Palestinian cabinet meeting in Ramallah chaired by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. (WAFA Images / Maan Khalifa) 

RAMALLAH, May 22, 2018 (WAFA) - The Palestinian Cabinet welcomed on Tuesday the adoption of the Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution condemning Israeli crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories but said that the countries that abstained sent a message to Israel to continue in its crimes.

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting held in Ramallah, the Cabinet hailed the HRC decision to send an independent international committee to investigate Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, including occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, which started on March 30 with the Israeli army killing of or more than 100 unarmed Palestinian protesters at the Gaza borders and wounding of 12,000 others.

The Cabinet repeated its calls and demands to stop Israeli war crimes and provide international protection for Palestinian citizens, stressing that such achievements will leave a significant impact on the formation of an Independent Fact-Finding Commission to investigate the Israeli war crimes against Palestinians and humanity.

While praising the support of the 29 countries that voted for the HRC resolution, the Cabinet nevertheless condemned the United States and Australia for voting against the resolution and the 14 abstaining countries, saying that it considered the position of these countries is "a message of green light to encourage Israel to commit more crimes against Palestinian citizens, and to open an endless cycle of extremism and bloodshed in the region."

The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, said it "joined the Palestinian citizens and other world leaders in wishing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a speedy and a complete recovery from his latest emergency health condition."

President Abbas suffered from lung infection and was admitted to hospital in Ramallah on Sunday for treatment. He is, however, said to be recovering and in good health.

During the meeting, Hamdallah briefed the Cabinet members on the outcomes of his participation in the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation held in Istanbul to discuss "the latest serious developments in the State of Palestine." In its turn, the Cabinet stressed the urgent need for an independent international investigation for Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinians citizens.

The Cabinet also praised the outcomes of the emergency meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers, to prepare an integrated plan to counter the latest declaration of the US administration and other states on Jerusalem.

Furthermore, the Cabinet delegated the Secretariat-General of the Arab League to immediately form an independent international committee aiming at investigating the crimes and massacres committed by the Israeli occupation against unarmed Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip.

In the same context, the Cabinet reaffirmed its support to the decisions of the Palestinian leadership to refer the Israeli crimes file, including the colonial settlements file, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and to seek membership in other international treaties and organizations.

Moreover, the Cabinet called upon the UN Security Council to implement resolutions 476 and 478 (1980), as well as the General Assembly resolutions under its 10th emergency session (Union for Peace) No. 2017 regarding the Holy City of Jerusalem. In this regard, the Cabinet called on all countries to prevent and stand against any move to establish diplomatic missions in occupied Jerusalem, in accordance with the Security Council resolution 478 (1980).

The Cabinet denounced Israeli practices and actions against Palestinian schools and education in occupied Jerusalem considering them flagrant violations of human rights and international laws. In addition to this, the Cabinet called on all relevant international organizations to take urgent action to stop the Israeli violations of all international and humanitarian laws and conventions, especially those related to education.

The Cabinet discussed the national plan to support education in occupied Jerusalem, which aims at confronting all the policies and procedures of the Israeli occupation government that finances huge budgets to impose the Israeli curriculum, to targeting the Arabic language and to prevent the maintenance of schools and classrooms.

M.K.