A former member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has called for a massive uprising against the regime’s plan to annex the occupied West Bank.
Jamal Zahalka, an Arab-Israeli ex-lawmaker of the Arab Joint List, made the call on Monday, urging Palestinians from all spectra of society, both at home and abroad, to stand up against the scheme, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
He also stressed the need for a collective response throughout the Palestinian land, saying that he is confident that even the Palestinian masses in the 1948 occupied territory are able to rise against the Tel Aviv regime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a number of criminal indictments, has time and again said that he would begin cabinet-level discussions for annexing more areas in the West Bank on July 1, in accordance with US President Donald Trump's “peace” plan, the so-called deal of the century.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Issa lambasted Israel’s grave violations against the historic, religious and cultural sites in Jerusalem al-Quds as “aggression against the cultural and civilizational heritage of the holy city and a gross infringement on the international law.”
Back in late 2017, Trump enraged Palestinians by recognizing the whole Jerusalem al-Quds, both its eastern and western parts, as Israel’s “undivided capital,” a highly-provocative move he took in the face of historic Palestinian demands that the city’s eastern part serve as the capital of their future state.
“The rules of international law pertaining the military occupation of Jerusalem only allow limited powers that enable the occupation authorities to run the territory under their control, and this implies the invalidity of any legislative and administrative measures taken by these authorities to change the status quo in the occupied territory, and this naturally applies to the situation in Jerusalem,” Issa added.
On Thursday, Jordan, which is the custodian of the holy sites at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, condemned the Israeli regime for its provocative digging and construction works at the Mosque’s Western Wall.
Dhaifullah al-Fayez, a spokesman for Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement at the time that all maintenance and restoration works at the al-Aqsa Mosque, including its walls, are within the exclusive powers of the al-Quds Awqaf and Aqsa Affairs Department.
Israel occupied the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds during the Six-Day War of 1967. After the end of hostilities, the regime allowed the Waqf to retain authority over the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, or the Haram al-Sharif.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
