“We were surprised and deplore the election of Israel’s ambassador to the UN (Gilad Erdan) to the post,” Shtayyeh said during the weekly cabinet meeting here.

This decision is an attempt to promote and legitimize the colonial occupation regime in our land, the head of government stressed, quoted by the official Wafa news agency.

Shtayyeh considered that the appointment is a reward to Israel, despite its continuous violations of international laws.

Impunity should not be encouraged, nor should measures be taken at the expense of Palestinian blood and land, he stressed.

The Palestinian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry also rejected last week the decision by a group of Western powers to push Erdan’s candidacy.

The Foreign Ministry said at the time that the nomination came “in the context of a series of continuing attempts by a number of countries to cover up the colonial occupation” and “the systematic and escalating crimes against the Palestinian people and their basic rights”.

He noted that several nations in that group, which he did not name, refuse to recognize the State of Palestine.

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