November 19, 2019, New York – In response to the Trump Administration’s announcement that it will reject well established, clear and unambiguous international legal standards recognizing the illegality of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement.
Like its radical decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the latest Trump administration decision reflects its total alignment with the Israeli government’s long-standing and racist aspirations to steal Palestinian land in service of Israeli profit and nativist ideology. This is a naked violation of basic international human rights and humanitarian law. The military theft and occupation of Palestinian land is a war crime—as measured by norms established in Nuremburg to prevent again the horrors of German occupation of other European states—as well as a crime against humanity; it is part of a systematic project to erase Palestinians, legally and physically. Two days after pardoning war criminals, Donald Trump again demonstrates that he, himself, as well as his obsequious Secretary of State, Pompeo, and his closest ally Netanyahu, are themselves war criminals.
We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian partners and the global human rights community in condemning this latest act of lawlessness.
The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org.