US veto effectively gives Israel “green light” to expand illegal settlements

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Written by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Published: 22 February 2011 22 February 2011

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
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AI Index: MDE 15/015/2011

22 February 2011


US veto effectively gives Israel “green light” to expand illegal settlements

Amnesty International has condemned the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution reaffirming that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are illegal and demanding that Israel cease all settlement activities in the OPT, including East Jerusalem.

The other 14 members of the UN Security Council voted in favour of Resolution S/2011/24 on 18 February 2011, which was proposed by Lebanon and co-sponsored by over 120 countries.

US Ambassador Susan E. Rice stated during the debate on the resolution that the US government “reject[s] in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity.” However, she argued that the resolution would not “move the parties closer to negotiations and an agreement” and risked “hardening the positions of both sides.” Other US officials have maintained recently that the Security Council is not the right forum to address the settlements issue at a time when the US government is attempting to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

As the UN’s most powerful body, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for dealing with threats to international peace and security caused by activities such as Israeli settlement expansion in the OPT.

Amnesty International notes that the US veto of this resolution – which merely demanded that Israel fulfil its legal obligations and previous commitments to the Quartet and the US government – seriously undermines the US government’s claims to oppose Israel’s ongoing settlement construction.

The Israeli government has indicated that it seeks to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with further construction plans due to be considered in the coming months. Amnesty International is concerned that the Israeli government will interpret this US veto as a “green light” for these plans and conclude that it can escape meaningful international censure.

Israel’s policy of settling its civilians on occupied land violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, and is considered a war crime according to the statute of the International Criminal Court.

Israel’s settlement policy is also inherently discriminatory and results in continuing violations of the rights to adequate housing, water and livelihoods for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, as Amnesty International has repeatedly documented.

Reported US government attempts to pressure the Palestinian Authority not to bring this resolution to a vote at the UN Security Council, including threats to cut US aid, are also troubling. If the Obama administration is serious about promoting a lasting, just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it should fully back the international consensus against Israel’s illegal settlements and the human rights violations that result from them.

Further information

Following the vote on Friday, other permanent members of the UN Security Council including the UK and Russia expressed strong support for the resolution, and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton expressed regret that the resolution was not passed.

Both the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas de facto administration condemned the US vote against the resolution, which was the first time that the Obama administration has used its UN Security Council veto. Protests were held in several West Bank cities on 20 February 2011, and the Palestinian Authority indicated its intention to take the issue of settlements to the UN General Assembly, possibly by calling an emergency session this week. 




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East Mediterranean Team
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
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PROTEST! OREGON: DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH APARTHEID!

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Written by AUPHR AUPHR

Published: 22 February 2011 22 February 2011

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With settlement resolution veto, Obama has joined Likud

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Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy

Published: 21 February 2011 21 February 2011

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An America that understands that the settlements are the obstacle should have joined in condemning them.


This weekend, a new member enrolled in Likud - and not just in the ruling party, but in its most hawkish wing. Located somewhere between Tzipi Hotovely and Danny Danon, U.S. President Barack Obama bypassed Dan Meridor and Michael Eitan on the right and weakened their position.

The first veto cast by the United States during Obama's term, a veto he promised in vain not to use as his predecessors did, was a veto against the chance and promise of change, a veto against hope. This is a veto that is not friendly to Israel; it supports the settlers and the Israeli right, and them alone.

The excuses of the American ambassador to the UN won't help, and neither will the words of thanks from the Prime Minister's Office: This is a step that is nothing less than hostile to Israel. America, which Israel depends on more than ever, said yes to settlements. That is the one and only meaning of its decision, and in so doing, it supported the enterprise most damaging to Israel.

Moreover, it did so at a time when winds of change are blowing in the Middle East. A promise of change was heard from America, but instead, it continued with its automatic responses and its blind support of Israel's settlement building. This is not an America that will be able to change its standing among the peoples of the region. And Israel, an international pariah, once again found itself supported only by America.

