Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh today warned the Israeli occupation authorities against submitting the so-called Amit Halevy bill to the Israeli Knesset in the coming days that calls for dividing the Muslim holy place, Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem’s Old City between Muslims and Jews. Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, the Prime Minister said, “Taking this step would cause overwhelming anger with unpredictable results because of the sanctity and religious value that Al-Aqsa Mosque constitutes for the Palestinian people and for Arabs and Muslims as it is their first Qiblah and the site of the Prophet Mohammad’s journey and ascension to heaven (al-Isra wal-Miraj).’ He called for an Arab, Islamic and international action that goes beyond denunciation and condemnation to imposing sanctions that would prevent any change in Al-Aqsa Mosque and stop any violation of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem. In another context, the Prime Minister called for real international pressure to stop Israel’s implementation of the settlement plan known as E1, which aims to undermine the chances of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state. He said that based on this plan, a new colony will be built linking the Jerusalem settlements with the colony of Ma’ale Adumim, which means dividing the West Bank into two separate areas thus doing away with the two-state solution that would have dangerous consequences on security and peace in the region and the world. Shtayyeh also called for preventing Israel from proceeding with its colonial and expansionist plans, including plans to build a major industrial zone between the colony of Ariel in the north of the occupied West Bank and Israel proper, which will be built at the cost of the lands of the villages of Sineria, Rafat and al-Zawiya, with an area of about 2,700 dunums. Shtayyeh, meanwhile, expressed his and the cabinet’s sorrow for the increase in murders in the Arab communities in Israel, which claimed more than 100 lives since the beginning of the year, holding the Israeli authorities fully responsible for the high rate of crime by not doing anything to stop them or prosecute their perpetrators due to racist reasons. ‘As a settler-colonial state, Israel wants to destroy the cohesion in Palestinian society, sows strife, does not impose order, and wants you to always kill each other,’ he said, addressing the Palestinians in Israel while calling on them to stop shedding the blood of each other. The Prime Minister also welcomed the visit of President Mahmoud Abbas that starts tomorrow to China in response to the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying that this visit comes on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Palestinian-Chinese relations, and 35 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. ‘We look forward to its expected outcome in terms of consolidating and strengthening bilateral relations in all fields,’ said Shtayyeh.
Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA
