Palestinians slam US for obstructing UN resolution on Israeli atrocities in Gaza Strip

The spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the United States for impeding a UN resolution to denounce Israel’s ongoing acts of aggression along the border fence with the Gaza Strip that have killed at least 17 Palestinians and injured more than a thousand others.

“The US obstruction provided a cover for Israel to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people, and encourages it to defy UN resolutions aimed at ending its occupation,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement published on the official Wafa news agency on Saturday.

He added, “The US administration's continued protection of the Israeli occupation together with efforts to block all international initiatives aimed at pressuring the administration of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to stop its aggression and brutality will only increase the Palestinian nation’s resilience, and will cement their determination to fight off plots aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause.”

“The Palestinian official and popular movement will go on until we realize our legitimate rights, to expose the occupation policy whether at the UN Security Council or at the UN General Assembly to request international protection for our unarmed people,” Abu Rudeineh pointed out.

Early on Saturday, the Security Council held an emergency meeting over the Tel Aviv regime’s massacre of over a dozen Palestinians during an anti-occupation mass rally in Gaza, but failed to reach an agreement on a final statement over US impediment.

PressTV-UNSC holds urgent meeting on Israel’s massacre in Gaza

The UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting over Israel’s massacre of over a dozen Palestinians during a mass rally in Gaza, with the UN chief calling for a probe into the bloodshed.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged “an independent and transparent investigation” into the Gaza clashes and reaffirmed the world body’s “readiness” to support the so-called peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Palestinian rally, dubbed the "Great March of Return," will last until May 15, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe) on which Israel was created.  

Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate Nakba Day, which marks the anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis in 1948.

More than 760,000 Palestinians - now estimated to number nearly five million with their descendants - were driven out of their homes on May 14, 1948.

Since 1948, the Israeli regime has denied Palestinian refugees the right to return, despite UN resolutions and international law that upholds people’s right to return to their homelands.

PressTV-16 Palestinians shot dead as Gazans hold mass rallies

Israeli military forces have shot and killed 16 Palestinians during massive anti-Israeli rallies staged by thousands along Gaza-Israel borders.

This year's Land Day demonstrations appear especially combustible as Palestinian anger is already high over US President Donald Trump's decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital."

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem al-Quds and parts of Syria’s Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community.

Israel is required to withdraw from all the territories seized in the war under UN Security Council Resolution 242, adopted months after the Six-Day War, in November 1967, but the Tel Aviv regime has defied that piece of international law ever since.

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