israeli occupying forces raids on several Palestinian cities, towns, and villages in areas A, which is under full Palestinian control, “including the barbaric incursions of Ramallah and Al-Bireh cities, which resulted in injuring of tens of Palestinian citizens by teargas, rubber bullets, and live bullets, in addition to the storming of the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) headquarters and the detention of its staff.”

It said that “the aggression led by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian official and media institutions comes in the context of a deliberate war campaigns against the Palestinian people in general and the Palestinian media in particular, in an attempt to hide the truth of the Israeli crimes and grave violations of international law, international humanitarian law, and the Geneva Conventions."

It called upon the international community, the International Federation of Journalists, international and Arab media institutions to condemn “these blatant Israeli crimes” and “to take quick steps to provide international protection to our Palestinian people, pressure Israel to halt its crimes, and to force it to abide by the resolutions of international legitimacy and the provisions of international law.”

PM Hamdallah briefed the cabinet on the outcomes of the joint French-Palestinian ministerial committee meetings, held in the French capital, Paris, which resulted in the signing of 10 agreements aimed to strengthen cooperation in many vital sectors particularly, civil defense, security, agriculture, and food, as well as crime combat, higher education, vocational, and technical education, in addition to local governance and the Political Protocol on the Consultations between the French Republic and the State of Palestine.

"The signing of the agreements confirms the prospects development of cooperation with France, which will contribute to advance the economic Palestinian-French relationship and strengthen the Palestinian institutions capacities to achieve the objectives of our National Policy Agenda (NPA) 2017-2022. As well as to promote the prospects of peace and stability in the region, and help us move forward in an accelerated and comprehensive path towards prosperity and development." PM Hamdallah noted.

PM Hamdallah briefed the cabinet on the outcomes of his meetings with his French counterpart Edouard Philippi, French Senate President Gerard Larcher, and other Senate committees chairs. He praised French efforts led by President Macaron to support the Middle East peace process and achieve the two-state solution based on international law and UN resolutions.

He reiterated the Palestinian leadership and government support to any French efforts to establish an international support group with the participation of international partners to restore the long-stalled political process. In addition, the Prime Minister repeated his calls to any future International measures to save the two-state solution and end the Israeli military occupation of the State of Palestine, stressing that the continuation of the Israeli illegal occupation is the main obstacle to achieving of a just and comprehensive peace.

PM Hamdallah also invited the French Government and European Union to support President Abbas peace initiative for holding an international peace conference based on the implementation of the resolutions of international legitimacy, the international law, and United Nations resolutions. Moreover, he called upon France to take quick steps to recognize the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. "The recognition will help save the two-state solution and restore hope for the Palestinian people," PM Hamdallah added.

PM Hamdallah also expressed his sincere gratitude to France for its continuous commitment to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) urging the French leadership to increase its financial support to the International organization.  PM Hamdallah added, "I commend the French government position for rejecting the Israeli illegal settlement expansion on the Palestinian lands, I also call France to ban Israeli illegal settlements products from the French and European markets".

The cabinet also condemned the demolition of Al-Tahadi 13 School in the town of Samou, south of Hebron and the issued Israeli military order to shut down Al-Tahadi 12 School in Wadi Salman.

"The demolition of the school is an examination of the remaining credibility of the international community system, the United Nations, and its relevant organizations." The cabinet noted, stressing that such illegal measures questions Israel, the occupying power willingness to halt any of its daily grave violations and crimes against International law and Palestinian human rights.

"The demolition of Al-Tahadi 13 School is another Israeli crime that comes part of the ethnic cleansing cycle committed against the national and humanitarian presence of the Palestinian people on their lands, and particularly area "C", in order to forcibly displace Palestinian citizens and replace them with settlers," the cabinet added. The cabinet also called upon the International community and UN Security Council (UNSC) to take concrete and quick steps to provide international protection to our people against the Israeli occupation.

The Cabinet commended the State of Palestine membership for the first time to the Advisory Committee on nominations of judges of the International Criminal Court and the selection of the Attorney-General of the State of Palestine as a member of the Asian continent.

It also welcomed the signing of a cooperation protocol with the German government worth €54.4 million, signed by the Palestinian Minister of Finance and Planning and Klaus Kraemer the German official responsible for the file of the Near East in the Ministry of Economy and Cooperation.

M.K.