At least 17 Palestinian protesters were shot dead by the Israeli military in clashes on the Gaza border. Photo / Specialties.
RAMALLAH - Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), condemned the United States for blocking the final statement of the UN Security Council over the demonstration of Gaza Day.
"The US government is involved in war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians," Saeb Erekat said as quoted by Xinhua, Monday (2/4/2018).
Erekat's remarks came under the auspices of US representatives who were blocking the UN Security Council's adoption of a draft resolution condemning Israel's killing of 17 Palestinians during a demonstration on Friday in Gaza.
He also described the US as a defender of Israeli war crimes, and added that such a position indicates Washington's blind bias and strategic alliance with Israel.
Erekat also urged Arab countries to reconsider their relationship with the current US administration for pushing the region and its people toward violence, bloodshed and chaos.
The UN Security Council held an emergency session Saturday on Gaza events at Kuwait's request but failed to agree on a final statement on the events that killed 17 people and more than 1,200 wounded.
One of the points rejected by the United States is an independent and transparent inquiry into the events of Gaza demonstrations and the killing of 17 Palestinians.
Erekat insists that Palestine will continue to work at all international levels to give the Palestinians international protection under international law and international legitimacy.
Friday's rally was the start of a six-week protest expected to peak on May 15. On that date, Israel celebrated its formation and Palestine marked the displacement of two-thirds of the Palestinian people and ethnic cleansing of 418 Palestinians in the villages.
Demonstrators demanded that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to the towns and villages where their families fled or were forcibly displaced when the State of Israel was created in 1948.
The organizers of the demonstration chose to start their activities on Land Day, the day on which the Palestinians commemorate the March 30, 1976 incident. At that time Israeli soldiers killed six unarmed Palestinians during a demonstration in protest at Israel's decision to confiscate thousands of hectares of land in Galilee and the area Negev.