Ashrawi: Settlement is a war crime and Trump administration threatens international peace

Occupied al-Quds, (ST) – Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hanan Ashrawi, affirmed that the US declaration on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories shows that the US administration is a threat to international peace and security.

“The United States has no right to rewrite international law and distort the existing international system based on its distorted ideological tendencies,” Ashrawi said in a statement carried by Wafa.

“Israeli settlements constitute a serious violation of international law, including international humanitarian law, and are a war crime under the Rome Statute. These are facts and assumptions that the Trump administration cannot change or erase,” Ashrawi said.

Ashrawi pointed out that this declaration reaffirms that the Trump administration is a threat to international peace and security and that it is a partner in the crimes of the Israeli occupation and provides political cover for its escalating violations, stressing the need for the international community to take a unified position in face of the danger posed by the American administration’s policy towards the international system.

US Declaration on Settlements Contrary to international law, says Fatah

On the other hand, Fatah affirmed that the US declaration on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is condemned, rejected and contrary to international law and legitimacy.

The movement’s spokesman, Osama al-Qawasmi, was quoted as saying that US President Donald Trump is seeking to abolish international law and the United Nations, adding that an overwhelming vote in the UN General Assembly in favor of renewing the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is clear evidence of the international isolation of the United States.

Al-Qawasmi stressed that the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their adherence to the resistance and national rights will fail all the conspiracies aimed at liquidating its cause.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated yesterday the United States’ blatant bias towards the Israeli occupation entity, declaring that the US administration does not consider the Israeli settlements as incompatible with international law, ignoring all international resolutions, especially Security Council resolution 2334 of 2016, which demands the occupation to stop immediately all settlement operations on the land of Occupied Palestinian territories.

Raghda Sawas