In his annual Christmas message, the mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh, called
Thursday for a boycott of Israel.
“We call for boycotting Israel
culturally, educationally, in sports, economics and trade,” the mayor told
reporters in Bethlehem. “This is the only way to make Israel come back to the
negotiating table and make peace within six months. It worked with South
Africa.”
RELATED:Bethlehem gets into the Christmas Spirit Batarseh said that this was “our message in the political field
as Palestinians and residents of Bethlehem.”
The mayor said that the call
for boycotting Israel was also the message of Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
“We want peace, but we
want a just and legal peace according to UN resolutions,” Batarseh said in his
message. “The boycott is the only language that Israel understands.”
He
said that there would be no peace in the world unless there was peace in
Bethlehem and the region.
He also lashed out at Israel for continuing to
build in the settlements.
Claiming that there were already half-a-million
Jewish settlers, Batarseh warned that “within a year or two we won’t have land
to establish a Palestinian state.”