The Palestinian prime minister on Monday accused Israel's new ultra-nationalist government of trying to topple the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, and warned that a series of new Israeli sanctions could further inflame what has been a particularly deadly period of fighting.
In recent days, Israel has withheld millions of dollars of Palestinian tax revenues, stripped Palestinian officials of VIP privileges and broken up a meeting of Palestinian parents discussing their children's education. Late Sunday, Israel's security minister banned public displays of the Palestinian flag.
Palestinian premier Mohammad Shtayyeh said the Israeli measures, made in response to a Palestinian appeal for UN help, are “aimed at toppling the authority and pushing it to the brink financially and institutionally”.
“We consider these measures a new war against the Palestinian people, their capabilities and funds, and a war against the national authority, its survival and its achievements,” Shtayyeh said during his weekly Cabinet meeting.
The Israeli measures have come in response to the UN General Assembly's decision to ask the UN's highest judicial body to give its opinion on the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israel vehemently opposed the Palestinian-backed move. Decisions by the International Court of Justice are not binding, but can carry great influence.
Shtayyeh rejected Israeli claims that such moves are counter to peace.
“We have the right to complain and tell the world we are in pain,” he said in comments published in Haaretz earlier on Monday. “Israel wants to prevent even the most non-violent way of fighting the occupation.”
A day earlier, Israel's national security minister ordered police to ban on the Palestinian flag in public.
“Today I directed the Israel police to enforce the prohibition of flying any PLO flag that shows identification with a terrorist organisation from the public sphere and to stop any incitement against the state of Israel,” Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Twitter.
A far-right firebrand known for his anti-Palestinian rhetoric, Ben-Gvir drew widespread international condemnation when he visited Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site last week.