THE Palestinian Authority accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today of sponsoring and supporting settler violence in the West Bank to deliver the final blow to signed peace agreements.

The authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned systematic Israeli crimes against the civilian population of the West Bank and their property and land.

With the attention of the world fixed on the brutal Israeli military campaign in Gaza, continued attacks by Israeli settlers on the West Bank has slipped beneath the radar.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said yesterday that the settlers’ actions were “an expression of an official Israeli policy led by extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.”

He said the actions were designed to push the West Bank into a spiral of violence and chaos and “the destruction of the Palestinian National Authority.”

Mr Maliki added that the strategy sought to accelerate the gradual annexation of the West Bank to undermine any opportunity to create a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This followed the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations calling on the members of the Non-Aligned Movement at its meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala to put pressure on Israel to implement a ceasefire in Gaza after 100 days of war with Hamas.

In his opening speech to the 120-member body on Monday, Rayid Mansour said that despite the resolutions passed by the UN general assembly and security council, a ceasefire remained elusive.

The Non-Aligned Movement was formed as countries threw off the yoke of colonialism at the height of the cold war and went on to play a key part in the decolonisation processes.

Mr Mansour claimed that Israel was leading an apartheid of the Palestinians in the ongoing war that broke out on October 7, when Hamas suddenly attacked southern Israel, leaving some 1,200 people dead and 250 others taken hostage. 

Israel retaliated by launching a sustained military onslaught against the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 24,000 people to date and displaced about 80 per cent of the population.

Mr Mansour said: “We are still under this colonial occupation by Israel and we see genocide committed on our people, particularly in the Gaza Strip.”

He said the Palestinians were grateful to South Africa for launching its case against Israel at the International Court for Justice.

“We are the last kids around the block. All of you accomplished your national independence and you put an end to colonialism,” Mr Mansour added.