RAMALLAH, Wednesday, October 28, 2020 (WAFA) – The administration of US President Donald Trump is preempting US elections by recognizing Israeli annexation of the West Bank, today said Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
“The agreement between Israel and the United States to gut all mention of the 1967 borders out of bilateral cooperation agreements between the two countries is a blatant unlawful act,” said Ashrawi in a statement.
“Extending US funding to the occupied West Bank, including illegal Israeli settlements, is a clear recognition of Israel´s annexation of Palestinian territory,” she added. “This upgrades the Trump administration’s involvement in Israeli war crimes to active and willful participation.”
The PLO official accused the Trump administration of funding Israel’s colonization of Palestinian land and dispossession of its people with US taxpayer dollars.
“The U.S. administration and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government are scurrying to bring about this de facto recognition of Israeli annexation at the eleventh hour. In a mad rush to provide Israel with deliverables before January 2021, including normalization, economic benefits, and endorsement of annexation, the Trump administration thinks it can deliver Palestine to Israel on a silver platter,” said Ashrawi.
“It is rewarding Israel with recognition of annexation in advance.”
Ashrawi said the Trump administration is pre-empting election results to bring its policy to its natural conclusion. “For this administration, the goal has always been facilitating and legitimizing annexation,” she said.
“This agreement is an assault on the basic principles of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, including 2334 (2016). The world is on notice: Israel and the US are upending international law by legitimizing annexation and aggression.
“This must be a wake-up call to the European Union and individual European States. Instead of contemplating an upgrade in EU-Israeli cooperation as a reward for a blatant lie, the European Union must show moral and legal leadership and hold Israel accountable for its crimes,” said Ashrawi.
“Realities resulting from illegal actions are null and void,” she added. “This agreement neither diminishes fundamental Palestinian rights nor changes the Palestinian people’s rightful demand for freedom. We will not relent or surrender to this partnership of aggression.”
M.K.
