RAMALLAH: Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that by “killing, destroying, and trying to displace Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Israel wants to reshape the demographic balance to its advantage, after it shifted in favor of Palestine, for the first time since 1948.’
Shtayyeh explained in his speech at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet session held today in Ramallah, that there are Israeli attempts to remove the Palestinian Authority (PA) from the Gaza Strip, by seizing clearing funds, closing all crossings leading to the Gaza Strip, and preventing the delivery of any aid from the West Bank and Jerusalem to it, but will ‘we continue to help in all ways and means.’
He stressed that Israel is practicing economic and financial destruction of the PA through barriers and geographical fragmentation, preventing workers from reaching their workplaces, tightening control over areas called ‘C,’ and preventing their development, adding that today, there are more than 700 military checkpoints, gates, etc., a
nd this has led to a decline in the pace of the economy, in addition to the continued financial deductions from Palestinian funds.
The Premiere pointed out that the Israeli killing machine continues to claim more lives of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, as a new escalation began as stated by the Israeli Prime Minister, towards the invasion of Rafah, the last refuge square in the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of about 100 civilians, most of them children and women, noting that Rafah houses more than 1.4 million people, in harsh conditions, amidst killing, hunger, thirst, cold, and epidemics.
He stressed that Israel continues to commit the crimes of genocide began in Gaza, and the displacement attempts that are still ongoing and its plans are ready to be implemented, but Palestinian people will not leave their land and will not abandon it.
Shtayyeh pointed out that it has become clear that what is tampering, sabotaging, destroying and killing here in the West Bank is not only the occupation arm
y, but also the colonists with the protection of the occupation army, saying that the colonists have now gained the upper hand in all colonial actions, with regard to the Palestinian land, as they are all armed and serving in the army.
“There is no difference between a soldier and a colonizer. At night, a soldier, and during the day, a colonizer, and they practice all forms of terrorism. Whoever calls for a two-state solution must fight colonialism with all its inputs, outputs, tools, people, and financiers. Colonialism, whose goal is religious, security, and political, must stop,” he continued.
PM noted that the past 400 days, from the beginning of last year 2023, until today, are the bloodiest in the contemporary history of Palestine.
“We have lost more than 100,000 slain Palestinians, wounded and missing people in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and more than 640 in the West Bank. There are also more than 10,000 detainees, and these are not numbers, but rather they indicate children, women, the el
derly, young men and women, and they indicate our families and our people, each of them has a history, status, and name, and had a future that was killed by Israel,” he added.
He pointed out that today all Palestinian lands, including cities, villages, camps and the Gaza Strip, have been occupied with renewed tools, infrastructure destroyed, drone bombing, colonists, and targeting of everything Palestinian, noting that Jerusalem and the holy sites are at the heart of the systematic targeting.
“For our part, we face all of this popularly, nationally, politically and internationally, and with Palestine’s friends in the world, and through all international political, diplomatic and judicial platforms,” Shtayyeh said.
The Palestinian PM touched on the reform program implemented by the government, saying that “our reform program is progressing well.”
“In order to accomplish this, there are some issues that require an environment conducive to reform on the one hand, and lifting the financial blockade imposed on
us on the other hand. It is important to say that any national internal arrangement must ensure that the aggression against Gaza is stopped, the occupation army withdraws from there, the PA is empowered, and that the opportunity to recognize Palestine as a full member state in the United Nations and bilateral recognitions between us and the United States and the European Union countries is not lost,” he added.
The Prime Minister condemned the decision of the Israeli Cabinet Committee, which recommended closing the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, stressing that this decision amounts to the beginning of the implementation of the declared war on UNRWA to liquidate it, and if Israel continues to violate the United Nations institutions, Israel must be expelled from the United Nations.
He pointed out that the Palestinian Cabinet is following up during its session today the aggression against Palestinian people in Gaza, and what is happening in Rafah now “and here in the West Bank as well, and we are continuing o
ur efforts.”
Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA