Palestinians finding every opportunity to libel Israel – even the environment. President Mahmoud Abbas. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of UN Photo/Marco Castro
The Palestinians attacked Israel again in an international forum – this time going as far as to say the Israelis are intentionally damaging the environment to hurt Palestinian civilians. Not only is that not true, but Israel pointed out that it is the Palestinian government that is harming their own environment.
The Jerusalem Post, in their report of the incident on Wednesday at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change – Conference of Parties 22 (COP-22), quoted Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin as highlighting a cement factory being pushed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) as an example of this activity, and the Palestinian civilians are looking elsewhere for help. “The local population has turned to Israel for assistance as the cement factory is being promoted by the PA through two of [President] Mahmoud Abbas’s sons, who are not willing to take into account the environmental effects nor the possible damage to the population.”
The article noted that the factory in question is still being studied by the Israeli government and others on its environmental impact.
The Palestinians have been finding plenty of international forums in which to attack Israel, including the UN cultural body UNESCO. Elkin was quoted as expressing his sadness that the Palestinians used the environmental event for “making unrestrained and completely untrue claims, which we completely reject.”
Israel on Thursday also took the opportunity to thank Romania for their assistance in dealing with what has become an ongoing diplomatic assault by the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement released by his office, expressed to Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu appreciation for “his country’s support in international organizations against the Palestinian initiatives that render the region’s hoped-for peace more remote.”
The Israeli press statement said that Netanyahu also added that “a solution to the conflict will come through direct negotiations between the sides and not via initiatives on the part of various countries and international organizations.”
Especially not the UN Conference on Climate Change.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, November 18, 2016)