PA slams Bennett gov’t for ‘emboldening’ settlers
Settler attacks on Palestinians have increased since the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett came to power, the Palestinian Authority claimed on Sunday.
“There is a noticeable increase in crimes by settlers against the Palestinians,” the PA foreign ministry said in a statement. “It seems the settlers are emboldened by the composition of the new Israeli government and the well-known extremist positions of its prime minister.”
The PA ministry also claimed that there is “a greater and more severe violence” practiced by the IDF against the Palestinians since the Bennett government was formed.
“There is also a deliberate and intentional indifference toward the rights of our people and a lack of interest in international reactions, which means that the new Israeli government has so far shown that it is a government of escalation in its dealings with the Palestinians,” the ministry said.
The Palestinians view with seriousness this escalation, the PA foreign ministry said, pointing out that the United Nations, the US administration and other international parties prefer to refrain from exerting pressure on the new Israeli government “to stop its aggression and settlement” policies.
The PA ministry warned that planned protests by settlers against illegal Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank, which is exclusively controlled by Israel, are “an act of large-scale incitement and an extension of the war waged by the occupation and its settlers against Palestinian
presence in that area.”
In a related development, Abu Ahmed, spokesman for Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – Nidal al-Amoudi Division, a Palestinian armed group operating in the Gaza Strip, warned the Bennett government on Sunday against continuing the closure of the border crossings between Israel and the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
“The price will be high for the so-called Israel,” said the masked spokesperson in a video posted on social media platforms. “If the Gaza Strip is attacked [by Israel], the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the resistance groups will attack Israeli cities with rockets.”
The spokesperson claimed that the Gaza-based terrorist groups sent a message to Israel through a third party, presumably Egypt, that it must immediately reopen the border crossings.