Dr Erakat on 43 years of Israeli occupation

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr Saeb Erakat declared today that “after 43 years of occupation, Israel seems to have chosen Apartheid over peace. The Israeli colonization process destroys any hope for a two-state solution. Ongoing provocations and systematic discrimination against Palestinians signify Israel’s continuous disrespect of international law and human rights and destabilize the region.”

His comments were made on the 43rd anniversary of Israel’s 1967 occupation of Arab lands. Israel continues to occupy the Sheba’ Farms (Lebanon), Golan Heights (Syria) as well as the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip to this day. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) and numerous other Untied Nations resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from the territory it occupied in 1967. This call is echoed by the international community as a whole.

Dr Erakat challenged Israeli claims that the central obstacle to achieving peace is the non-recognition of Israel by Arab countries. “Who doesn’t want peace? It is Israel that rejected the Arabs’ offer to recognize and normalize relations with Israel, provided that Israel ends its occupation of all Arab land. This is an offer by 57 Arab and Islamic states that Israel has missed entirely of its own volition.’’

Calling on US President Obama to take swift and decisive action to end the occupation, Dr Erakat declared that ''only an end to Israel’s occupation of all Arab lands will usher in a new era of peace, cooperation, and prosperity throughout the Middle East.”