17 May 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian ambassador to Algeria said on Sunday that de-escalation in the occupied territories must have a price to be paid by the Israeli occupation authorities. Most notably, insisted Amin Maqboul, this would be the suspension of settlement activities in the Palestinian territories.
"Whenever an escalation occurs in Palestine and a new aggression is launched by the Israeli occupation, some international powers, led by the US administration and European parties, rush to request the situation to be calmed," he told Algeria's national radio station. "But in the conditions, we are living in now, the calm must have a price, because the party which provoked it was the Zionist enemy [Israel], with its aggression against Jerusalem, allowing the settlers to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards, and the attempt to confiscate houses in Sheikh Jarrah."
This time, he added, there must be specific decisions and measures related to Jerusalem in the first instance and the cessation of settlement activity. "The latter has increased since the 'deal of the century', which must be discredited after the fall of Donald Trump."
Tension in the Palestinian territories has risen since the middle of April as a result of brutal attacks against Palestinians by the Israeli police and settlers in Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and its environs, and Sheikh Jarrah. The Israelis want to displace twelve families from their homes in the Jerusalem neighbourhood which will then be handed over to illegal Jewish settlers.
Almost two hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israel since last Monday in the Gaza Strip, including 58 children and more than thirty women.
