Qurei calls for international protection against Israeli settlers attacks

Thursday December 04, 2008 12:22 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Yesterday, top Palestinian negotiator, Ahmad Qurei, called for an international protection against repeated armed Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian residents in the occupied West Bank.

Top Palestinian negotiator , Ahmad Qurei

During a Fatah party meeting in Ramallah, Qurei regarded the Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians as illegal, for these settlers exist on occupied Palestinian territories. The Palestinian peace negotiator urged the Quartet Committee (United States, United Nations, Russia and European Union) for peace in the Middle East and to put in place a special mechanism to stop the illegal settlement activities on occupied Palestinian lands.

Qurei's statements came under the backdrop of a series of attacks by armed Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents in various parts of the West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem, causing the injury of unarmed civilians and damage to Palestinian-owned properties.

Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, had earlier stated that the settler attacks would harm Israel's image as a sovereign state, yet the settlers' actions continue, unabated, in the presence of Israeli troops.

Currently, there are more than 400 Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. International law regards these settlements as illegal, being established on lands that Israel has occupied since 1967.

ramallah | israeli settlement | news report rami at imemc dot org