In front of the extreme right-wing government in Israel.. Shtayyeh calls for the protection of Palestinian children

On Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh called on the European Union to take “serious measures in advance to confront the policies of the new Israeli government.”

He said this during his meeting in Ramallah with ambassadors, consuls and representatives of European Union countries at the end of the activities of the Palestinian-European dialogue, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Shtayyeh stressed that “serious measures must be taken in advance to confront the policies of the new Israeli government that threaten the survival of our people, our state and our institutions.”

Commenting on the features of the Israeli government in formation, Shtayyeh explained: “What will happen is not a change in the personality of the prime minister, but rather a change in the entire political system towards more extremism and violence.”

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has until December 21 to form a government, after agreeing to form it with religious right-wing and other extremist parties, which has been condemned by domestic and international voices, while Palestinians see the future coalition as more extremist and greedy. for the Palestinian territories.

Protection of the two-state solution

Regarding Europe’s role in supporting the Palestinian cause, Shtayyeh said: “We want Europe to play an effective role and take measures to protect the two-state solution in light of all Israeli measures that are destructive to any chance of establishing a Palestinian state.”

And the Palestinian Prime Minister believes that “the incompetence of the international community can encourage Israel to persist in its violations.”

Shtayyeh urged Europe to “put its economic weight behind its political stance,” urging “the European Union to put pressure on Israel to abide by the agreements signed with it, human rights and international law.”

Shtayyeh praised the political statements issued by the European Union and its countries, but demanded actions on the ground, such as boycotting settlement products and educational institutions, and taking measures against settlers who have European nationality.

This week, the Palestine-Europe Dialogue, an annual dialogue between representatives, consuls and ambassadors of the European Union with Palestinian officials, was launched in Ramallah to discuss political developments, bilateral relations and the development agenda.

A threat to Palestinian children

In a similar context, the Palestinian Prime Minister accused Israel of threatening Palestinian children and denying them their most basic rights.

This happened during a meeting he held in his office in Ramallah with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.

During the meeting, Shtayyeh spoke to Gamba about “facilitating her work and providing the necessary information,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

The two sides also discussed “the need to protect Palestinian children from the systematic crimes of Israeli occupation forces and settler terrorism, support their rights and improve their conditions,” according to the same source.

Endless crimes.. The United Nations receives a list of occupation violations of children’s rights #Palestine pic.twitter.com/EThBIDuw9I

– Arab TV (@AlarabyTV) December 12, 2022

The statement quoted Shtayyeh as saying, “Children in Palestine live in an exceptional situation, and the occupation not only threatens children, but also threatens and distorts childhood, restricts children’s dreams and movement, and deprives them of their most basic rights.”

In addition to suffering direct abuses against them, including killings, arrests and injuries, Shtayyeh noted that “children are affected by all the occupation’s crimes against adults.”

In this context, he pointed out that Palestinian children “live with their families the experience of martyrdom and arrest of family members, demolition of homes, seizure of land and attacks by settlers”.

He said: “The suffering of children in Palestine cannot be measured by the number of victims, because the pain a child goes through and its impact on his development, dreams and imagination can never be counted.”

Shtayyeh called on Gamba to “expose the crimes of the occupation and its settlers against the children of Palestine, and to expose and blacklist the occupation, for crimes against the children of Palestine, including murders, arrests, and psychological and physical torture,” according to a Palestinian statement.

For her part, Gamba confirmed her cooperation with the State of Palestine and “coordinating efforts to protect Palestinian children in the light of escalating Israeli rights violations, and to provide a better life that guarantees the right to life and education,” according to what the same statement quoted her as saying.

Gamba arrived in Palestine on Sunday for a visit that will last until December 16 to “discuss ongoing violations and crimes against Palestinian children,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

On Monday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israel had “executed more than 52 children since the beginning of the year, some of them shot by the occupation army and some as a result of settler attacks or as a result of medical negligence.”

On the ground, the Israeli occupation forces announced today, Thursday, that they will stop work and the construction of 6 houses in the town of Kafr al-Dik, west of Salfit, in the northern West Bank.

The head of Kafr al-Dik municipality, Muhammad Naji, told the Palestinian News and Information Agency, WAFA, that the occupation forces issued a notice to stop work and construction in six inhabited houses in the western region, belonging to Ashraf Abdullah Ali Ahmed, Bassam Ahmad al- Dik, Anan Jasser al-Dik and Tayseer. Faiq Al-Deek, Muhammad Ismail Haboub and Muhammad Jabr Naji.

On Thursday, Israeli occupation forces demolished a house under construction and a water well in the Farsh al-Hawa area, northwest of Hebron, in the West Bank.

In the context of Israeli attacks, on Thursday, settlers attacked an elderly Palestinian near the village of Wadi Rahal, south of Bethlehem in the West Bank.

The director of the Commission for Resistance to the Wall and Settlements office in Bethlehem, Hasan Brijeh, told WAFA that a group of settlers attacked Mohammed Yahya Ayesh, 70, from the village of Artas, while he was in the Khallet al-Nahl area, leaving him bruised.