Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh today called on a delegation from the US Congress he met at his office in Ramallah to pressure the Trump administration to retract its unilateral steps towards the Palestinians.
“We rely on the wisdom of the members of Congress to pressure the US administration to retract its unilateral steps towards the Palestinians,” Shtayyeh told the lawmakers. “This administration headed by Trump has been misguided and is no longer an honest broker for peace.”
Shtayyeh added, “We have signed many agreements with Israel and it did not abide by them and violated them. All the US-sponsored peace talks have failed because of Israel and because there was no clear and agreed terms of reference, no specific time frame for these talks, and no sincere intentions from Israel.”
He said the discussion in Israel is not between those who want peace or the continuation of the occupation, but between those who want to maintain the status quo and those who want to seize more Palestinian land in order to eliminate any chance for establishing the Palestinian state.
“Israel is waging a financial war against the Palestinians, especially by deducting the allowances of the families of the prisoners and martyrs from the clearance money and tax revenues, and is stealing from them without any auditing, especially the electricity and water bills,” he said in reference to the Palestinian money Israel is withholding that put the Palestinian Authority in a serious financial crisis.