Al-Sharq, The Peninsula Highlight Israeli Escalation and Double Standards

Doha, April 04 (QNA) - Al-Sharq and The Peninsula newspapers highlighted in their editorials Monday the continued policy of escalation in the Palestinian territories by the Israeli occupation authorities, which continue to commit further crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, their property and sanctities throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, threatening to erupt the situation and drag the region into violence and tension. The two newspapers called on international human rights organizations and the international community to assume their responsibilities and provide protection to the Palestinian people at a time when the occupation forces are escalating these days their attacks on defenseless Palestinians with the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan, which is strongly condemned. With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque has become the target of escalating incursions by settlers, in addition to the attacks and provocations of the occupation forces against the worshipers after they left the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al-Sharq said. The paper indicated that the West Bank is witnessing a major escalation by the occupation forces, which committed on Saturday a brutal crime, executing three Palestinians in cold blood, preventing them from being treated, leaving them to bleed to death, and seizing their bodies, a crime that came a day after a Palestinian was killed by the Israeli bullets in Hebron, and two days after the killing of three others in Jenin and occupied Jerusalem. According to the monthly report of the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), last March witnessed the death of 13 Palestinians, the injury of 211 others, and the arrest of 368, in addition to attacks by settlers, expansion of settlements and continuous incursions throughout the occupied West Bank, Al-Sharq said. The newspaper considered that the escalation of the pace of the occupation forces targeting the Palestinians, and the increase in the series of murders and executions against the Palestinian people, requires a firm stand by the international community and its institutions, especially the International Criminal Court (ICC), to start launching immediate investigations into the crimes of the occupation and its settlers, and to provide protection for the Palestinian people, before the current developments lead to plunge the region into a cycle of violence and chaos, with ominous consequences. Al-Sharq called on the international community to put an end to double standards with regard to the Palestinian cause, and to confront the crimes of the occupation and the Israeli escalation, which will have dire and dangerous consequences, not only on Israel and the Palestinians, but on the region and the entire world. In its editorial, The Peninsula said that the Israeli occupation forces continue committing successive crimes against the Palestinian people, their properties and holy places throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in the absence of legal or moral deterrence, even though the crimes amount to the level of war crimes according to international law. In last March alone, the Israeli occupation forces and settlers have killed 13 civilians, injured 211 others, and arrested 368, under various pretexts and justifications that the Israeli occupation force is accustomed to, the paper said. The paper pointed out that Israeli crimes are not limited to targeting Palestinian civilians but including demolishing of homes and confiscate their lands and properties and prevent them from harvesting their farms. According to a report released by the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), the Israeli authorities are continuing the construction of settlements challenging the international law and decision, and have built 4 new settlements, 6 outposts, a neighbourhood and a settlement park as well as the seizure and destruction of 118 dunums, construction of over 3,230 new settlement units, uprooting of 725 trees, it added. The report indicated that hundreds of Palestinians were suffocated as a result of the Israeli forces firing of tear gas, during 41 incursions into several parts of the occupied West Bank, in addition to the attacks on the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in the occupied Jerusalem, and settlers' escalated attacks and storming of the courtyards of Al Aqsa Mosque 15 times, during the past month, the paper said. The paper referred to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs' deep concerns over the Israeli occupation prison administration's deliberate practice of medical neglect against Palestinian detainees, stressing that it is a policy that violates all international conventions and laws related to their right to receive treatment and be provided full medical care. It is a matter that requires intervention of the international human rights organizations and the international community, which should bear its responsibility and provide protection to the Palestinian people as the occupation forces are escalating its offenses against the unarmed Palestinians these days with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, which is an unacceptable aggression and highly condemnable, the paper added. In conclusion, The Peninsula expressed regret that the Palestinian people remain victims of double standards and global neglect, calling for the need to recognize that the only way to achieve peace is through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. (QNA)