PLO’s Erekat urges 'int’l protection' for Palestinians

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Saeb Erekat on Tuesday called for “international protection” for the Palestinian people until Israel’s decades-long occupation has ended. <br> </p> <p>Erekat made the appeal in response to an Israeli decision not to extend the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH). <br> </p> <p>“We call on the UN to guarantee the safety… of the Palestinian people, not only by ensuring the continued presence of TIPH in Hebron, but also by deploying a permanent international presence in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, until the end of Israel's belligerent occupation,” Erekat said in a statement. <br> </p> <p>On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would not renew the mandate of the TIPH, which was first dispatched to the West Bank city of Hebron (Khalil) in 1994. <br> </p> <p>By contrast, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority last week approved the extension of the TIPH’s mandate for a further six months. <br> </p> <p>Composed of 64 international observers from five European countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy) and Turkey, the TIPH was established by UN Security Council Resolution 904.</p> <p>That resolution was adopted following Hebron’s 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, when Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein gunned down 29 Palestinian worshippers. </p> <p>Resolution 904 also called on the Israeli authorities to confiscate weapons from West Bank Jewish settlers with a view to preventing them from committing further crimes against Palestinians. <br> </p> <p>But according to Erekat, “Israel has never honored either the international will or law”. </p> <p>“Just yesterday, Netanyahu again confirmed to the settler movement that even Israeli colonial installations, considered illegal by Israeli law, would not be removed,” he said.</p> <p>“Israel’s decision not to renew the TIPH’s mandate… is another step towards Israel's full nullification of all signed treaties, including the [1995] Oslo Interim Agreement,” he added. <br> </p> <p>The decision, Erekat added, “further consolidates Israel’s colonial enterprise and represents another step towards the 'de jure’ annexation of additional areas in the Occupied State of Palestine”. <br> </p> <p>Hebron is currently home to some 160,000 Palestinian Muslims and about 500 Jewish settlers. The latter live in a series of Jewish-only enclaves heavily guarded by Israeli troops.