AKEL denounces wave of arrests of Palestinians

 

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 17th June 2014, Nicosia

 

AKEL denounces the wave of mass arrests of Palestinian citizens – among them children too – carried out in the West Bank by the Israeli army using the investigations into the disappearance of three young Israelis as a pretext. Those arrested include Members of Parliament and the Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament Abdul Aziz Duwaik.

The attempt to incriminate the entire Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Authority for the disappearance of three teenagers is unacceptable and unfounded. Besides, the Palestinian authorities are cooperating with the relevant Israeli authorities to resolve the case of the disappearance, whilst the area where the three young men disappeared is situated in an area which is under the full political and military control of Israel.

It is obvious that the mass arrests by the Israeli side are aiming at undermining the process of inter-Palestinian reconciliation and unity, which has progressed significantly with the recent formation of a government of national unity under President Abbas.

The government of Israel must proceed immediately to the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, as well as to the termination of its policy of colonisation, which is undermining the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

AKEL reiterates its long-standing position that only the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital and with the right of return for Palestinian refugees  safeguarded, can lead to a lasting peace and security to the benefit all the peoples of the region.