Lieutenant General Natsheh: Smotrich's settlement announcement undermines the two-state solution... and what is happening in Palestine is a massacre before witnesses

SadaNews - The Secretary-General of the National Conference of Jerusalem, Lieutenant General Bilal Natsheh, condemned today, Thursday, the announcement by the Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the implementation of the settlement plan "E1" in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Lieutenant General Natsheh stated that this announcement comes at a time when international recognition of the State of Palestine under occupation is accelerating, and the affirmation that the two-state solution is the only guarantee for ending the conflict and achieving peace in the region. He emphasized that Smotrich and the right-wing Israeli government are disregarding all international demands to stop settlement construction and the massacres taking place in Palestine, pointing out that if it were not for the American green light, Israel would not have dared to take these steps. He stressed that settlement activity is the main obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state as Israel continues to confiscate land throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem in addition to its absolute control over the area referred to as "C", which undermines the two-state solution and obstructs the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

On another note, the Secretary-General of the National Conference of Jerusalem stated that the world must take a clear stance regarding the massacres committed by Israel against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, before witnesses. Natsheh added in his statements that the Palestinian people need a serious global, Arab, and Islamic stand to lift the Israeli sword from the necks of its children who are being slaughtered and exterminated mercilessly because they demand their right to freedom and liberation from occupation and the establishment of their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, like the rest of the peoples of the earth. He also condemned the Western positions, particularly American ones, that use a double standard equating the victim and the aggressor, noting that Israel has exceeded the limits of reaction to what occurred on October 7, 2023, and has moved to a phase of revenge and liquidation of the Palestinian people and their just cause, finding in the global silence and the lack of deterrent actions an opportunity to realize its project and historical dream of establishing a Greater Israel at the expense of the rest of occupied Palestine and neighboring Arab countries. Natsheh considered that the Israeli extremism in shedding Palestinian blood has surpassed even that which occurred in the European war - the "Second World War", as official studies and research show that the scale of human and material losses in the Gaza Strip has exceeded what happened in many European cities in the 1940s. The Secretary-General of the National Conference of Jerusalem affirmed that the head of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, is investing in Palestinian blood to maintain his grip on power and escape forward and avoid the courts that are looming over him because he knows that the end of the war means, beyond any doubt, the end of his political life.

In another context, Natsheh stated that what is being leaked by the Israeli media regarding the entities and names that will govern or manage the Gaza Strip after the end of the war aims to sow Palestinian discord and divert attention from the bloody aggression that is being faced by the people of Gaza, as well as from the daily killings committed by the occupation army and settlers in the West Bank, where hardly a day goes by without the fall of a martyr or the confiscation of land or the displacement of residents in the Jordan Valley or the demolition of homes in Jerusalem, all while the aggression against the camps in northern West Bank "Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams" continues, stressing that the priority lies in ending the war and lifting the besieging blockade on the Gaza Strip, after which Gaza can be returned to Palestinian legitimacy led by President Mahmoud Abbas "Abu Mazen" according to an Arab and Palestinian agreement with international sponsorship.

In this context, Lieutenant General Natsheh welcomed the announcement from many countries around the world regarding their intention to recognize the State of Palestine under occupation in the coming September. He stated that this recognition is the result of a significant Palestinian political and diplomatic movement led by President "Abu Mazen", which has convinced the world that the Palestinian people must be free and have a sovereign state according to international law that Israel violates with its practices on the ground.

The Secretary-General of the National Conference of Jerusalem considered the upcoming announcements to be a courageous position that aligns with international law and United Nations resolutions and contributes to achieving peace in the entire region. He urged countries that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine to take initiative in this recognition to stop the injustice that has befallen our people, and he called on all countries to sign and endorse the New York Declaration aimed at ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and to bear their responsibilities in stopping genocide, displacement, and annexation and in protecting the two-state solution, thereby achieving security, stability, and prosperity for the peoples and countries of the region and the world.

Lieutenant General Natsheh also welcomed the joint statement recently issued by Britain, Germany, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, in which they rejected the Israeli decision to occupy the Gaza Strip and the occupation's measures to annex the West Bank. He called for halting the crimes of genocide, starvation, and displacement and the resulting ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the importance of enabling the Palestinian National Authority to exercise its political and legal authority over the Strip as it constitutes an integral part of the land of the State of Palestine.