Al Mezan Center For Human Rights published a press release stating that the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC), the Palestinian Coalition for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ADALAH), and the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) condemn as a gross misrepresentation of international law.

The recent statement by the Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mike Pompeo, that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) are “not per se inconsistent with international law.”

Secretary Pompeo’s unwarranted statement is premised on a calculated misrepresentation of well-established and recognized international law, with the intention of rubber-stamping Israel’s unlawful acquisition of territory in the West Bank through the use of force, and prolonged military occupation, in flagrant disregard of principles of international law.

PHROC, ADALAH, and PNGO urge the United States, and the international community, to recognize the rights of Palestinians to self-determination, to take immediate action to prevent the proliferation of the illegal Israeli settlements and annexation of the Jordan Valley, through the implementation of effective countermeasures.

Israeli policies in the OPT, including the de facto annexation, the denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the existence of segregation amounting to an ‘apartheid’ system, are all violations of basic norms of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and are considered internationally wrongful acts of a serious nature which elicit third state obligations under international law.

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Photo credit: PNN
Edited for IMEMC: Ali Salam