RAMALLAH, Aug 28 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian authorities yesterday called for international pressure on the Israeli government, to stop the sponsorship of settler groups in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry made the appeal in a press statement, after groups of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farms in the West Bank on Saturday.
Holding the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “fully and directly responsible for these attacks,” the ministry said, “the results of such acts would create more tension in the area.”
“Israel’s sense of protection and immunity deepens its attacks on the Palestinians, and stealing their land in favour of settlements and the gradual annexation of the West Bank,” it said.
Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 and has since established settlements there, which are considered violations of international law.
The Israeli settlement issue is the most prominent aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for the breakdown of the U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Mar, 2014.
More than 600,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to official Palestinian figures.
