Mahmoud Abbas called on the US to turn its words on the cause of Palestine into deeds, and urged the international community to move quickly to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, reports Asian Lite News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that the situation in the territories “has become unbearable due to the Israeli violations”.
He called on the US to turn its words on the cause of Palestine into deeds, and urged the international community to move quickly to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Abbas made the remarks during a meeting with Palestinian business people at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The President said that “Israel should stop all its measures against our people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip”, warning that if Israel rejects the two-state solution “the Palestinians will be obliged to go for other political choices”.
On October 2, Abbas had said that one of the choices is to implement the UN Security Council’s resolution passed in 1947, or go to the one democratic state on the land of historic Palestine in which full political and civil rights of the Palestinians are gained.
Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which were sponsored by the US for nine months, had stopped in 2014 following deep disagreements on Israeli settlement and the recognition of establishing a Palestinian state on the 1967 border.
Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are claimed by the Palestinians, in the 1967 Middle East war and has controlled them ever since.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki has urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting over the Israeli settlement issue.
Al-Maliki told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah that Palestine intends to call on the UN General Assembly to meet or hold an emergency session of the UN Security Council on the escalation of settlement activities in the Palestinian territories.
He added that “contacts and consultations are taking place with the US with the aim of pressing the Israeli government to stop its settlement plans in the West Bank and East Jerusalem”.
Earlier, Israel announced that it intends to build more new settlement projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
According to Israeli and Palestinian estimates, about 650,000 Israeli settlers live in 164 settlements and 124 outposts in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli settlement is the thorniest issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for stopping the last round of direct peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014.
Last week, more than 40 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
“44 Palestinians have been injured today in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the districts of Beita and Bayt Dajan near the city of Nablus in the West Bank,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement on late Friday.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told Sputnik that the clashes erupted near the settlement of Rehelim south of Nablus after a group of Palestinians entered here without preliminary notification.
“IDF soldiers have been sent to the site to disperse the crowd until the arrival of the Israeli police,” the military said.
The IDF also said that two Palestinians had planted an explosive device to target the border fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip to illegally enter the Israeli territory.
“Today in the evening, the IDF patrol spotted two suspects who tried to cross the border fence in southern Gaza Strip. They planted an explosive device that exploded soon after that,” the IDF said in a statement.
The two Palestinians have been detained.
The relations between Israel and Palestine have been shattered for decades. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition for their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity and builds settlements in the occupied areas, despite objections from the United Nations.
