RAMALLAH, June 5, 2018 (WAFA) – Marking 51 years for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, Palestinians Tuesday called on the United Nations to provide them with protection.

Palestinians participated in a protest rally outside the UN office in Ramallah during which they delivered a letter to the UN Secretary General demanding protection for the Palestinian civilians living under Israeli occupation and calling on the UN to send international teams to these areas to investigate Israeli acts.

The letter detailed what it said were Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people with calls to put an end to the 51-year occupation, considered the only and longest occupation in the world.

Marking this occasion, Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, tweeted; “The historical significance of today serves as an alarming reminder to the international community that statements don’t supersede the enforcement of International law towards ending Israel‘s 51 years long colonial occupation of Palestine. Actions speak louder than statements.”

Israel launched a sudden war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan on June 5, 1967 and within six days was able to defeat their armies and occupy the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank and Jerusalem from Jordan.

Israel later returned the Sinai to Egypt after signing a peace agreement between them, but kept the Golan Height, which it later annexed, Jerusalem, which it has also annexed, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip despite granting Palestinians a ed self-rule in parts of them following the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993.

M.K.