Israel’s expansionist ideology wants to take over Palestine: Palestinian foreign minister
Palestine expects the international community to stand for international and humanitarian law, according to Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, the Palestinian minister of foreign affairs.
“What has been going on in Palestine for the past 22 months is nothing but a genocide, and it’s part and parcel of Israel’s expansionist ideology that wants to take over the entirety of the occupied state of Palestine,” she told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.
She said, if the US and President Donald Trump want to forge peace, they need to look at the rights of the Palestinians because there will be no true peace in Israel, Palestine, the region or even the world at large if the rights of Palestinians that are protected by the UN Charter are not respected.
The Palestinians need to decide about the leadership in the Gaza Strip because the legal authority in Gaza today is the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and if Gaza “wants to come back to the core” and change governance, then it has to come under the rule of the Palestinian Authority.
Statements on Palestine should turn into actions on the ground: Aghabekian
We have more for you from Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, the top Palestinian diplomat, who said she expects “concrete steps” from Arab countries to stop Israel’s assault and its slow annexation of the occupied West Bank.
She told Al Jazeera that “their inaction has emboldened the Israelis, including the settlers, to extend the occupation for decades”.
She said the impunity Israel is enjoying should stop, and it is time that decisions that came from a New York conference earlier this month are translated into action on the ground.
“Countries can do a lot in terms of sanctions settlements, settlers and settler products, and restricting the movement of settlers in European countries or around the world,” Aghabekian said.
“That will send a clear message to Israel that ‘you are in violation of international law and these violations have a price.'”
Referring to ongoing cases against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, the foreign minister said people should not lose hope.
