The Palestinian Authority's foreign affairs department condemned the "attacks and crimes of the terrorist militias of the organized and armed settlers against the helpless Palestinian residents in the village of Burka that resulted in the death of 19-year-old Qusay Jamal Matan, the injury of others and the burning of two vehicles."
In a statement published Friday, the department stated that the failure to respond to previous acts of arson - the burning of the child Abu Khadeir, the Dawabsha family, Huwara, Umm Safa Turmusaya and Burin - encouraged the "settlers" to commit additional crimes and with the direct encouragement of ministers in the Netanyahu government such as Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
"These attacks and crimes are part of an official action mechanism that oversees the activation of settler militias, which is designed to lead to the migration of Palestinians and the theft of their lands through the division of roles between the political and military echelons in the occupation state and among the settler groups," the statement read.
"Through the violence of the settlers, Israel strives to take control of large areas of Palestinian land, and in particular in Area C, and to implement the racist colonialist Zionist enterprise manifested in the annexation of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem."
Under the Oslo Accords, land in Judea and Samaria was divided into three areas. Area A is under full security and civil control by the Palestinian Authority; Area B is controlled civilly by the Palestinian Authority, but under Israeli security control; and Area C is under full Israeli civil and security control. While Arabs live in all three areas, Jews are only allowed to live in Area C.
The department warned of the consequences of these attacks and "crimes" on the situation as a whole, and placed the full and direct responsibility on the Netanyahu government and its various branches.
The department also demanded that all regional and international parties bear their responsibilities and carry out what is required by international law and protect the "Palestinian people," noting that it forwards the information on these issues to the International Criminal Court in The Hague in order to encourage a serious international investigation of these crimes and to bring to justice the Israeli war criminals and the terrorist activists of the settlers.
The Palestinian Committee for the Fight Against the Security Fence and the Settlement submitted in a report that in the month of July it recorded 897 attacks by the "occupation forces" and the "settlers" against the "Palestinian people," their property and the holy places, which included direct attacks on Palestinian Authority Arab residents, stripping of land, invasions of settlements, uprooting of trees and taking over property .
The number of "settler attacks" in July reached 202 and they were mainly focused on the Nablus area (65), Ramallah (35) and Hebron (28), the report claimed.