GENEVA, Tuesday, 19 November 2019 (WAFA) – International rights groups denounced in separate statements the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the US no longer considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be inconsistent with international law.
The Geneva-based Euromed Monitor said it “strongly condemns this decision, which stands in flagrant violation with International Law and International Humanitarian Law, particularly article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which stipulates that ‘Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive’.”
Furthermore, it added, “we assert that Israeli settlements not only violate international law, but as a matter of fact remain a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
Euromed said the Trump Administration‘s announcement will essentially change nothing in the international illegality of settlement activities as the US has no mandate or agency to write off international law or alter global consensus.
It commended the immediate response of the European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on the US announcement, where she reaffirmed the EU‘s position on all Israeli settlement activity as illegal under international law and erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace.
“We call on the EU to take further steps not only to maintain the viability of the two-state solution, but to genuinely advance a conclusion to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, including banning settlement products from EU markets in compliance with international law and to repudiate the US latest announcement,” it added.
“We also call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to immediately release the UN database of companies operating in Israeli settlements. This retribution is most essential to curb the US and Israel‘s serious unilateral assault on the peace process and defend the long-established international order. Doing otherwise may render idle parties complicit in the erosion of chances for peace."
Amnesty International also said in a tweet that the US announcement “does not and will not change the law which is crystal clear: the construction and maintenance of settlements in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, breaches international law and amounts to war crimes.”
It added, “The United States government announced to the rest of the world that it believes the US and Israel are above the law: that Israel can continue to violate international law and Palestinians’ human rights and the US will firmly support it in doing so.”
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in a statement, “The US administration is wrong. It cannot change international law based on political whim.”
It added: “It is not only wrong on the law, but also on the impact it will have on Palestinians. Illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land continue to result in dispossession, forcible transfer and impoverishment of Palestinians. We see the impact of this daily in our work at the Norwegian Refugee Council – families forced from their homes, subjected to violence, their schools destroyed.”
NRC said, “Now is the time for other nations, the UN and ICRC to step up, and challenge the US to stand for justice and promote peace.”
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