PLO Executive Secretary Saeb Erekat said on Monday that Israeli exploits media coverage such as that given to the Paris terror attacks and Beirut bombings to carry out crimes against the Palestinians, QudsNet has reported. In discussing the situation, the veteran Palestinian official said that an end to the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion, and stopping the crimes of the Israeli military institution, are all “essential” to dry up the sources of international terror.
“The Israeli government breaches international law and legitimacy in its treatment of civilians during its offensives,” he insisted. “The international community has to stop dealing with Israel as a state above the law.”
While the world was busy following up on the Paris and Beirut attacks, Erekat explained, the Israeli occupation government demolished Palestinian homes in what is “clearly collective punishment against Palestinian civilians”. He pointed out that this constitutes a “war crime”. The Israeli government has just one way to deal with the Palestinians, he added: “The way of war.”
The PLO official said that his organisation announced its solidarity with the Lebanese and French. “We are with you and we recognise the harm that terror has caused to you,” he said. “We, the devastated and unarmed Palestinians who suffer from Israeli terror, console the Lebanese and the French people.”