RAMALLAH,  Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh today invited the international community, mainly the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to visit the Palestinian communities blockaded by the Israeli occupation forces in order to bear witnesses to what is happening there and to work toward lifting the siege and stopping the aggression.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, Shtayyeh said that the occupation forces prevent people from leaving the northern West Bank city of Nablus, which has been under a tight military blockade for one week, disrupting daily life, and obstructing the work of businessmen, public employees, and all residents in the city.

He added that the occupation measures in Nablus and before that in Shufat refugee camp and Anata, near Jerusalem, “must stop, and the continuous aggression against our people must stop, and the use of our children, land and holy sites as offerings to the Israeli voter must also stop.”

The Prime Minister said he visited yesterday the city of Jenin and its camp in the north of the West Bank to check on its people in light of the latest Israeli military campaigns against the city that left dozens of its youth dead from army gunfire, and offered condolences to the families of the latest victims of the Israeli army campaign whether it was in Jenin, Salfit or Ramallah.

“I saw great anger toward what Israel is doing to our people, and I spoke with activists from Shufat refugee camp and Anata. I was briefed on their needs, which will be followed on by the competent ministers,” he said.

Shtayyeh said that his government will form a team that includes a number of ministers to follow up on the issue of the Gaza Marine field, located 36 kilometers west of the coast of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea that was discovered in 2000 and is estimated to contain more than 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, stressing that head of the Palestinian Investment Fund, Mohammad Mustafa, and his team are negotiating with the Egyptian authorities to conclude an agreement to extract natural gas for the benefit of the Palestinian people.

On the intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks that were concluded in Algeria last week with the Algeria Declaration, Shtayyeh said the cabinet is going to take all necessary steps to translate the Algeria Declaration into a reality in an effort to end the division and achieve Palestinian national unity.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency