The Arab League has condemned Israel’s escalation of its “deadly” attacks and “punitive” measures against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, where last month it executed 35 Palestinians, including 5 children and a woman, and injured hundreds of others.
Israel has also unleashed settler herds to carry out their aggression against Palestinian civilians and their property as part of the escalating aggression waged by the occupation army and its settlers against the Palestinian people.
Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Affairs at the Arab League, Saeed Abu Ali, said in a statement on Wednesday: “The occupation authorities are committing massacres and demolishing Palestinian homes, institutions and property in Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank on a large scale with an unprecedented escalation officially announced by the Israeli government.”.
He warned of the seriousness of these massacres and their repercussions, holding the occupation authorities fully responsible for their commission.
He stressed that the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, comes within the framework of the policy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, coinciding with the crimes of revoking residency rights, deporting Palestinian civilians and carrying out field executions throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.
Abu Ali called on the international community, including its UN institutions and human rights bodies, for immediate action to support international law, provide protection to the Palestinian people, and stop severe Israeli violations, including all practices of deportation, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, all policies of collective punishment, the demolition of homes and property, and the intensification of illegal settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Abu Ali pointed to the statement issued by the UN experts on 27 January, which indicated that Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged to ensure the protection of the security and welfare of the Palestinian civilian population under its occupation under international law and that it is doing the exact opposite by dehumanizing, demonizing and punishing Palestinians collectively, which constitutes a war crime.
He stressed that this crime calls for accountability and prosecution before the international judiciary, warning of the continued impunity that indicates double international standards, which encourages the occupying power to persist in its aggression and commit its crimes and defy the law and international legitimacy.
