Remarks on annexing West Bank rejected

Senior Palestinian official slammed US envoy's comment as 'war crime'

RAMALLAH/GAZA - Palestinians condemned on Saturday US ambassador to Israel David Friedman's remarks, which consider annexing parts of the West Bank an Israeli right.

Secretary-general of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Saeb Erekat wrote on Twitter that "the vision of the American side to annex occupied territories is a war crime according to the international law".

In the interview published by The New York Times on Saturday, Friedman said that some degree of annexation of the West Bank would be legitimate.

"Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank," he said.

Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for foreign affairs and international relations, told Voice of Palestine Radio that the statements of the US ambassador "are totally rejected by all the Palestinians".

"We won't accept any American or Israeli steps and measures," Shaath said, adding that the Palestinians "are sticking to their territories and will carry on with their struggle until they topple all the plots that aim at eliminating the Palestinian cause".

Friedman's remarks were made a few days before holding a US-sponsored Economic Workshop in Bahrain called "Peace for Prosperity", as the economic aspects of the Middle East peace plan promoted by the United States. The Palestinians rejected the plan earlier and announced that they are boycotting the workshop.

Friedman, a staunch supporter of the Israeli settlements, told the Times that the Trump plan was aimed at improving the quality of life for Palestinians but would fall well short of a "permanent resolution to the conflict".

He said he did not believe the plan would trigger Palestinian violence. Hussein al-Sheikh, a member of Palestinian Fatah Party's Central Committee, said in a statement that "Freidman's remarks unveil the reality of the Deal of the Century that aims at eliminating the Palestinian cause and devoting to the occupation".

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a statement on Saturday that Trump should remove Friedman from his post if he wanted to retain any credibility for his peace efforts.

"The American president, if it is his intention to be an honest broker, must instruct Friedman to pack his bags tonight," the NGO wrote in Hebrew on Twitter.

"With friends like US Ambassador David Friedman, who needs enemies?" it said.

The Palestinians want to end an Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip which started in 1967 and want to establish a Palestinian state on these territories with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Meanwhile, Bassem Na'eem, a senior leader in Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza said in an emailed statement that "Friedman's remarks are totally rejected and reflect the colonial mentality of the extremist American administration".

"Implementing Friedman's remarks on the ground will direct a fatal strike to the stability in the Palestinian territories and in the entire region as well as to the so-called international legitimacy," said Na'eem.

The less-influential Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza said "Freidman shouldn't be an ambassador; he is working as an agent to the Zionists to implement their colonial projects".

Palestinian President Abbas slammed Friedman several times and called him "the child of the dog" for defending the Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority had severed its ties with the US since Trump's recognition in late 2017 that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

Xinhua - Afp

(China Daily 06/10/2019 page11)