Middle East Monitor / December 19, 2022
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the UN to deploy its staff on patrols across the occupied West Bank given the increasing number of Jewish settler attacks and excessive use of violence by Israeli security forces against the Palestinians, WAFA has reported.
Shtayyeh’s request came after two Palestinian brothers, Mohammad and Muhannad Yousef Muteir from Qalandia refugee camp in Jerusalem, were killed on Saturday when an Israeli settler rammed into them. A car driven by a 50-year-old Israeli man hit the vehicle belonging to the two brothers, who had parked on the side of the road.
“Given the extrajudicial executions on roads and increasing number of terrorist attacks by Israeli troops and soldiers – the latest of which was a car-ramming assault by settler against two brothers near the city of Nablus — we call on the UN teams operating in the occupied lands to deploy monitors on the roads and in the areas which settlers might use to target Palestinians,” the prime minister told his weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah. “The UN has more than 400 vehicles and more than 1,000 staff that can be trained as monitors to observe and document the actions of Israeli soldiers and settlers.”
There has been a rise in Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank over the past few months, coupled with violence carried out by settlers who have on occasion even turned against Israeli forces.
This year alone over 150 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territory, including 33 children. According to the UN, this makes 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005.
Shtayyeh also rejected Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer for self-rule with security to remain in Israel’s hands.
“Netanyahu’s comments will impinge upon the right of our nation to establish an independent state. The right has been achieved through great sacrifices and endorsed by international resolutions. It cannot be abdicated by a statement or by an Israeli official,” said the PA official. “Our people will not cease their legitimate struggle until they restore their legitimate rights and establish an independent sovereign state on the 4 June, 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.”
