Mohammad Shtayyeh
Mohammad ShtayyehReuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh claimed on Thursday that statistics show that there is a Palestinian demographic majority in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

At a meeting of the advisory council of the PA’s Statistics Authority, Shtayyeh said that the number of Palestinian Arabs now stands at 6.8 million compared to 6.6 million Jews, and as such the world must internalize the significance of demography in order to advance the two-state solution.

Shtayyeh blasted Israel and called it a "racist state", claiming that this is reflected in its actions and legislation.

The high rate of unemployment in the Judea, Samaria and Gaza is not the result of a mistaken economic policy, claimed the PA leader, but of the policy of "occupation", Israeli control of Area C and the transformation of the Palestinian economy as one that is serving the Israeli economy.

Shtayyeh recently blamed Israel for the PA’s financial crisis, claiming that crisis comes as a result of Israel’s deduction from the salary that the PA pays to families of terrorists.

The PA has repeatedly asked for foreign donations in recent years, claiming it is on the verge of collapse due to a worsening financial crisis.

At the same time, it continues to spend six percent of the PA’s annual budget to pay $4.5 million a month to jailed terrorists and another $6.5 million to their families.