RAMALLAH, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that the Israeli government should be held accountable for the consequences of the settlers' incitement calls for "assassination" of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Erekat said in a press statement that those calls are a part of "a systematic incitement campaign by Israel against our people and their rightful demands," amidst a new height of Israeli military escalation on the ground.

His comments came after settlers from Yitzhar settlement near northern West Bank's Nablus city reportedly hung posters with the picture of Abbas in the middle of a gun target circle with a slogan saying "sponsor of murderer is equal to murderer."

"The avertiment of killing the Palestinian people's president is an advertising to open assassination of the president and the leadership's peace strategy," Erekat said.

Erekat added that the Palestinian people and their leadership "take this threat seriously and demand the international community to move immediately to halt Israel's unlawful policies and practices before it is too late."

He also stressed the importance of providing the Palestinian people with international protection, saying that "international community's silence paves the way for more killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing."