Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh called on the European Union to play an effective role by pressuring Israel to abide by the agreements signed with it and to stop all unilateral measures in the Palestinian territories.

This came during his meeting with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, today, Monday, in his office in Ramallah, in the presence of the European Union representative to Palestine, Sven Kon von Burgsdorff.

Shtayyeh discussed with Shinas the latest developments in light of the political vacuum, stressing the importance of working to create an international movement to revive the Arab peace initiative, end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Prime Minister said: "Israel is working to impose measures to destroy the two-state solution, through daily incursions into the Palestinian territories, which constitute a process of reoccupying the West Bank, killing and arresting operations, and seizing lands in favor of settlement expansion, and re-settlement in a number of evacuated settlements in the northern West Bank." Which will lead to a slide towards a single state with an apartheid regime in reality, laws and legislation.”

And he continued: "In addition to the war on Palestinian geography, money and the narrative, Israel is waging a religious war on Islamic and Christian holy sites, especially in Jerusalem, and is working to Judaize them, and attempts to divide temporally and spatially the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which will lead to igniting a religious war."

He added, "While Israel has held 5 elections in the last 4 years, it continues to prevent us from holding elections in all of our lands, including Jerusalem."

Shtayyeh appreciated the continued European support for Palestine at all levels, and its harmony with the Palestinian national priorities, and its firm and supportive position for the two-state solution.

For his part, Schinas expressed the European Union's continued support for Palestinian national priorities and the needs of the Palestinian people with the aim of improving their living conditions and achieving a two-state solution. He expressed his concern about what is happening in Islamic and Christian sanctities, stressing the need to work to preserve the historical status quo, especially in Jerusalem.