PLO condemns Israeli alleged "exploitation of the Coronavirus epidemic" to expand settlements
Official PA TV News, on the global Coronavirus pandemic
Official PA TV newsreader 1: “The PLO Executive Committee rejects the occupation government’s exploitation of the Coronavirus epidemic in order to commit additional crimes in expanding the settlement [construction] tenders, in order to continue the colonialist construction and expansion and whet the occupation’s appetite to annex and Judaize.”
Official PA TV newsreader 2: “This came during the meeting that the [PLO] Executive Committee held in Ramallah, in which it discussed the latest political developments and topics of the internal situation, especially given the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic around the world and the steps being taken to deal with it. The Executive Committee welcomed the m essage [on March 16, 2020] from the 64 Congress members directed to American Secretary of State [Mike Pompeo] in a call on the American administration to reject the destruction of Palestinians’ homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
Note: A misleading letter was sent to US State Secretary Mike Pompeo by 60 members of Congress on March 16, 2020, in which they expressed their concern “over the ongoing home demolitions and forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank… and other communities in East Jerusalem” and questioned whether they were carried out using US-supplied equipment or US aid.
The authors of the letter painted a false picture as if the State of Israel arbitrarily demolishes Palestinian homes and libelously call them “unlawful home demolitions”.
In fact, all house demolitions by Israel are legal and carried out in strict adherence to Israeli law. In most cases, these are houses illegally built without permits. The remaining demolitions were necessary to ensure and support Israel’s deterrence against acts of terror, as will be explained below. All the demolitions referred to were conducted pursuant to all the due process provisions of Israeli law.