RAMALLAH — Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called on the United States administration to put pressure on Israel in order to halt building settlements, and urged for re-opening the US Consulate in Jerusalem.

"This is not enough," the premier added in the beginning of a Cabinet meeting on Monday in response to remarks by the US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, stating that he will not visit the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

"We call on the US Administration to practice pressure on Israel to halt the building of settlements and reopen the US embassy in Jerusalem, as this would greatly contribute to the two nations' solution, a matter the current US administration strongly believes in," he said.

He condemned the "Israeli persecution, racism and ethnic cleansing natives of Negev are suffering from, in order to seize their lands and properties."

"Our people have the right to protect their properties and defend them," the Palestinian prime minister added.

He called on the Israeli occupation authorities to halt those "manipulations, which form a blatant violation to the international humanitarian law."

Meanwhile, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man south of the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank on Monday.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement the troops shot the man and prevented medics from reaching whims he was sprawling in a pool of blood on the ground at a cross road near the settlement of Gush Etzion.

Israeli military sources said the man was shot after he attempted to stab an Israeli. — KUNA