BRUSSELS, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh Wednesday called on the European Union to take concrete action to stop Israel’s colonial settlement construction.
Speaking during a meeting with Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in Brussels, Prime Minister Shtayyeh called on the EU to pressure Israel to abide by all signed agreements and urged it to take practical and concrete measures to stop Israel’s colonial settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Prime Minister reiterated the call on EU to pressure Israel to allow holding elections in occupied Jerusalem and all occupied Palestine, while stressing the need for international pressure on Israel to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, support the reconstruction process, and provide guarantees not to destroy what is being built.
He briefed Borrell on the Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem; the policy of the city’sd Judaization (the obliteration of the city’s Palestinian character) and isolation from its periphery in addition to the policy of forcible displacement and transfer of Palestinians, especially in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, calling on Borrell to visit Palestine and closely monitor the situation and the suffering of the Palestinian people.
He stressed the importance of the European Union’s recognition of the State of Palestine to save the possibility of achieving the two-state solution amidst the alarming Israeli settlement expansion and land confiscation.
The meeting was held in the presence of Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, the European Union Representative to the State of Palestine, Riyad Al-Malki, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine, and Abdel Rahim Al-Farra, the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to the European Union, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency