Rights Groups Urge International Community to Stand Against Israel-US Annexation Strategy
WAFA News Agency reports on a letter endorsed by USCPR and spearheaded by Al-Haq which calls on the international community to put an end to Israeli and American efforts to annex occupied Palestinian territory.
Seven human rights organization today called on the international community to immediately act to put a stop to Israeli-American plans to annex Palestinian territory.
The call came as the United States gets ready to announce it so-called deal of the century, which the groups said will seek to not only condone, but also to reward Israel for its decades-long violations of international law, including possible annexation of occupied West Bank territory.
Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Center for Constitutional Rights, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, and US Campaign for Palestinian Rights said in their joint statement that after the US opened its embassy in occupied Jerusalem a year ago and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital prior to that, and with the recent US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan, and possible recognition of Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, the United Nations (UN) Member States must fulfill their legal obligations and urgently address all these issues.
“Member States must take a firm stand against the US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over unlawfully annexed territory, and the implications it will have for the respect of international law,” they said.
“The U.S. is not only flouting the UN Charter and the established prohibition on the acquisition of territory through the threat or use of force, but is normalizing and imposing the principle of ‘might over right’ and the acceptability of colonization, while encouraging other States to also move their embassies to Jerusalem. The US actions have served to embolden Israel, as it continues on its path of settlement of Palestinian land and targeting the rights of the Palestinian people in direct contravention of international law and UN Security Council Resolutions, including Resolution 2334 (2016),” they said.
“Against this backdrop, the US is also expected to put forth its so-called ‘deal of the century’ reportedly in early June 2019. This ‘deal’ will undoubtedly seek to not only condone, but also to reward Israel for its decades-long violations of international law, including its unlawful transfer of its own population into the occupied Palestinian territory.”
The seven rights organization said states must not wait for the “deal of the century” to be presented for them to act. Rather, they need to take action now and immediately reject Israel’s unilateral sovereignty over Jerusalem, publicly condemn the move of the US Embassy and others to Jerusalem, ban Israeli settlement products in compliance with third State obligations under international law, cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s preliminary examination on the situation of Palestine, impose individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, on individuals that are identified as responsible for or complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and take all other measures possible under international law, including considering the withdrawal of diplomatic recognition, until Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian territory and fulfills its obligations as a Member State of the UN.
