'US silence led to massacres in Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem'

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - US President Joe Biden administration's silence and terming Israeli aggression on Palestinians as self-defense have led to massacres in Palestine, said a Palestinian government official on Friday.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denounced the US position on Israeli attacks in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, according to the official Wafa news agency.

Israel is "waging war against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites," said Abu Rudeineh, and warned Israel is "dragging the region into a situation that no one can bear the consequences by harming the interests of the region and the world."

He once more affirmed that Palestinians "will never give up or abandon their land, Jerusalem, and the holy sites," and that "patience, will, and the historical struggle of the Palestinian people have thwarted all conspiracies for more than a hundred years."

"Palestine and Jerusalem will remain greater than all of them, and peace and the relationship with any party will not be at any price, and the interests of the Palestinian people, their rights, and the preservation of our national constants will remain the destination of our movements and policies," he added.

Abu Rudeineh urged Biden administration "to actively intervene to stop Israel's relentless onslaught if it is interested in regional and international peace and security."

Israeli forces in recent days have attacked Palestinians protesting in solidarity with residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, who were ordered to be evicted by an Israeli court.

The occupying forces also raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque during special night prayers in Ramadan.

The subsequent escalation of tensions resulted in airstrikes by Israel on Gaza, killing over 120 Palestinian citizens, including children and women, according to health officials. At least 920 others have been injured, besides heavy damage to residential buildings.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.