By celebrating 50 years for Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, the US Congress is violating international law and makes it complicit to Israeli crimes, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said on Thursday.
Ashrawi was commenting on the joint Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and US Congress event to take place on June 6 to mark 50 years since the occupation of East Jerusalem and what Israel refers to as “reunification” of Jerusalem.
The PLO official strongly condemned the event describing it as “an unprecedented and dangerous move.”
“It is an irrefutable fact that Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem is illegal and in direct contravention of international law, signed agreements and terms of reference of the peace process,” she said in a statement. “No member of the international community, including the United States, recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or condones Israel’s illegal expropriation of Palestinian land and its unlawful settlement enterprise.”
"Has the US changed from a biased supporter to Israel to an accomplice in crime?" -PLO's Hanan Ashrawi-https://t.co/hBjdFVyHpA pic.twitter.com/CTU8uqj0zX
— Daoud Kuttab داود (@daoudkuttab) February 15, 2017
Ashrawi said that “by undertaking such provocative measures, the United States Congress is singularly contravening longstanding American policy and becoming party to Israel’s egregious violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” adding, “This event also means that the US Congress is becoming complicit in Israel’s criminality; what compounds the crime is the fact that lawmakers are supposed to respect the law and legislate in accordance with a global system of justice and human rights.”
She concluded: “The adoption of the ‘two-state solution’ on the 1967 boundaries by the international community is a clear rejection of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza and an affirmation of the Palestinian right to freedom and sovereignty. By going against this consensus, members of the US Congress are jeopardizing American standing, credibility and interests globally.”
(Wafa, PC, Social Media)
