RAMALLAH, Sunday, March 03, 2019 (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said, "The Trump Administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law.”
On the eve of the scheduled merging of the US Consulate in Jerusalem with the US Embassy to Israel, illegally situated in Jerusalem, Hanan Ashrawi issued a statement on behalf of the PLO Executive Committee, stating that merging the US Consulate in Jerusalem with the US Embassy to Israel, which is now illegally located in Jerusalem, is not an administrative decision. It is an act of political assault on Palestinian rights and identity and a negation of the Consulate‘s historic status and function, dating back nearly two hundred years.
The US administration is subsuming Palestine under Israel and aligning itself with the racist Israeli right, which negates Palestinian identity, history, narrative, and national rights, said Ashrawi.
“It is positioning itself with rogue states that have no regard for international law or respect for the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, a founding principle of the international order as we know it. As such, this merger is as much an affront to the international community and the principles of the United Nations Charter as it is an offensive political assault on the Palestinian people, motivated by racism and hostility and driven by a policy of omission and negation of historical and political truths.”
The Palestinian leadership condemns this action unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms, said the statement. “We consider this a willful reinforcement of an irresponsible and hostile US policy that aims to undermine and negate Palestinian national rights and identity by way of political bullying and aggression. These destabilizing actions and policies preclude any possible positive role for the current US administration in seeking peace and stability.”
While the Trump administration is taking concerted steps to deny the United States a positive role in international politics, especially in relation to Palestine, the rest of the international community is taking steps to counter these destructive tendencies, including the near unanimous rejection and condemnation of the illegal US embassy move to Jerusalem. In this regard, the Palestinian leadership welcomes the recent announcement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation of setting up an endowment to ensure the sustainable funding of UNRWA, a United Nations organization the Trump administration has attempted to terminate by way of defunding.
“The policies of the US administration against Palestine and Palestinian rights constitute a threat to international peace security and undermine the standing of the international order. We call on all responsible states and actors to rise to the serious challenge posed by these policies. Defending Palestinian rights, as enshrined and affirmed by international law, is part and parcel of defending the moral, legal, and political standing of international politics. It is a global responsibility," the stamen concluded.
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