Saeb Erekat said Israel should be sanctioned for its intention to annex Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
By World Israel News Staff
PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat called for sanctions against Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would annex all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria on Sunday.
“Those worried after every Israeli declaration connected to settlements need to come to grips with the reality: The prime minister of Israel declares another annexation of territories,” Erekat said. “Enough of immunity from punishment: There is international responsibility after whole decades of repeated crimes.”
Netanyahu said during a ceremony in the Samarian town of Elkana marking the start of Israel’s school year, “With God’s help we will extend Jewish sovereignty to all the settlements as part of the Land of Israel, as part of the State of Israel.”
The Palestinian Authority, which is run by Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, claims Judea and Samaria as the territory of a future Palestinian state.
In 1993, the PLO and Israel signed the Oslo Accords, which initiated a process by which the PLO would obtain limited self-rule leading to an independent state in exchange for ceasing to wage a terror war against Israel and recognizing the Jewish State.
However, the process instead led to a cycle of violence in which Arabs from areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority carried out terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens and soldiers.
The PA admits to paying terrorists and their families for conducting such attacks. When Israel and the U.S. recently punished the PA for its “pay-for-slay” policy by withholding funds and taxes, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said in April:
“Israel needs to understand this. It is impossible to send a soldier to war and then not take care of his family. We are talking about someone who acts on our behalf and receives orders from us.”
Abbas threatened in mid-August that “million of fighters” would bring down Jerusalem and warned that “no matter how many houses and how many settlements they declare that they [plan to build] here and there – they shall all be destroyed.”
Given the PA’s continued violence and threats, under the Netanyahu administration, Israel has moved away from the two-state solution and within the last year has begun to speak openly about annexing parts of Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu referred to the Palestinians’ rejectionism in his Sunday speech.
“The root of the conflict is the Palestinian refusal to recognize the State of Israel within any borders whatsoever and to recognize the state of the Jews within any borders whatsoever,” he said.
“Because of this, they have opposed a Jewish presence within any borders at all, regardless of Judea and Samaria. If you want to resolve the conflict, the Palestinians will need, first of all, to recognize Israel as the national state of the Jewish people. This is what is delaying a solution, and as long as they do not recognize, we will be unable to reach a solution.”