Portugal says Israel is undermining the Palestinian state through settlement expansion
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
Portugal’s foreign minister says Israeli settlement expansion and economic pressure in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are undermining prospects for a viable Palestinian state.
Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel says Israel’s E1 settlement plan is “extremely pernicious” because it would divide the West Bank, isolate East Jerusalem and is incompatible with a two-state solution.
Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues amounts to a “brutal strangulation” of the Palestinian Authority’s finances, preventing the economy from functioning, he says after meeting Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin in Lisbon. Promoted: Theatron Hotel and Residences – Luxury Jerusalem Residences with Five-Star Hotel AmenitiesKeep Watching
Rangel also cites the closure of Christian schools in East Jerusalem as evidence of worsening conditions there.
Reference Link: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/portugal-says-israel-undermining-palestinian-state-through-settlement-expansion/
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
