Palestinian institutions called on the international community to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its violations against the Palestinians, on the 56th anniversary of what is known in the Arab world as the "setback", which ended with Israel's defeat of the Arab armies and its occupation of large areas of the Palestinian, Egyptian and Syrian lands.
On Monday, official Palestinian institutions and factions called on the international community to "hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its violations against the Palestinians and work to end it."
This came in a special statement by a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Wasel Abu Youssef, to Anadolu Agency, and separate statements issued by official Palestinian institutions on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of the "June setback."
On the fifth of June of each year, the Palestinians commemorate the 1967 war, which lasted for 6 days, and resulted in Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian Golan Heights.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Abu Yousef said, "The Palestinian people have been living since the 1967 setback in a continuous battle with the occupation, at a time when the issue went through difficult turns, but it remained alive."
He added, "The people are still striving for freedom and independence, adhering to their rights and constants, foremost of which is the right of return for the refugees (displaced from their towns and villages in 1948) and the right to self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
And he continued, "It is true that we did not reach freedom and complete independence, but the constants remained the righteousness that all the people follow for the sake of freedom and independence."
Abu Youssef attributed "the continuation of committing crimes against the Palestinian people to the unlimited American support for the Israeli government."
He called for "imposing sanctions on the occupation and prosecuting it for its crimes," saying: "Without that, he will continue to believe that he is under American protection."
In the context, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said at the start of the weekly session of the Palestinian Council of Ministers in Ramallah: "The anniversary of the setback is passing, and Israel is still practicing organized state terrorism, and continues to commit its crimes against our people."
He added, "Israel is working with its practices to undermine the opportunity to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that "the helpless position of the international community encourages the occupation to deepen and expand the people's plight in historic Palestine (the West Bank, including Jerusalem, Gaza and Israel)."
She added, "Israel is working to gradually nibble and annex the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, through 4 axes: land confiscation, house demolitions, daily assaults, wars against Gaza, and perpetuating the separation of the Strip from the West Bank."
The ministry stated that "the official Israeli policy aims to swallow the West Bank and Jerusalem completely and close the door to any opportunity to embody the Palestinian state on the ground."
In turn, the Palestinian National Council (the parliament of the Liberation Organization) called in a statement, "the free people of the world and the influential forces in the international community for justice and an end to this occupation."
He said, "The anniversary of the setback comes while the case is going through dangerous turns of state and government terrorism that practices the most heinous violations against our people, our land, and our sanctities."
As for the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Fatah, it said in its statement that "international law and the Charter of the United Nations give the people the right to resist occupation, settlement, and all policies of expansion and Judaization."
While the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine called in a statement to "form a national leadership for the resistance and develop popular and armed resistance to confront the occupation."
The war lasted for 6 days, and led to the killing of about 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis, and the destruction of 70-80 percent of the war materiel in the Arab countries, compared to 2-5 percent in Israel, according to Israeli statistics.
The war also caused, according to Palestinian statistics, the displacement of about 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, most of whom fled to Jordan.
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