Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Friday that he would not condemn the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,000 people on October 7, saying: “Blindly supporting Israel is a license to kill.”
He added, “I hope that the United States does not go in this direction,” according to CNN.
A Palestinian catastrophe for 75 years
In an interview conducted with him in Ramallah in the West Bank, Shtayyeh said: “The Palestinian story does not begin on October 7,” “The Palestinian catastrophe has existed for 75 years, and we have been crying loudly, and we have been screaming loudly and clearly (that) we need a solution.”
He went on to say that “the condemnation must be for (killing) every civilian, every human being who does not deserve to die. We must condemn that,” according to the American CNN network in a report issued today. Shtayyeh also stressed that the feelings of the Israeli people are feelings of revenge.
He said, “Israel is not under an existential threat, and I believe that the White House and President Biden must call on the parties to sit down and work together for a peaceful solution.”
He continued, “The visits by world leaders to Tel Aviv in support of Israel – in part referring to Biden’s visit on Thursday and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visits last week, among others – gave the green light for Israel to continue its work.”
Shtayyeh said: “International support must be for peace, not aggression.”
The Prime Minister called for a collective international effort led by the United Nations Security Council to end the war, pointing out that all we need is a collective international effort on the part of Security Council members to take the initiative in ending the conflict and finding a solution.
