Palestinian envoy urges EU to take 'realistic' stance toward Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Palestinian Ambassador to the European Union (EU) has called on Brussels to take a more "realistic" approach toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying Europe bears great responsibility to resolve the situation.

Abdalrahim Alfarra told Russia’s Sputnik news agency that the EU needs to “take a more realistic stance” as it “bears great responsibility” over the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the occupying regime.

“It is the EU that supports the settlement of the conflict based on the existence of two states, does not recognize any changes in the borders that existed before 1967, does not accept changes in Jerusalem [al-Quds],” he said.

If EU member states refuse to recognize the state of Palestine, Alfarra warned, it will be very difficult to reach a settlement based on a two-state solution.

Hamas chief’s house in Gaza bombed as Israel looks for face-saving exit

Israeli warplanes have bombed the home of the Hamas leader in Gaza City, as the Tel Aviv regime’s latest aggression against the enclave enters the seventh day.

Citing mass demonstrations that have been held in several European countries in support of the Palestinians, Alfarra said this is an indication of the stance of the European people.

Israel's deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip sparked protests across the continent, but police clashed with protesters in many cities, including Paris, which has already banned the rallies.

Israeli aerial assaults have killed at least 174 people, including 47 children and 29 women, in Gaza over the past week and wounded nearly 1,000 others.

Lebanese lawmaker Jamil al-Sayyed criticized European governments for preventing their citizens from holding pro-Palestine rallies.

In a post on social media on Sunday, he said, “Certain European governments prevented demonstrations in support of Palestine, and some of them even backed Israel and raised its flag above state buildings!”

“It shows shortcomings in these governments that left the Jews alone during the Nazi era when the Arabs sheltered them. Anti-Semitism is made in Europe,” Lebanon's online newspaper el-Nashra quoted the Lebanese lawmaker as saying.

He further said that “it is not acceptable” for European governments “to wash your sins with the blood of the Arabs only to appease Israel.”

Israel continues to target civilians in Gaza

An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of some international and local media offices as well s residential apartments as the escalation continues in the occupied territories.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza but has been occupying the other territories since.

The Israeli military and illegal settlers intensified the regime’s violations against Palestinians across al-Quds, including on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound — Islam's third-holiest site — during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The regime's forces attacked thousands of worshippers on the compound, and also tried to evict Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of al-Quds.

Since Monday, the Israeli military has taken the coastal enclave under unremitting and indiscriminate aerial assaults.

The Gaza-based resistance front has retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets into the occupied territories.

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