Palestinians look on as they inspect their residential building which was damaged in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, May 12.

Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

The executive secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein El Sheikh, today denounced the

policy of displacement and apartheid used by the Israeli government against the Arab population in the occupied area of ​​East Jerusalem.

In his Twitter account, the Palestinian leader

accused Tel Aviv of promoting a strategy of demolition of Arab structures to change the demography of the city

.

“We call on the international community to intervene immediately in order to stop this massacre,” he said.

The Sheikh announced a meeting of the Palestinian leadership next Friday to discuss a response to the escalating Israeli violence.

The Wadi Hilweh

Information Center

revealed Wednesday that the neighboring nation's authorities arrested 255 Jerusalemites in January, including 71 minors and five women, and issued 37 deportation decisions.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs denounced last August that from 2009 to that date,

Israel demolished 8,665 Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, affecting more than 151,000 people, including 13,000 displaced persons.

Blinken's meeting with Netanyahu came just days after State Department spokesman Vedant Patel refused to say that Palestinians in the West Bank live under an Israeli military occupation.

Photo: Taken from Democracy Now

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Tuesday with Mahmud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders in the city of Ramallah, located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank region.

Blinken's visit comes just days after the Palestinian Authority ended security coordination with Israel, following a series of Palestinian deaths at the hands of the Israeli military.

In the latest incident of violence, this Monday morning Israeli soldiers shot Naseem Abu Fouda, a 26-year-old Palestinian youth, in the head at a security checkpoint in the occupied city of Hebron, in the southern West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that so far in 2023, Israeli military and settlers have killed 35 Palestinians, including eight minors and one elderly woman.

Blinken also met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the city of Jerusalem,

where he reiterated that US support for Israel remains "iron."

The relationship between our countries has historically been rooted in shared interests and values

.

That includes our support for fundamental democratic institutions and principles, including respect for human rights, a fair administration of justice for all, equal rights for minorities, the rule of law, a free press and a civil society. solid," Blinken said.

Many of Blinken's comments were direct quotes from previous US State Department statements.

Blinken's meeting with Netanyahu came just days after State Department spokesman Vedant Patel refused to say that Palestinians in the West Bank live under an Israeli military occupation.

Palestinians flee their home during Israeli air and artillery strikes in the northern Gaza Strip.

Photo: Mohammed Salem / Reuters

(With information from Prensa Latina and

Democracy Now

)