Read more: With settlement resolution veto, Obama has joined Likud

Kulongoski Criticized for Dealing with Israel

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Written by Salem-News.com Salem-News.com

Published: 21 February 2011 21 February 2011

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Portland activist groups say Kulongoski is wrong to ignore Israel's human rights violations.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Several human rights groups, including Portland State's own SUPER (Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights), have recently criticized Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski for conducting business with Israel despite the nation-state's ongoing human rights violations.

"Israel has dozens of laws that privilege Jewish citizens over non-Jewish citizens," Miller said. "Racism against non-Jews is institutional and in the open."

On the 27th of Oct., Kulongoski signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Oregon and the State of Israel "to develop and strengthen economic, industrial, technological and commercial cooperation between [them]," according to the governor's press release.

In response, the organization Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR) composed an open letter to the governor, titled "The Moral Implications of Doing Business with Israel."

This letter outlines the organization's grievances with Israel, which subsume both Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands and its systematic discrimination against Palestinian citizens.

Although Kulongoski declined to meet with AUPHR, Jodi Sherwood, deputy communications director for the governor, sent an e-mail to AUPHR member Peter Miller.

"The Governor believes that the Memorandum is in the best interest of the people of Oregon. Israel is a strong and democratic friend of Oregon and the United States," Sherwood said in the e-mail.

"This agreement will build on our existing trade relationship with Israel, open up new opportunities to share information and foster commercial ties in areas that are vital to Oregon's economic future."

However, SUPER President Wael Elasady said that there is a precedent for Oregon to refuse to do business with states that violate international law, namely, Oregon's "Sudan Divestment Legislation" that arose from growing concern over Sudan's genocide.

According to Miller, Israel routinely violates the rights of Palestinians by enforcing racist domestic policies that confer second-class citizenship status upon its Palestinian population. This is true for both the Palestinians who reside within Israel and those who reside in the Occupied Territories: the West Bank, Gaza and Arab East Jerusalem.

"Israel has dozens of laws that privilege Jewish citizens over non-Jewish citizens," Miller said. "Racism against non-Jews is institutional and in the open."

Israel's institutional racism against Palestinians, according to Miller, extends from unequal access to housing and government jobs to limited access to water and the possibility of being jailed indefinitely without due process.

According to Elasady, human rights groups like SUPER and AUPHR make three basic demands of Israel.

First, Israel must end its occupation of Palestinian lands. Second, it must end the second-class citizenship status of Palestinians. Third, it must honor the "right of return" of displaced first-generation Palestinian refugees and their descendents.

SUPER was co-founded in January of 2009 by PSU students Wadah Sofan and Elasady, a student of international studies focusing on the Middle East.

According to Elasady, SUPER is currently working on raising awareness in the PSU community and in Portland at large on the reality of Israel's occupation of Palestine. In addition, the organization is expanding an activist tactic known as a "boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign," in which businesses refuse to carry Israeli products until the nation-state complies with international law.

Elasady said that the campaign is a nonviolent way of placing economic pressure on Israeli society to help abolish Israel's oppressive policies.

Elasady emphasizes that SUPER is "not anti-Israeli."

"[SUPER] advocates for equal and full rights for all people, for both Palestinians and Israelis in that region," he said.

According to Miller, every American should be conscious of Israel's track record of violations because the U.S. government heavily subsidizes Israel and is, therefore, complicit in Israel's apartheid-like laws and imperialist posture on the world stage.

"The U.S. gives Israel $3 billion in military aid every year," Miller said. "That amounts to about $28 million federal tax dollars leaving the State of Oregon and going to Israel as weapons every year."

Miller added that this figure should concern Oregonians because the state's decision to ignore Israel's crimes comes at great cost to its security interests and to the state's reputation.

Source: News release from: SUPER (Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights)

Kulongoski Criticized for Dealing with Israel

Salem-News.com