Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hanan Ashrawi, demanded on Wednesday the international community to prevent Israel from taking advantage of the current global health and economic crisis in order to annex the rest of the Palestinian territories.
Ashrawi said in a press statement, "As the international community cooperates to combat the spread of the (Covid-19) virus and reduce its spread and eliminate it, Israel is taking advantage of this situation to accelerate the annexation of the remaining Palestinian lands and impose a fait accompli on the ground."
She added that Israel "provides the necessary protection and cover to armed extremist settlers to continue their terror against the defenseless Palestinian people," noting that the Israeli army minister Naftali announced the construction of a new road near the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim in Jerusalem with the aim of facilitating the annexation of large areas of land surrounding the city and the isolation of areas Palestinian from each other.
She cautioned that the move aims to "allow the initiation of the legalization of the area known as E1, the separation of the central and northern West Bank from its south, and the undermining of any opportunity to establish a contiguous and geographically viable Palestinian state."
Ashrawi also pointed to the escalating settlers´ attacks throughout the West Bank, including their repeated attempts to storm Jabal Al-Arma, south of Nablus, killing a Palestinian child and wounding dozens during the confrontations.
