Bullet holes are pictured on a door at the scene where Israeli forces shot dead several Palestinian men during a raid on a refugee camp near the city of Ariha in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 6, 2023. (Photo by Shehab news agency)
Cairo, February 7 (RHC)-- The Arab League has condemned the Tel Aviv regime over waging “an open war” and perpetrating “organized crimes” against the Palestinian nation, especially after Israeli forces shot dead several Palestinian men during a raid on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Ariha.
The Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories in the regional organization, Saeed Abu Ali, said in a statement on Monday that the new appalling crime comes amidst the absence of an effective international stance, and the international community's silence and apathy toward rising Israeli violence across the occupied Palestinian territories.
Abu Ali held the far-right Israeli cabinet led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fully responsible for the bloody assault on the Aqabet Jabr refugee camp – which has been under an Israeli siege for more than a week, emphasizing that the ruling coalition administration is spearheading ongoing violations and crimes against Palestinians.
He also condemned the Israeli blockade of Arhia, stating that the measure falls within the framework of collective punishment of Palestinian communities and represents a blatant violation of all international rules and principles.
Abu Ali called on the international community to urgently assume its responsibilities, act promptly and utilize all means to put an immediate end to the Israeli regime’s blatant aggression. He also urged greater international efforts and pressures to provide an instant and effective protection system for Palestinians.
Separately, Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul-Gheit denounced the international community’s silence and inaction in the face of soaring tensions in the West Bank and the sharp increase in the number of Palestinians killed at the hands of Israeli forces.
Aboul-Gheit made the remarks during a meeting with European Union Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo. The two sides discussed the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, and ways to politically resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Aboul-Gheit criticized the EU for failure to hold Israel to account for the heightened hostilities, especially as the incumbent Israeli administration is hell-bent on expanding illegal settlements and tightening the screws on Palestinians through frequent arrest campaigns, house demolitions, and other repressive measures that violate international humanitarian principles.
Meanwhile, Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas resistance movement, slammed as “massacre” the raid by the Israeli army in Ariha, warning it would “fuel a revolution” among Palestinians. “The continuous killings confirm the Israeli occupation’s great confusion in dealing with the ... expansion of resistance in all of the cities, camps and villages of the West Bank, and its inability to stop it,” Qassem said.
