Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Sunday on the United Nations to condemn "the continued Israeli violations against the Palestinian people."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Sunday on the United Nations to condemn "the continued Israeli violations against the Palestinian people."
During a meeting with U.N. special envoy for the Middle East peace process Robert Serry, Abbas called on UN chief Ban Ki-Moon to form an international committee to monitor and investigate "crimes and violations" committed against the Palestinian people.
The latest of such crimes, he said, was the kidnapping and killing of Palestinian teen Mohammad Abu Khdeer last Wednesday by suspected Jewish settlers near Jerusalem.
"Abu Khdeer was burnt alive and 16 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed during the past two weeks, aside from the ongoing kidnapping attempts and assaults against [Palestinian] children,” Abbas told Serry as he gave the latter an urgent letter to deliver to the U.N. chief.
Abbas also denounced the assault against Mohammad Abu Khdeer's cousin, Tareq Abu Khdeer, by Zionist police.
“We all saw through the media the face of Tareq Abu Khdeer distorted with injuries," he added.
He also called for labeling extremist settlers groups that are suspected to be behind a recent string of attacks against Palestinian citizens and property "illegal and illegitimate organizations."
“I have requested an international protection for the Palestinian people, giving the Israeli authorities' refusal to prosecute these settler’s groups in the light of a rise in settlers’ attacks against Palestinians, which have increased by 41% since the first half of 2014," he noted.
“We are preparing to announce a raft of steps to end the Israeli aggression and curb settlers’ crimes and the ongoing attacks against our people in the besieged Gaza strip,” Abbas went on to say, without elaborating on these steps.
Thus far, 14 Palestinians have been arrested during confrontations with Zionist security forces in the northern Tamra city, according to a statement by the Israeli police Sunday evening.
