BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A member of the PLO's Executive committee said in a statement Saturday that "stagnant" negotiations with Israel have been "too costly for the Palestinian people," pointing at a long list of Israeli "aggressions" since the talks began.

"The 'peace process' has cost us the lives of many Palestinian civilians, an unprecedented theft of land and resources, and the increase in settlement activities, among other measures of ethnic cleansing and apartheid carried out by the Israeli government," Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.

"These include the political, economic, social, and cultural siege of Jerusalem and its periphery by means of forced displacement, home demolitions, checkpoints, apartheid walls, and settlements," Ashrawi said.

She called these policies by the Israeli government "collective punishment" against the Palestinian people, and said that the policies violate "fundamental rights and freedoms, ... institutionalize racism and incite hatred."