PA Calls for Sanctions Mechanism if Israel Annexes West Bank

Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)
Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)
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PA Calls for Sanctions Mechanism if Israel Annexes West Bank

Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)
Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)

The international community is demanded to adopt a sanctions, boycott and isolation mechanism against Israel, in order to protect peace, security and stability, announced Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki.

Speaking at the ninth session of the Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) via video conference, Maliki said that Israel must realize that its violation of international law will not go on without practical responses.

The session was co-chaired by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi, and attended by foreign ministers of Arab League member states.

Maliki accused Israel of exploiting the world's preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to announce its "racist colonial plans" to seize more Palestinian land by force and annex them to so-called "Israeli sovereignty."

He described it as a "flagrant violation" of the international law, international resolutions, the United Nations Charter and agreements that regulate international relations and those concerning the Palestinian cause and Arab-Israeli conflict.

He also accused the current US administration of supporting illegal Israeli annexation plans.

The FM said the important issue today is preventing the annexation and ending the occupation. He questioned whether the international political and legal stances are enough to deter Israel from implementing its plans to annex over 30 percent of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967.

The Palestinian Authority is calling for a United Nations General Assembly session to announce the formation of an international coalition against the annexation and holding Israel accountable.

The Palestinians are trying to form a unified Arab and international position, including setting up a practical mechanism to impose sanctions if Israel goes ahead with the annexation, and threatening to review treaties signed with Tel Aviv.

The current Palestinian pressure does not eliminate the resumption of negotiations, and Maliki said the Palestinian leadership and its people are committed to a just and comprehensive peace.

He stressed the leadership’s willingness to return to negotiations on the foundations established by international legitimacy within a multilateral framework, according to an international conference called in the event the annexation was canceled. He said it aims for a peace agreement that ends Israeli occupation.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
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Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.