ISLAMABAD, OCT 3 (DNA) -In the face of escalating and systematic settler terrorism, the State of Palestine urgently calls on the international community and the United Nations to assume their responsibilities and provide international protection for the Palestinian people. There is an unprecedented and severe protection crisis that cannot be ignored.
Israeli settler terrorism rests upon an illegal colonial foundation, rooted in land theft, assumed supremacy and exceptionalism, discrimination and racism, to justify the subjugation and eventual displacement of the Palestinian people. To that end, settlers and the official Israeli establishment work hand in glove to advance their goals, sometimes exchanging roles and always working in ideological unison.Â
These settler militias carry out their crimes against the Palestinian people, with full impunity and under the collective protection of the Israeli military, judiciary, and executive. Successive Israeli governments have willfully and deliberately ensured the entrenchment of this trend by deliberately not taking any measures to prevent or punish settler terrorism. Â
In this connection, the State of Palestine affirms that rhetorical condemnations by Israeli officials are designed for public relations purposes. They ring hollow and must not be taken at face value nor awarded with political platitudes.Â
Instead, the international community must insist on not compromising with such terrorism and on fighting the infrastructure and culture that feeds it, including the illegal occupation and apartheid regime, and the so-called judicial system that legitimate them.
The State of Palestine thus calls on States to take proactive measures to protect the Palestinian people, including correctly identifying these settler militias as terrorist groups as well as ensuring that their domestic legislation forbids their direct and/or indirect funding. The State of Palestine also calls on Secretary-General António Gutteres to work on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions to establish an international mechanism of protection for the Palestinian people. This escalating settler terrorism also underscores the necessity for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to expedite the ongoing investigation and to ensure justice for the victims.
The State of Palestine will resort to all political, diplomatic, and legal means to ensure the protection of its people. Justice must be served and the dignity, safety, and human rights of Palestinians must be respected and ensured.