The Israeli delegation to the Marrakech Climate Change Conference in Morocco. Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin is second from left. Photo: Twitter.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah accused Israel on Wednesday of intentionally polluting the environment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to harm Palestinian civilians, the Hebrew news site nrg reported.

Hamdallah made the inflammatory comments at the United Nations Marrakech Climate Change Conference in Morocco. In response, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin — also in attendance at the conference — rose to the podium and refuted Hamdallah’s words.

“This was a collection of delusional claims — false and completely baseless,” Elkin was quoted as saying by nrg. “It’s a shame the Palestinians are taking advantage of this stage to make such charges at the same time the Palestinian Authority is advancing a cement factory project in a nature reserve solely due to the economic interests of [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas’ sons.”

“This forum should not be a scene of political clashes of this sort,” Elkin continued. “There are plenty of other venues for that. I’m calling for a unifying dialogue here…so we can deal with the challenges of climate change and other challenges in the environmental protection field.”

Elkin’s visit to Morocco marks the first by an Israeli minister to the North African Arab nation since 2003. The two countries do not have official diplomatic relations, but maintain informal ties in a number of realms.

Anti-Israel blood libels are a common practice in the PA. As was reported in The Algemeiner, during a speech to to the European Parliament in Brussels in June, Abbas accused Israel of massacring Palestinians and even alleged that extremist rabbis are encouraging Israelis to poison Palestinian water supplies.