ASHRAWI CONDEMNS STATEMENTS BY AUSTRALIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER
Ramallah, 18 Rabi’ul Awwal 1435/20 January 2014 (MINA) – Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi Monday strongly denounced statements by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in which she called for the international community to refrain from labeling settlements illegal under international law.
“I would like to remind the Australian government that in accordance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law, all settlements are illegal,” said Ashrawi in a statement, WAFA quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Bishop recently lashed out on officials and countries of the European Union for trying to pressure Israel into halting its settlement construction and expansion activities in occupied Palestine.
“Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 43 of the Hague Regulations, among other international conventions, explicitly state that Israel is in direct violation of international law with its illegal settlement activities.”
“Moreover, in March 2013, a United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission concluded that Israel has an obligation under international law not to transfer its own population into Palestine.
The report explicitly stated that ‘the Rome Statute establishes the ICC’s jurisdiction over the deportation or transfer, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory,” Ashrawi added.
Ashrawi stressed that Bishop’s statements were a “dangerous shifts in Australian foreign policy positions.”
She said that “Australia’s willful defiance of international consensus send a clear message to both the international community and to the Palestinians that Australia is more committed to supporting Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land than backing any peace resolution that ends the military occupation of Palestine and calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Ashrawi urged the government of Australia to clarify its official position regarding settlements “and to act in accordance with the global rule of law and international consensus.”
“I urge Australian officials to study the articles of International Law”, Dr. Ashrawy stated, “Such policies violate International Law, all principles of justice and human rights”.
Ashrawi called on Australia to join the international community in upholding international law and human rights and in observing 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. .(T/P02/E1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
