RAMALLAH, Saturday, January 30, 2021 (WAFA) – A sharp rise in the Israeli army and settler attacks against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank prompted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today to call on the United Nations Secretary-General and the Security Council to intervene and provide protection to the vulnerable Palestinian population under Israel’s occupation.

"The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Security Council must assume their responsibilities designated by international law and provide international protection to our people and their just and legitimate national rights," said the Ministry in a statement, condemning the ongoing attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers against the Palestinian people and their rights.

It said the settlers have intensified their attacks and terror acts against the Palestinian civilians, their lands, and their properties in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

"The escalation in settler attacks is now dominating the scene on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territory, and is manifested in various forms of killing, damaging property, seizing land, going after farmers, uprooting trees, and killing of livestock, among other forms of criminal escalation with the support of the occupying army," said the Foreign Ministry.

The last of these attacks, it said, was against Khan al-Lubban al-Sharqiya archeological site, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, which indicates an intention to take it over to serve Israel’s settlement expansion plans, while settlers also target the various Palestinian historical and archeological sites in an attempt to seize them.

The Ministry warned against treating settler attacks as normal and common incidents that recur daily without taking into consideration their dangerous consequence on Palestinian rights, and their disastrous repercussions on the chance of establishing a viable, contiguous, and sovereign Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

M.K.