Dr. Ashrawi: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more committed to settlement expansion than to peace”

In response to media inquiries regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the event entitled, “50 Years of Settlement in Judea and Samaria,” PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi commented:

“Netanyahu’s speech in which he declared that the illegal settlements will not be removed attests to his intransigence and willful refusal to abide by international law and conventions, standing UN resolutions, and global consensus. Clearly, Netanyahu is exhibiting the arrogance of turning such international norms into a mockery.

His speech once again signals that Israel is more committed to enhancing the extremist Jewish settler population at the expense of the indigenous Palestinians than to abiding by the basic requirements for peace and justice. The Israeli government is working to impose ‘Greater Israel’ on all of historic Palestine by annexing all of Jerusalem, erasing the history, narrative and physical presence of the Palestinian people, and destroying the territorial and demographic contiguity of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem).

We urge the international community to serve the cause of peace and to hold Israel to account for its destruction of the very foundations of the two-state solution and peace. Accountability should include punitive measures and sanctions before Israel succeeds in generating more violence, extremism and instability.”