Ashrawi: Trump administration is a threat to international peace and security

H anan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the US administration is a threat to ...

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the US administration is a threat to international peace and security.


"The announcement made by US Secretary of State has no legal validity," said Ashrawi in a statement commenting on Secretary Mike Pompeo saying the US no longer considers the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as violating international law.

"The US neither has the right nor agency to rewrite international law and deface the rules-based international order based on its perverse ideological leanings," said Ashrawi. "Israeli settlements are a grave violation of international law, including international humanitarian law. They also constitute a war crime according to the Rome Statute. These are solid facts that the Trump administration cannot alter or unravel."

The PLO official said that the Pompeo announcement "reaffirms Palestine's assessment that the Trump administration is a threat to international peace and security because it is a partner in Israeli crimes and provides political cover for its pervasive violations. This administration is a threat the international community must confront with consistency and moral clarity."

She said the Palestinian leadership "will continue to pursue justice and redress through all available legal and political avenues. Palestine remains solidly committed to international law and at the forefront of defending the values and principles for which it stands. It is time for responsible states to take collective action that rises to the level of threat this administration's lawlessness presents to the world."