Palestinians Denounce Israel ‘Cabinet of War’
Image by Getty Images
Image by Getty Images
The government “will be one of war which will be against peace and stability in our region,” lead Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the French news agency AFP on Thursday.
“This new right-wing, extremist government is not a partner for peace when the leaders call for the annexation of Palestinian land, forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and the genocide against our people. The time is well overdue for the International community to face the reality and hold Israel accountable for the crimes and violations made against our people,” Erekat said in a statement released Thursday by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The statement came just hours after the new government was announced and confirmed to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
Just two hours before Wednesday’s midnight deadline, Netanyahu announced a right-wing and narrow government coalition made up of 61 seats, the bare minimum necessary to form a new government. The new government is comprised of Netanyahu’s Likud party with 30 seats; the centrist Kulanu Party, 10 seats; the right-wing Jewish Home party with eight seats; the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party, seven seats; and the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party, six seats.
Erekat has said that with the election of this new government the Palestinians do not have a peace partner and that the Palestinians would continue to work to bring Israel to trial in the International Criminal Court in The Hague and in other international forums.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
