Abbas Urges US, International Community to Act on Palestine

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is calling for a decisive response from the US and the international community to the Israeli cabinet's approval of measures strengthening Israeli control over the occupied West Bank.

During a visit to Oslo, Abbas said he discussed the Israeli decision, violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians, and Israel's freezing of $4 billion earmarked for the Palestinian people with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

The new measures facilitate land purchases by Israeli settlers, repealing a law that prohibited Jews from directly buying land in the West Bank. They also allow Israel to administer two important holy sites in the southern West Bank.

Approximately 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, along with about 500,000 settlers in Jewish settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.