Palestinians slam Kenya president’s visit to Israel-occupied lands
Palestinian officials have criticized Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for visiting Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Kenyatta paid an official visit to the occupied territories earlier this week and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in al-Quds (Jerusalem).
He also met with Kenyan students in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank and an Israeli community in Jordan Valley.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) slammed the visit in a statement on Thursday.
International treaties consider “the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967” as part of the state of Palestine and “no one has the right to visit in these territories without an in-advance coordination with the Palestinian leadership,” it said.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior PLO official, said the visit would “boost the Israeli occupation and create a position of collusion between Kenya and the Israeli occupation.”
The Palestinians plan to complain about Kenyatta’s visit to regional organizations, including the African Union, she said.
“This visit breached Kenya’s obligations not to recognize as lawful a situation created through the illegal use of force and other violations of peremptory norms under international law,” PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds. The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as unlawful.
Kenyatta brands Kenyans 'experienced thieves'
During the visit to the Israeli settlement, Kenyatta branded the people of his country as “experienced in stealing and perpetuating other crimes.”
Kenyatta also claimed his people are abusers and promote tribalism, adding Kenya is “20 times more wonderful” than Israel but people in his country only complain about their situation.
Israel has come under harsh criticism by international human rights groups over its mass eviction of Africans seeking job opportunities in the occupied Palestinian lands.
Kenyatta has been blamed for corruption in the country. The International Criminal Court has accused him of committing crimes against humanity for inciting ethnic violence after 2007 elections that killed some 1,200 people.
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