Palestine Slams US for Terming Israeli Settlements not Illegal

Ramallah; Prime Minister of Palestine, Mohammad Shtayyeh has said that as impeachment hearings are underway, the US administration is attempting to divert attention away from its own illegal conduct by absolving Israel of its war crimes as if it has the power to change the Fourth Geneva Convention and the law of occupation. In his reaction on US statement on Jewish Colonial Settlements,the Prime Minister said that in 2016, the UN Security Council reaffirmed the flagrant illegality of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, something the US government had also established during the Carter Administration.

Prime Minister further said that the Trump imperial presidency has shown little respect for international law, human rights, regional security, or even its own national interest in a stable Mideast free from the threat of terrorism and political violence. While this latest move by the US administration is not unexpected to Palestinians, it will send shockwaves throughout the international order as it stands as a threat to the international legality and institutions painstakingly built since the end of World War II.

Minister Foreign Affairs Riad Malki has also responded to US statement. He has said that “The State of Palestine condemns the strongest terms the US administration’s lawless position on Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied territory of the State of Palestine, as announced by the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This position violates international law, decades-long international consensus over the issue and determinations of the International Court of Justice, the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions and United Nations resolutions, including Security Council resolutions.

The current US Administration has adopted an anti-Palestinian agenda and endeavored to empower and legitimize the Israeli colonial settler agenda. This ideologically driven and irresponsible policy, including this most recent announcement by Secretary Pompeo, prove beyond any doubt that the current US administration has aligned itself with Israel’s illegal colonial enterprise and thus fails to meet the most basic requirements of to play any role in any future solution.
This administration cannot and will not rewrite international law. However , the Trump administration’s disregard to the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights is symptomatic of its disregard and contempt to the rules-based international system and multilateralism, whose effects go beyond the Question of Palestine. Allowing this agenda to prevail would ensure the demise of the international order and cause irreversible damage to the achievements of humanity over the past seven decades and threatens to plunge the world into chaos and violence.

Riad Malki said that the State of Palestine will not stop pursuing justice and redress for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian leadership will continue to take all measures possible to honor its moral and political responsibility towards our people, and defend their national rights including their natural right to a life of dignity, freedom and prosperity. The State of Palestine calls on the international community to respond firmly to such destructive behaviour by supporting Palestine’s efforts at the international level to protect the two-state solution by recognizing the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, insisting on full respect for international law and adherence to the United Nations Charter, ensuring that any political track must aim to end the Israeli occupation, and defending the internationally agreed-on framework for peace. Only positive actions that reestablish credibility to international law and respect for the need for justice as a prerequisite of peace can achieve that.”

Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator on Mike Pompeo Statement on Israeli Settlements, said that International law and system clearly define the illegality of all Israeli settlements, including by the International Court of Justice, the UN Security Council, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Israel’s long-standing settlement policy in occupied Palestine falls within the definition of war crimes.

Israeli settlements steal Palestinian land, seize and exploit Palestinian natural resources, and divide, displace and restrict the movement of the people of Palestine. In sum, Israel’s colonial-settlement enterprise perpetuates the negation of the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Once again, with this announcement, the Trump administration is demonstrating the extent to which it’s threating the international system with its unceasing attempts to replace international law with the “law of the jungle.”

Henceforth, the international community must take all necessary measures to respond and deter this irresponsible US behavior, which poses a threat to global stability, security, and peace. The only way towards achieving peace in Palestine, Israel, and the entire Middle East is with the freedom and independence of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital.

18 Nov 2019