Fatah's Revolutionary Council member Dimitri Diliani called the Israeli government's decision to grant permission for a protest by "extreme right wing Israeli colonial Settlers" to rally in Silwan a provocation as US officials are in the region.
Fatah's Jerusalem Affairs chief, Hatem Abdul Qader, announced that the Israeli government had given the go-ahead for the rally on Thursday. Commenting on the issue Dilani called the move "state sponsored provocation of instability to undermine the visit of Special US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell to Israel and Palestine."
Diliani called the government "anti-peace," whose position had been made abundantly clear by recent statements from senior government officials like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
It is clear, Dilani said, that "Israel will not adhere to International Law and will continue colonial settlement building in [the] Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem," a statement read.
The official worried that the rally would further destabilize the city of Jerusalem, and give the municipality an excuse to insert hundreds of additional police and soldiers in Palestinian areas, further provoking residents.
Diliani assured what he called the "Palestinian commitment to non-violent resistance in facing existential dangers imposed by the Israeli military occupation of East Jerusalem," but noted the settler rally was a clear provocation.
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