Fifty years after Israel occupied the Palestinian territories, its policies in the West Bank and Gaza are at the root of Palestinian hardship, the United Nations said Wednesday. “Occupation policies and practices remain the key cause of humanitarian needs in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report. Repeated efforts to negotiate a solution to the conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel have stalled. Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. “Palestinian fatalities from conflict-related violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel declined by 37 percent compared with 2015,” it said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 31, 2017 15:00 UTC