By Anees Barghouthy
RAMALLAH
Leading member of Palestinian faction Fatah Nabil Shaath has slammed the new Israeli government drawn up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following nearly six weeks of negotiations.
Shaath, a member of Fatah's central committee, told The Anadolu Agency that Netanyahu had formed "a right-wing government of extremists and settlers."
On Sunday night, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party hammered out a deal with the Jewish Home Party, which is even farther to the right, allowing the incumbent prime minister to form a government.
The coalition deal, which has yet to be formally announced, will help Netanyahu obtain the 61 Knesset seats necessary for cobbling together a government coalition.
Shaath warned that the composition of the new Israeli government boded ill for the Palestinians, but said he wasn't surprised as Netanyahu was its architect.
"Netanyahu is a criminal who doesn't believe Palestinians have the right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital," Shaath told AA.
He went on to say that, under Netanyahu's leadership, Jewish settlement activity on confiscated Palestinian land had quadrupled and the blockaded Gaza Strip had been subject to two devastating Israeli military onslaughts.
"This man does not believe in peace at all," he said of Netanyahu.
Palestinian-Israeli peace talks collapsed last year after the self-proclaimed Jewish state failed to fulfill an earlier pledge to free a group of Palestinian prisoners despite earlier pledges to do so.
The talks had aimed to find a resolution to the perennial Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the roots of which date back to 1917, when the British government – in the now-famous "Balfour Declaration" – had called for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
Israel then occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War.
It later annexed all of Jerusalem in 1980, claiming the entire city as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) wants an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Crucial
Shaath said the next two months would be "crucial" to the Palestinian national cause, noting that the PA had has almost finished documenting recent Israeli settlement expansion and alleged crimes committed during last year's crippling Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.
"The decision has been taken; we will file a lawsuit against Israel [at The Hague-based International Criminal Court] by the end of July," he added.
Shaath also reiterated the PA's commitment to holding peace talks with Israel on the basis of a so-called two-state solution.
"Any agreement must include the dismantling of [Jewish-only] settlements, designating East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes [inside Palestine]," he asserted.
"This is what has been approved and guaranteed by international charters and resolutions," he added. "Netanyahu must understand that he isn't above international law."
Shaath also confirmed that he would join PA President Mahmoud Abbas on the latter's visit to Moscow this Friday.
"I can confirm there will be no return to [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry's type of negotiations, which proved a failure," Shaath said, referring to several rounds of peace talks between 2013 and 2014.
"We hope to return to the negotiations under international auspices, including the United States, Russia and the European Union," he said.
"Several European countries and Russia have already affirmed their full support," Shaath said.
In January, Palestinians formally delivered official documentation ratifying the UN Rome Statute –which established the International Criminal Court (ICC) – to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acting as "depository."
The move came after an Arab draft resolution at the UN General Assembly, which had sought a deadline for ending the Israeli occupation, failed to win the nine votes needed to pass, with the U.S. – Israel's longstanding, veto-wielding ally – voting against it.
Shortly afterward, Abbas applied for Palestinian membership in 18 international treaties, including the Rome Statute.
The ICC was established in 1998 as a court of last resort to prosecute the most serious offenses – such as war crimes and crimes against humanity – in cases where national court systems had failed.
