International community’s silence perpetuates Israeli violence toward Palestinians, experts say

Two Palestinian gunmen take part in the funeral of Ahmed Abu Junaid, 21 in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, Nablus, on Jan. 12, 2023. (AP)

• During talks with US envoy on Thursday, Palestinians urged Washington ‘to move urgently to put an end to the unilateral Israeli measures and threats’
• ‘The US has not yet exerted pressure on Israel, and the continuation of this method will not work in discouraging Israel from continuing its aggressive policies,” an expert analyst said

RAMALLAH: Palestinian officials have blamed the silence of the international community for the continuation of unabated “Israeli crimes, practices, and racist laws.”
It came as the Israeli army killed three Palestinians during separate incidents in the West Bank over the past 24 hours, according to Palestinian medical sources: Samir Aslan, 41, from the Qalandia camp, north of Jerusalem; Ahmed Abu Junaid, 21, from the Balata camp in Nablus; and Sanad Samamra, 18, from the town of Samu’ near Hebron.
Abu Junaid was shot in the head during an Israeli army raid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Aslan was detained when he tried to defend his son, Ramzi, who was being arrested during a massive raid at their camp. Aslan was bleeding but Israeli forces prevented him from receiving first aid, sources said.
“The crime of executing Aslan in his home in Qalandia camp is part of a series of daily crimes committed by the fascist Israeli occupation army,” said Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National Council.
“Since the beginning of this year, the occupation army has executed seven people, wounded dozens, and destroyed many properties.
“The silence of the international community on the Israeli occupation’s crimes, practices, and racist laws that target our Palestinian people and their existence, enable Israel to persist with its crimes and become a state above the law, flouting all international agreements, resolutions, and principles of human rights.”
This week, Israeli authorities said they will revoke the citizenship or residency of any prisoner accused of carrying out an attack, or receiving funds from the Palestinian Authority to participate in one.
According to the draft law, “a citizen or resident who is proven to have received money from the PA to carry out a terrorist act will be considered as someone who, on his own initiative, waived his citizenship or residency, and the minister of interior will revoke their status.”
Senior Palestinian sources said that US authorities are working quietly with Palestinians and the new Israeli government in an effort to prevent further action that could undermine the fragile PA.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, held talks on Thursday in Ramallah with Hadi Amr, the US special representative for Palestinian affairs, during which he stressed the need for “a political horizon that preserves the two-state solution under international legitimacy, and for Israel to stop all its unilateral measures and daily attacks against the Palestinian people, which destroy this solution and create a challenging and complex atmosphere that affects security and stability.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh also met Amr and told him the US administration “is required to move urgently to put an end to the unilateral Israeli measures and threats that undermine the national authority and systematically end the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.”
Shtayyeh said the upcoming visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to the region should carry a message of hope to the Palestinian people, and a clear statement calling on the Israeli government to halt its violations and unilateral measures, and respect international laws and signed agreements.
He also called for US authorities to put real pressure on the Israeli government to release Palestinian funds that it deducts illegally.
“The Palestinian people and their leadership will not accept the fait accompli, and we will move forward in the popular, political, diplomatic and legal struggle in the face of the Israeli measures,” he added.
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan Al-Khatib told Arab News: “While US President Joe Biden’s administration could not fulfill its promise to the Palestinians to open an American consulate in East Jerusalem, it adjusted the US representative office to send its reports to the US State Department directly and not to Washington’s embassy in Jerusalem.
“The US has not yet exerted pressure on Israel, and the continuation of this method will not work in discouraging Israel from continuing its aggressive policies toward the Palestinians.”
An American policy “without teeth toward Israel will not work,” he added.
If the US genuinely and sincerely wants to help the PA and prevent its collapse, Al-Khatib said, “it could provide financial assistance to the authority and pressure Israel not to deduct from Palestinian tax money.”
Washington could also lobby its Arab friends to help the Palestinians financially, he suggested.
“The US is doing nothing to reduce Israeli aggression toward the PA and to ensure the survival of the PA and prevent its collapse,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have started to lay cement blocks for a new segregation wall in the northern West Bank, blocking access to thousands of acres of agricultural land belonging to Palestinian families in surrounding villages. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved construction of the 9-meter-high wall, which will stretch for 100 kilometers and is being built in stages, in November.