Zimpapers Logo

RAMALLAH. — Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) yesterday lashed out at the US for blocking a final statement by the UN Security Council (UNSC) over Gaza Land Day Rally events. He said that the US administration “is involved in war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians”.

Erekat’s statements came against the backdrop of the US representative’s position blocking the adoption of draft resolution condemning Israel’s killing of 15 Palestinians during the Friday rally in Gaza.

He described the US as “the defender of Israeli war crimes”, and added that such positions show “Washington’s blind bias and strategic alliance with Israel”.
He urged Arab states to reconsider their ties with the current US administration “because it is pushing the region and its peoples towards violence, bloodshed and chaos”.

The UNSC held an urgent session on Saturday over the Gaza events at the request of Kuwait, this month’s chair, but failed to reach an agreement on a final statement over the events that left 15 dead and over 1 200 injured on Friday.
In light of that, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent and transparent investigation into the Gaza Rally events and the killing of 15 Palestinians.

Erekat affirmed that the Palestinians will continue to work on all international levels to provide the Palestinian people with international protection based on international law and international legitimacy.

The Friday rally was the start of a six-week-long protest that is expected to reach a peak on May 15, the day Israel celebrates its establishment and Palestine marks the forcible transfer of two thirds of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing of 418 Palestinian villages.

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees are allowed the right of return to the towns and villages from which their families fled or were forcibly driven out of when the State of Israel was created in 1948.

The rally organisers chose to start their activities on Land Day, a day in which Palestinians commemorate the events of March 30, 1976, where Israeli soldiers killed six unarmed Palestinians during demonstrations in protest of an Israeli decision to confiscate thousands of acres of lands in the Galilee and the Negev areas.

Since then, Palestinians have designated this day to mark the sacrifices of the Palestinian people’s lives in defending their lands, through planting trees and various activities that highlight their respect for their lands. — Xinhua.