Home Bilateral Relations Official visits Press Statement of Palestine's MOFA about opening the US embassy in Jerusalem

Press Statement of Palestine's MOFA about opening the US embassy in Jerusalem

Tuesday, 15 May 2018 12:43

State of  Palestine

Ministry of  Foreign and Expatriate Affairs

14 May 2018                                                                                                                                                    

Press Statement

Today, the US administration is acting on its arrogance of power and disdain for Palestinian rights, thus reaffirming that it is now part of the problem, not the solution. As the Palestinian people commemorate seventy years since the onset of their Nakba (Catastrophe) of dispossession, denial, and injustice, the US Administration added insult to injury in Jerusalem by defying international law and rejecting UN Security Council resolutions relevant to Palestinian rights, especially in Jerusalem.

The inauguration of the US embassy in occupied Jerusalem is an act of hostility against Palestinian national rights and international law. It is an assault on the standing and integrity of the international order, including the United Nations. Palestine also reaffirms that States that have announced their intention to follow in the illegal footsteps of the US, position themselves in the ranks of States that threaten international law, violate Security Council resolutions, and are thus agents of conflict, not peace.

This action, coupled with other punitive measures targeting the Palestinian people only serve to further embolden Israel, the occupying power, to step up its illegal actions against the Palestinian people. They encourage Israel to make its colonial regime of occupation in Palestine permanent and to violate Palestinian rights with impunity. However, complicity in aggression will not change legal facts. The fate of Jerusalem will not be determined by illegal actions from any state. The fate of Jerusalem will only be determined in line with international law.

The State of Palestine reasserts its right to pursue all available legal and diplomatic avenues to defend Palestinian national rights from all hostile and illegal actions from the United States or any other party.

Equally, the State of Palestine considers the participation of representatives of some countries, including European Union member states, in the inauguration activities an act of hostility against Palestinian rights and international law. Any state that accepts or normalizes the US Administration's move or any similar step adopted by other countries is complicit in undermining the standing of the international order and the legitimacy of international law mechanisms. Palestine will respond to these shameful actions with the appropriate measures.

Jerusalem shall remain the eternal capital of Palestine. The inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem neither alters the legal status of the occupied City, nor legitimizes its illegal annexation by Israel. This is the international consensus.

The Palestinian leadership will continue to pursue all available legal and diplomatic avenues to defend our people’s rights from Israel's entrenched regime of colonization and aggression as well as states that defend and sponsor this regime of oppression. This is also an international responsibility. The international community has an obligation to defend the standing of international law and the integrity of the international order as they relate to Palestine. The rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, freedom, and sovereignty are fundamental and nonnegotiable. States that proclaim to support these inalienable rights must act accordingly.

The State of Palestine will continue to act in line with international law and cooperate with states that share our values to defend the standing of the international law. The current serious challenges have not changed our commitment to the two-state solution, which is the international solution. In the context of self-determination, international law and existing UN resolutions, it is also the Palestinian solution.