Palestinians decry Israeli ‘crimes’ against protesters

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian officials and activists have decried Israeli violence against protesters in the Gaza Strip, following the killing of at least seven people during anti-occupation rallies.

Thousands of Palestinians converged on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel on Friday to take part in ongoing protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

At least seven people were killed and scores injured by Israeli gunfire during the demonstrations.

In a statement, President Mahmud Abbas called on the UN, Arab League and the European Union to take an immediate action to stop the Israeli violence against Palestinians.

“We condemn Israel’s brutality and deliberate killing of innocent people who took part in a peaceful march to defend their right to life, liberty and dignity,” he said in a statement.

He called on the UN Security Council to provide international protection to the "defenseless people in the face of the [Israeli] occupation army, which uses killing and repression to silence the voice of Palestinians”.

Last week, at least 20 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli gunfire during demonstrations on Gaza border.

The rallies are part of a six-week demonstration that will culminate on May 15, which will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians refer to as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe".

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees be granted the "right of return" to their towns and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

- US cover

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat accused the United States of defending Israeli violence against the Palestinians.

"The U.S is leading an incitement campaign with a view to defending Israel's crimes against the Palestinians," Erekat, the secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s executive committee, said in a statement.

He described UN ambassador at the UN, Nicky Hailey, as a “clumsy woman who has proved her worth by showing hostility to the Palestinian people and by continuing to violate international law."

"The actions of the current US administration give Israel a clear cover in order to continue its aggression against the Palestinians who were demonstrating peacefully to demand their right to return to their homes," he said.

Erekat went on to call for an international investigation into Israel's violence against the Palestinians, after Washington blocked a draft UN statement to form a commission of inquiry into the death of Palestinian protesters by Israeli gunfire on Gaza border last week.

Relations between the Palestinian Authority and the U.S. have strained since President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Dec. 6.

The move has triggered world outcry and protests in the Palestinian territories, with Palestinians saying Washington was no longer a peace mediator in talks with Israel.

- Crimes against humanity

PLO member Bassam al-Salhi called for mass Palestinian rallies in an effort to draw world attention to the Palestinian issue.

“This Palestinian uprising must be used to end the Israeli occupation,” al- Salhi told Anadolu Agency.

“We should expand and develop the popular movement to end the occupation, establish an independent Palestinian state and ensure the refugees’ right to return,” he said.

Prominent Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti, for his part, accused the Israeli army of violating international law.

“The Israeli political and military leaders are guilty of crimes against humanity and should be brought to trial for war crimes,” he said.

He went on to call on the international community to take an urgent action to “stop the systematic Israeli killing of the Palestinian people”.

Barghouti described Palestinian protests on Gaza border as a “victory and an innovative method of popular resistance that exposed the Israeli occupation."

"Popular resistance has become a strategic Palestinian option that provides a solid foundation for Palestinian unity in order to end the last racist occupation in world," he said.