Abbas points out danger of ‘explosion’ in West Bank to Putin

Israel’s policy is in danger of leading to a real “explosion” in the occupied West Bank, a theater of recurring violence, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday during a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart , Vladimir Putin.

Mr Abbas spoke with the Russian president yesterday morning, just two days before his meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gandz at the latter’s home. This was the first official visit of a Palestinian president to Israel in years.

The Abbas / Gandz meeting was “the last chance before an explosion,” Palestinian Interior Minister Hussein al-Sheikh tweeted, without elaborating on the cause or causes of the possible “explosion.”

During his conversation with Vladimir Putin, whose country is a member of the Quartet (UN, EU, US, Russia) for the Middle East, Mahmoud Abbas attributed the threatened “explosion” to Israeli policies.

He emphasized the importance of ending Israel’s unilateral settlement practices, seizing land, expelling Palestinians from East Jerusalem (…) and settling terrorism, as Israeli measures would explode. “, broadcast the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.

Following Mr Abbas’s visit to Israel, whose leadership role is in dispute, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced “confidence-building measures” to improve the Palestinian Authority’s economic situation and reduce tensions in the West Bank, which occupies Palestinian territory. Israel since 1967.

“We hope that the confidence-building measures discussed will accelerate the pace of promoting the freedom, security and prosperity of the Palestinians and Israelis in 2022,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

But “economic and security measures can not be a substitute for the political process,” Abbas told Putin yesterday, noting that the Palestinian leadership was expected to make “key decisions” when the Central Liberation Organization’s central council meets. of Palestine (PLO), which is expected to happen in the coming months.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 410 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the first ten months of 2021, compared to 358 throughout 2020.

According to the Israeli army’s annual report, in 2021, 100 attacks were carried out against Israelis in the occupied West Bank, up from 60 a year earlier. Added to that were 5,532 incidents in which Palestinians threw stones, up from 4,000 last year.

Recently, the UN expressed strong concern about both the violence of Jewish settlers and the calls of Palestinian organizations to escalate the conflict with Israel.

Source: AMPE

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Source From: Capital

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