On May 7, Netanyahu announced the most lunatic fringe coalition regime in Israel’s history. It includes racist hate-mongers, over-the-top fascists and religious fundamentalist zealots – an incendiary combination threatening regional peace and stability.
Palestinian Authority (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said “(t)he face of a new form of racist, discriminatory Israel has been revealed.”
Netanyahu is “leading the charge to bury the two-state solution and impose a perpetual apartheid regime.”
He formed a new government “of war which will be against peace and stability in our region.”
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said Netanyahu must choose between peace and a two-state solution or a “policy of aggression and arbitrary violations against our people.”
The PLO negotiations department issued a statement saying:
Netanyahu’s new “right-wing extremist government is not a partner for peace when the leaders call for the annexation of Palestinian land and the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population and the genocide against our people.”
It’s long overdue for Israel to be held accountable for “crimes and violations against our people.”
Fatah spokesman Osama Qawassmeh said the new government will increase “settlement activities and the Judaization of the West Bank, while at the same time isolating the Gaza Strip.”
He said Palestinians should respond through greater resistance – “exposing Netanyahu’s racist policies before the international community.”
Straightaway, his regime approved 900 new illegal East Jerusalem housing units on stolen Palestinian land – even before his new government is officially sworn in on May 11. It’s the most anti-Palestinian, pro-war, apartheid on steroids regime in Israel’s history.
Washington, other major Western nations and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pay lip service only against its horrific high crimes and abuses.
They yawn and do nothing to stop them. America supports all Israeli wars of aggression – longstanding rogue state partners in crime.
At the same time PA officials were denouncing Israel’s new regime, it continues enforcing its ruthlessness – collaborating against their own people for special benefits they enjoy.
On May 8, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused PA-controlled security forces of harassing, persecuting, arresting, interrogating and mistreating West Bank Palestinian students for political views they hold and express.
HRW’s Sarah Leah Whitson called it “deeply worrying that students are being held by Palestinian forces for no apparent reason other than their (alleged) connection to Hamas or their opinions.”
“Palestinians should be able to express critical political opinions without being arrested or beaten.”
Following Birzeit and other university student council elections, Addameer prisoner rights group director Sahar Francis told HRW 25 students were detained or summoned for interrogations.
In custody, they’re beaten and otherwise abused. It’s standard PA security force practice serving Israeli interests – operating ruthlessly against their own people.
Current abuses followed numerous previous ones. Views critical of Israeli and/or PA policies aren’t tolerated.
PA security services West Bank spokesman Adnan Al-Dimiri lied saying “(w)e never arrest people for their speech or for their political affiliations.”
It happens all the time – including trumped up criminal charges justifying the unjustifiable.
HRW said PA authorities presented no credible evidence indicating arrested individuals committed any criminal activity – or advocated any.
Jihad Salim is a Birzeit University Hamas-affiliated student representative. He said around 6:00PM on April 25, PA security forces accosted him, shoved him into a civilian car, took him to a Ramallah office, and brutalized him during interrogation about earlier Palestinian elections.
Two interrogators were involved, he said. “They started cursing my mother, cursing my sisters, slapping me around.”
“Then they punched me while asking questions about how Hamas won the elections.”
He was forced to stand uncomfortably, arms and legs spread apart, from11:00PM until 10:30AM the next day. Interrogation continued until 5:00PM. No food or water was supplied.
Numerous other cases follow the same pattern – lawless PA security force arrests, followed by detentions, brutalizing interrogations, beatings and other abuses, denial of all fundamental rights, and at times concocted charges of nonexistent criminality.
HRW said it “previously documented abuses by Palestinian security forces, including credible allegations of torture and arrests of people identified as political opponents.”
US funding and training makes Washington complicit with false arrests and detentions, torture, ill treatment, and other abuses against Palestinians solely for political reasons.
PA officials critical of Israel’s new regime share guilt in its crimes – serving as lawless apartheid enforcers.
