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Prime Minister Shtayyeh calls for halt to settler violence against Palestinians

In this file picture, Israeli soldiers stand by as masked Israeli settlers throw stones at Palestinian protesters (unseen) during a demonstration against construction on an Israeli outpost near the Palestinian village of Turmusaya and the settlement of Shilo, north of Ramallah in the West Bank. (Photo by AFP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the international community to intervene and put a stop to the acts of violence by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians across the occupied territories.

Speaking at the opening of a weekly cabinet session in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Shtayyeh stated that the Palestinian Authority has sent letters to the United Nations and international human rights organizations, urging them to intervene and stop acts of organized terrorism being committed by Israeli settlers, particularly in the villages of Burqa, Qaryout and Sebastia, and ensure protection of Palestinians in those areas.

He held Israel fully responsible for the rise in settler violence, and condemned Israel’s widespread and systematic shoot-to-kill policy targeting Palestinian civilians.

On Friday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called upon the international community to intervene immediately, and to pressure the occupying Israeli regime into stopping "acts of terrorism" committed by extremist settlers against Palestinians and their communities.

The ministry, in a statement, urged UN Secretary General António Guterres to promptly activate the international protection system for Palestinian civilians under the Israeli occupation.

It said it is gravely concerned about the rise in systematic attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians, especially in the northern West Bank villages of Qaryout and Burqa as well as in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East al-Quds, which have left dozens of people injured.

Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers raided Qaryout village southeast of Nablus in the early hours of December 17, injuring several Palestinians and causing material damage.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said the settlers broke into many homes in the town, and assaulted local families.

Scores of Palestinians were injured in the process, who were moved to several hospitals in Nablus.

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — during the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank. All the settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the settlement activities in several resolutions.


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