A DELEGATION from the European Union along with representatives of about 20 countries visited yesterday the Palestinian town of Huwwara, south of Nablus, and the neighbouring village of Za’tara, to express their solidarity with their residents in the aftermath of the terrorist rampage by Israeli settlers last week.
The delegation also paid a solidarity visit to the family of Sameh Aqtash, a Palestinian humanitarian worker who was shot dead by settlers during the terrorist rampage in Za’tara.
The EU representative, Burgsdorff, condemned settler attacks on towns and villages south of Nablus, saying, ‘We have made extensive contacts to stop what is happening on the ground, and unfortunately this intervention was late’.
The truth is that the Palestinians are being left at the mercy of the Zionist gangsters who now have a pro-fascist government to protect them.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Hagai El-Ad, who accompanied the delegation, said that the settlers’ attacks are being carried out under the auspices of the Israeli government – as the government gives them immunity to continue these attacks in Huwwara and elsewhere across the occupied territories.
At the same time as the delegation’s visit, the violent extremist Knesset member Zvi Sukkot stormed the town and tried to interrupt the delegation through a loudspeaker.
Meanwhile Egypt has condemned the racist remarks by ultranationalist Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich who called for the Palestinian town of Huwwara to be ‘wiped out’.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a communique, ‘These statements represent a dangerous and unacceptable incitement to violence, which contradicts all laws, customs and moral values, and lacks the responsibility that any official holding an official position should have.’
Egypt also called for preparing the environment for the resumption of the peace process on the basis of the principle of the two-state solution and the resolutions of international legitimacy.
‘This is ‘the only way to achieve a comprehensive and just peace in the region, and to establish an independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital,’ the statement concluded.
Israeli occupation authorities released last night most of the terrorist Israeli settlers who had been arrested against the backdrop of the pogrom they carried out on Sunday night in the Palestinian town of Huwwara.
The settlers were released based on a court ruling which claimed there was not enough evidence to convict the settlers, despite the availability of tens of videos documenting the terrorist attack on the village, which resulted in the killing of a Palestinian aid worker, the injury of many others and the torching of hundreds of homes and vehicles.
Besides the killing of a humanitarian worker, the settlers completely burnt down at least 35 homes and 40 others were partially damaged, and many of the buildings were set on fire while their Palestinian inhabitants sheltered inside. More than 100 cars were burnt or otherwise destroyed.
The attack was incited by Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich who said: ‘I think the village of Huwwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it.’
With tensions running high, Palestinians in the north of the occupied West Bank have launched night patrols to stave off attacks by Israeli settlers. Armed only with sticks and flashlights, these young men gather at Turmus Ayya and are ready to ready to raise the alarm in the event of a raid by Israeli settlers, who have set up bases in outposts around the village.
Meanwhile the TUC and the Starmer-led Labour Party have refused to publicly condemn the Zionist gangsters and refused to give their support to the Palestinians.
Workers must insist that the TUC and Labour backs the Palestinians, imposes a boycott on Israel and organises an international fund to arm the Palestinians against the Zionist gangsters.
This is the only way that the state of Palestine will be established, through smashing the Zionist gangsters and liberating Palestine.