[Wednesday, February 5, 2014] Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, strongly denounced Israel’s approval of an additional 349 units of Jewish settlements in occupied Jerusalem.Dr. Ashrawi stated that Israel is ongoing with the isolation of the occupied Palestinian city from its surrounding Palestinian areas, and is escalating its violations against the Palestinians, and their property, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported.
“Israel is isolating Jerusalem from its surrounding Palestinian areas, by its apartheid wall, roadblocks, settlements, and settler-only roads”, she said. “The Palestinians in the occupied city continue to suffer due to Israel’s policies of ethnic cleansing, including home demolitions, annexation of lands and revoking their ID cards.”
The official also stated that Tel Aviv is deliberately provoking the Palestinians, harassing and abusing them in order to drive them out of the city, and that Tel Aviv is also trying to force the Palestinian negotiators to quit direct peace talks to blame them for the failure of the political process.
“Clearly, it is Israel and its violations of international and humanitarian law that constitute an attempt to ensure the failure of negotiations and the destruction of the two-state solution”, Dr. Ashrawi stated. “Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is deliberately sending a strong message to the United States, Europe and the rest of the world that Israel has no intention to adhere to international law and the will of the international community.”
Furthermore, Dr. Ashrawi said that Tel Aviv is not only trying to cause the collapse of direct talks with the Palestinians, but is also destroying any chances of stability and security in the region, according to a WAFA report.
The official also denounced the destruction of two Palestinian homes, earlier on Wednesday, in Beit Hanina and Sur Baher Palestinian towns, in occupied Jerusalem, and said that the destruction is part of Israel’s ongoing violations against the Palestinian people, their lands, and holy sites.
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