According to Hebrew-language news outlets, the US dropped from its annual report on the human rights situation any reference to the Palestinian territories or the Syrian Golan Heights as “occupied territories” as it used to be mentioned in former reports.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that the US decision to drop the status of occupation from the Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights is “a continuation of the hostile approach of the American administration toward our Palestinian people and is contrary to all UN resolutions.”
Palestine has blasted the United States for omitting the term “occupation” in describing the Israeli-occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories, saying the “hostile” move will not change the established reality.https://t.co/HW7xKVEcLi
— Press TV UK (@Presstvuk) March 14, 2019
He stressed,
“These American titles will not change the fact that the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and the occupied Arab Golan are territories under Israeli occupation in accordance with UN resolutions and international law.”
It is noteworthy that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been boycotting the US administration since December 2017 when US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and then moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018.
The new United States’ announcement that dropping the term “occupation” from the occupied Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights will not change the fact they are occupied territories as deemed by the United Nations and international law.
— Dr. Raed Eottol (@aaraed) March 14, 2019
Following recent tensions and the US Trump administration’s undeniable support for Israel has prompted the Palestinians to cut communication with the US and declared it unfit to be a mediator during the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
