RAMALLAH, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 (WAFA) – The Palestinian cabinet welcomed on Tuesday what it described as “the historic moment and exceptional event” in which the State of Palestine is expected to assume on Tuesday the chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China at the United Nation headquarters.
"We emphasize the full commitment of the State of Palestine to honorably carry the group duties, responsibilities and to closely work with all members, international delegations, and the Executive Secretariat to serve the objectives of the Group, mankind, and humanity," the cabinet noted in a statement following its weekly meeting in Ramallah.
"The inauguration ceremony represents a victory for the State of Palestine and constitutes a sign of the international consensus and confidence in Palestine to manage important files such as sustainable development, poverty, climate, education, the environment, and many other issues," it said.
In other issues, the cabinet reiterated “its strong condemnations of the continuous invasions and raid campaigns of the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) to several territories of Occupied Palestine especially, in Ramallah, Al-Bireh, and Betunia where the IOF practiced systematic terrorism against defenseless Palestinian citizens, and endangered their lives with lethal fire, live ammunition, and sound bombs. The IOF also closed the main entrances to the cities, tightening the restrictions on the citizens, chasing them, paralyzing their movement, attacking them with tear gas and rubber bullets, storming shops and supermarkets and confiscating surveillance camera recordings.
"The Israeli invasions impose new facts on the ground using military force to destabilize the Palestinian cities, threaten the Palestinian official and civil institutions, and prevent their development towards state institutions. Furthermore, they leave negative effects on the Palestinian economy and prevent it from developing into an independent state economy," the cabinet stated.
It noted, "These war campaigns come in an exchange of roles between the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the settler gangs, which target the right to existence of the Palestinian citizens and their steadfastness in their homeland."
The Cabinet also added, "We recently witnessed such incidents in the village of Burqa, north of Nablus, where settler militias attacked the Palestinian citizens‘ houses in clear attempts to restore the illegal settlement of Homesh evacuated in 2005. We were also aware of the heavily armed settler attack on citizens while cultivating their land and raising their cattle in the town of Yatta, south of Hebron. The settlers protected by the IOF commit brutal attacks against Palestinian citizens in order to seize their lands and deepen the Israeli colonial settlements in the villages and ruins south of Hebron."
The cabinet warned against the escalated practices and incitement calls made by different Israeli parties in the Occupation government against the Palestinian leadership, particularly against President Mahmoud Abbas. "The international community must reject such grave incitements, assert its illegality, and call immediately for its refusal, especially, at a time when Israel, the Occupying Power, continues to deepen its colonial plans on the Palestinian land and enacting racist legislation that establish an abhorrent apartheid regime in occupied Palestine, in attempts to eliminate the final status issues by imposing facts by force on the ground," the Cabinet said.
It warned the international community from repercussions of normally dealing with the Israeli grave violations, pointing out the various political consequences of such violations, and its effect on the Palestinian issue as well as the Palestinian rights. The Cabinet declared, "The Israeli occupation violations and crimes are linked to the conspiracies that undermine the Palestinian issue using the Trump administration blind bias towards Israel as a subterfuge to accelerate settlement expansion enterprise at the expenses of the Palestinian people and their homeland. Yet, to destroy the Palestinian infrastructure and national state institutions in an attempt to create a new reality as part of imposing the so-called ‘Deal of the Century‘ plan."
It deplored the Israeli military order to evacuate five Palestinian families from their homes by January 23, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Occupied East Jerusalem. "This illegal order serves ethnic cleansing and forcibly displaces the Palestinian citizens in the occupied city of Jerusalem and its neighborhoods, and in the occupied territories of the so- called ‘Area C’. It is also a piece of clear evidence that the occupation continues its racist and arbitrary plans in an attempt to evacuate the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from its Palestinian citizens in order to replace them with new settlers."
The cabinet also strongly condemned the inauguration of the apartheid street in the Occupied Jerusalem area, which separates Palestinian and Israeli settlers driving in that area through an 8 meters high wall. "This Apartheid element demonstrates the colonial racist mentality inherent in Israeli politics and points the widespread culture of racism and hatred based on the refusal and elimination of the other. Also, it emphasizes the approach of Israel, the Occupying Power that aims at destroying the geographical and demographic connection between the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and transforming the State of Palestine into separate and isolated communities," the Cabinet added.
It criticized the so-called Israeli "Civil Administration" for approving the allocation of about 1,200 dunums for the planning of a new illegal settlement that would expand Efrat settlement towards Bethlehem and grant permits to implement a colonial plan aimed at the seizure of about 139 dunums of Deir Dibwan village, east of Ramallah.
It called upon the international community to hold its political, legal responsibilities, and to immediately intervene to halt the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. The Cabinet noted, "It is urgent to provide immediate protection to our unarmed citizens who face this brutal aggression."
Furthermore, the cabinet demanded the international community to break its silence, and to do what is required, not to be ed to condemnation statements, but to take further steps and necessary measures to hold Israel accountable for its continued crimes and violations of the international legitimacy, laws and resolutions and recognize the Palestinian citizens‘ rights to establish their own independent state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
"The failure to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and violations is the reason for encouraging Israel to escalate the ethnic cleansing, implement, and deepen its own apartheid regime in Occupied Palestine," it said.
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