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PNA urges Int'l effort to protect Palestinians

Xinhua, December 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Palestinian consensus government on Thursday urged the international community to speed up its moves to protect the Palestinian people.

Hamdallah, prime minister of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) consensus government, made the remarks in a reception ceremony here on the occasion of the New Year and Christmas celebrations.

"As we pray today for the victims of the unjust terrorism everywhere, we also call for peace and justice to dominate the entire world," said Hamdallah, adding that "the world must seriously move to protect the Palestinians."

He said that the world must oblige Israel to stop its violations against the Palestinians, against their properties and their holy places and free all prisoners from its prisons and jails.

Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 together with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. In 2005, Israel pulled out from the Gaza Strip, but kept the West Bank and east Jerusalem under its occupation.

The Israeli government has been expanding its settlements, mainly in the West Bank, an issue that kept the peace process totally stalled since April, 2014, when the United States sponsored bilateral talks between the two sides for nine months.

"The Palestinians every year celebrate Christmas and New Year, and they still look for just and everlasting peace, but they are still waiting to end the occupation and get rid of the walls that besiege their towns and villages," said Hamdallah.

The Palestinians celebrate the New Year as tension between Israel and the Palestinians has been going on since October of 2015. The ongoing wave of violent tension had so far left 344 Palestinians and 42 Israelis killed. Endit