Occupied Palestine – Tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories continue to surge as the Arab League issues a stark warning regarding a dangerous Israeli escalation at the al-Aqsa Mosque and across the West Bank, coinciding with inflammatory remarks from Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for a military campaign to “dismantle” the Palestinian Authority.
In a statement released on Sunday, the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States strongly censured the intensification of Israeli military measures, closures, and severe restrictions on Palestinian movement, which have sharply increased alongside Jewish holidays.
The Arab League specifically denounced a dangerous escalation targeting the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds, warning of attempts to alter the longstanding historical and legal status quo of the holy site. The statement highlighted highly concerning remarks from the Israeli police commander in the al-Quds district regarding a “trial” to allow Jewish prayer books, known as Sidur, to be brought into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The League warned that introducing such religious items could establish new, unauthorised practices and rituals at the Muslim site, fundamentally undermining its Islamic heritage.
Furthermore, the secretariat condemned the exploitation of Jewish holidays to increase incursions and violations at the mosque’s courtyards while simultaneously restricting Palestinian worshippers from accessing the site. The Arab League also denounced the intensified military chokehold on the West Bank, including the widespread closure of roads, gates, and checkpoints that severely impede Palestinians’ access to workplaces and places of worship across several governorates. The League called on the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to press the Israeli regime to halt these blatant violations of Palestinian rights.
Smotrich Calls for “War” and Annexation
The regional outcry comes as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich openly incited further violence against Palestinians. Speaking on a podcast for the Ynet news outlet, the hawkish minister claimed to have “solutions” to the decades-long Palestinian conflict, explicitly calling on Israeli regime forces to “go to war” in the occupied West Bank.
“I think we need to go to war in Judea and Samaria, to do there what we did in Gaza, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority,” Smotrich declared, using the biblical term “Judea and Samaria” favoured by Zionists to erase the Palestinian identity of the region.
Smotrich, a leading voice in Israel’s extremist government who frequently champions the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements, did not stop at the West Bank. He also brazenly called for the Israeli regime forces to “annex” southern Lebanon and the areas of Gaza still under military occupation.
The rhetoric of total annexation follows Israel’s so-called security cabinet recently granting final approval to a highly contested project involving 19 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Smotrich has previously advocated for the illegal annexation of more than 80 percent of the territory.
The United Nations and the international community widely regard all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as a severe violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions, as they are built on stolen Palestinian land. However, with the current Israeli leadership openly pushing for full-scale military operations and territorial expansion, the humanitarian and political crisis in the region threatens to reach a catastrophic breaking point.
Reference: PressTv
Dirty monarchs and dictators.
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