PLO insults US for ignoring Palestinian misery, pre-Israel, anti-ICC prejudice

PLO insults US for ignoring Palestinian misery, pre-Israel, anti-ICC prejudice

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Palestinians have accused the Biden administration of ignoring their suffering because of the bias of investigating the International Criminal Court’s war crimes against Israel’s actions in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The US “has completely ignored the legitimate rights of the Palestinians to have a viable state, while the Israeli occupying state continues to annex large parts of the Palestinian territory in an attempt to undermine the so-called two-state solution,” Tayseer Khaled said. member of the executive committee of the PLO Saturday.

Khaled specifically referred to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech on foreign policy last week, in which he said that Palestinian suffering was completely ignored.

“Blinken did not even mention a word about the suffering that the Palestinian people are experiencing under occupation, nor anything about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and its impact on security and stability in the region,” he said.

“This confirms that the new US government is not paying any attention to reviewing the Trump administration’s destructive policies,” Khaled said.

Blinken did not mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his important policy speech last week. Similarly, the Biden Government’s Interim Strategic Guide, published last week, set out a strategy in the Middle East that speaks of Israel, but not of the Palestinians.

A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah also expressed disappointment with the Biden government for opposing ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s decision to investigate war crimes over the actions of Israelis and Palestinians last week.

The Palestinian Authority has requested the investigation and the assumption is that the focus will be on Israel.

“We were hoping that the Biden government would adopt a policy that differs from that of the Trump administration,” the official said. ‘But this government has shown that it is also biased in favor of Israel. This position [by the Biden administration] will have a negative impact on efforts to resume the peace process. The Palestinian leadership is disappointed. ”

LAST WEEK, Blinken said Washington “strongly opposes and is deeply disappointed” by the ICC ruling. “The Palestinians do not qualify as a sovereign state and are therefore not competent to acquire membership as a state in, participate in a state in, or to delegate jurisdiction to the ICC,” Blinken said. “The ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter,” he said. “Israel is not a party to the ICC and has not agreed to the jurisdiction of the court, and we have serious concerns about the ICC’s efforts to to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel. “

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called the statement disgraceful, saying it “encourages the occupation to commit more crimes and transgressions, and blames Washington for the aggression against the Palestinian people.”

The Hamas spokesman added: “This position by the US government places the occupation above international law and outside the scope of international liability, and provides cover for the criminal actions of the occupation, which are fueling the conflict in the region.”

In Washington last week, a US State Department spokesman, Ned Price, asked: “Given your position on the Palestinians, where should the Palestinians go to be held accountable for what they believe are problems?” For Israeli courts? Where are they going? ”

He repeated the question several times without getting a clear answer.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the government’s opposition to the ICC inquiry in a telephone conversation she had with Benjamin Netanyahu late Thursday night.

“Harris has expressed the US government’s full opposition to the decision of the ICC prosecutor in The Hague,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement after the call.

The conversation took place as Israel continued to seek support in its fight against the ICC decision.

Last week, Defense Minister Benny Gantz reached out to his German counterpart, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, and the French military, Florence Parly.

‘I spoke to my counterparts in Germany, @akk and France, @florence_parly, tonight about the ICC decision and expressed our conviction that it is a politically motivated move that is likely to undermine the ability of democracies to defend themselves . terrorism, ”Gantz tweeted.

“I reiterate that Israel has a strong and sound legal system capable of independently investigating any allegations of violations of international law,” he added.

Earlier in the ICC proceedings, seven countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Australia, Brazil and Uganda – had submitted orders arguing that the court had no jurisdiction. Canada has also spoken out against ICC jurisdiction in the past.

The Hungarian government said on Friday that it had “always challenged the court’s ruling that the territorial scope of its jurisdiction extends to Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

It adds that ‘Hungary is still a strong supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself. We wholeheartedly believe that lasting peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties on the basis of mutual respect. However, the decision of the ICC does not take us any closer to this. ”

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