The US Trump Administration’s declaration that it no longer considers Israeli
settlements in the West Bank illegal marks another step away from the
principles of international law.
The illegality of the settlements by Israeli citizens on Palestinian land is quite clear from Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
The 600,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have already colonized much of Palestine, fragmenting its territory — over which the Israeli occupier retains complete military control — criss-crossing it with roads barred to Palestinian users, stealing much of the most fertile land and depriving the Palestinian population of most of the available water.
The Israeli towns that have been planted across Palestinian territory are a serious barrier to the independent Palestine to which almost all countries, including the US and Israel, remain technically committed — though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown up how hollow this commitment is by repeatedly stating explicitly that there will never be a Palestinian state on his watch.
The pro-forma international condemnation has not halted the settlement programme nor prompted any Israeli government to consider meeting its obligations towards Palestine under the Oslo Accords.
The US has also regularly used its veto to block UN resolutions condemning the settlements even while officially viewing them as illegal.
It’s also against international law to apply sanctions with the aim of changing the government in the targeted country.
The US Trump Administration decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, is in fact encouraging ever more reckless and aggressive ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israeli Right-Wing authorities and assures them that racist legislation such as the Nation State Law, reducing Israeli Arabs to second-class citizens, will not affect the enormous economic and military sponsorship they receive from the US.
Relying on Israeli allies to rein in its expansionist government has never worked. A US thumbs-up to illegal settlements makes that clearer than ever.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said: "The United States is neither qualified nor is authorised to negate international legitimacy resolutions, and it has no right to give any legitimacy to Israeli settlement."
Palestinian militant groups also weighed in, calling it the official funeral of the Oslo peace process - which laid the foundations for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip - and urging stepped-up resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Bottom-line: the US Trump Administration has basically ripped-up the Oslo Agreement of which the US was a co-signer and is now applying the "Trump doctrine of the jungle"
EU-Digest
The illegality of the settlements by Israeli citizens on Palestinian land is quite clear from Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
The 600,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have already colonized much of Palestine, fragmenting its territory — over which the Israeli occupier retains complete military control — criss-crossing it with roads barred to Palestinian users, stealing much of the most fertile land and depriving the Palestinian population of most of the available water.
The Israeli towns that have been planted across Palestinian territory are a serious barrier to the independent Palestine to which almost all countries, including the US and Israel, remain technically committed — though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown up how hollow this commitment is by repeatedly stating explicitly that there will never be a Palestinian state on his watch.
The pro-forma international condemnation has not halted the settlement programme nor prompted any Israeli government to consider meeting its obligations towards Palestine under the Oslo Accords.
The US has also regularly used its veto to block UN resolutions condemning the settlements even while officially viewing them as illegal.
It’s also against international law to apply sanctions with the aim of changing the government in the targeted country.
The US Trump Administration decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, is in fact encouraging ever more reckless and aggressive ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israeli Right-Wing authorities and assures them that racist legislation such as the Nation State Law, reducing Israeli Arabs to second-class citizens, will not affect the enormous economic and military sponsorship they receive from the US.
Relying on Israeli allies to rein in its expansionist government has never worked. A US thumbs-up to illegal settlements makes that clearer than ever.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said: "The United States is neither qualified nor is authorised to negate international legitimacy resolutions, and it has no right to give any legitimacy to Israeli settlement."
Palestinian militant groups also weighed in, calling it the official funeral of the Oslo peace process - which laid the foundations for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip - and urging stepped-up resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Bottom-line: the US Trump Administration has basically ripped-up the Oslo Agreement of which the US was a co-signer and is now applying the "Trump doctrine of the jungle"
EU-Digest
