WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Palestinian groups have dismissed the change in the Zionist regime’s cabinet, saying new Zionist prime minister Naftali Bennett is likely to pursue the same right-wing agenda as his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s office called the regime’s parliamentary vote on Sunday an “internal Israeli affair” while groups in the besieged enclave of Gaza pledged to keep up their fight for Palestinian rights. Gaza has been under an air, land and sea blockade by the Zionist regime since 2007.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement saying it was “inaccurate” to call Bennett’s coalition cabinet a cabinet of ‘change’ unless there was a significant shift in its position on the Palestinian right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.
Bennett, who heads the extremist Yamina party and describes himself as “more right-wing” than Netanyahu, has said that the creation of a Palestine state would be “suicide” for the occupying regime. He has also called for the annexation of most of the occupied West Bank.
As prime minister, the millionaire former high-tech entrepreneur leads an unwieldy coalition from the political right, left and center. Analysts say Bennett’s cabinet will likely avoid sweeping moves on hot-button issues such as policy towards the Palestinians.
“This is an internal Israeli affair,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Abbas. “Our position has always been clear, what we want is a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with al-Quds as its capital.”
In a statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry posed a host of questions to Bennett’s cabinet. “What is the position of the new cabinet regarding the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state with East al-Quds as its capital?”
“What is its position of the settlement and annexation processes? What is its position on al-Quds and respect for the historical and legal situation there? Its position on the signed agreements? Its position on the resolutions of international legitimacy?”
In Gaza, Palestinian groups vowed to keep resisting the Zionist regime.
“We aren’t counting on any change in the occupation regime, since they are united on the policy of killing Palestinians and confiscating Palestinian rights,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official.
And prior to the regime’s parliament vote, Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas said: “Regardless of the shape of the regime in Israel, it will not alter the way we look at the Zionist entity. It is a settler occupier entity that must be resisted by all forms of resistance, foremost of which is armed resistance.”