The secretary general of the PLO´s Executive Committee, Saeb Erakat, called on the EU on Wednesday to activate Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which obliges Israel to respect human rights.
Erekat said in a statement after his meeting in the West Bank, the European envoy of the peace process Susan Tertsel, that Israel violates human rights through the imposition of collective punishment on the Palestinians and field executions and arrests and ethnic cleansing and demolition of homes and displacement of population and the seizure of land.
Erekat stressed that "the European Union must arbitrate and compel the Israeli government to stop all such practices and policies in violation of international law and international legitimacy."
He stressed that the practices of the Israeli government, especially with regard to East Jerusalem, the latest of which was the arrest of Governor Adnan Ghaith, "is only part of the plan to Judaize Jerusalem pursuant to the decision of the administration of US President Donald Trump as Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the US Embassy."
He also pointed out that "Israel stole the money of the Palestinian people by deducting funds from clearing and intensifying settlement activities" in the Palestinian territories.
Erakat praised the final declaration of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit held this week, stressing the two-state solution, ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, including East Jerusalem, and considering settlement illegal and contrary to international law.
