PA calls for halting Israeli ‘aggression’

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday called on the United Nations to immediately intervene to halt the Israeli “aggression” on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The PA government condemned the Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip that came in response to the rocket attacks against Israel over the weekend. It said that the Israeli strikes were targeting defenseless civilians damaging infrastructure and reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip.

The PA Foreign Ministry called on the UN Security Council to take immediate action to “halt the Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

Calling for providing international protection for the Palestinians, the ministry said that the Israeli strikes show the “falsity” of Israeli and American concern for economic prosperity for the Palestinians. “Our people don’t need relief programs that conceal political goals to liquidate our cause,” the PA ministry added. “We need a firm international position and international protection to enable our people to exercise their right to self-determination.”

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat held Israel fully responsible for the consequences of “this brutal escalation against our innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.” He too urged the international community to immediately intervene to stop Israel and hold it accountable for its “crimes against our people.”

Erekat also called on Egypt to pursue its efforts to end the violence.

Over the weekend, Hamas summoned Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders to Cairo for urgent talks on ways of averting a military confrontation with Israel. Palestinians sources said that the Egyptians were trying to prevent the collapse of the ceasefire understandings reached between the Gaza-based groups and Israel earlier this year.