Demand Protection: Settlements are War Crime

this article was postes originally HERE by BetheChange.Info

No more Vetoes!

Especially on Settlements for they are War Crimes

#ObamaDontVetoPalestine

The United States used its veto in 2011 to block a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements, and it also rejected a direct UN role in the peace process.

This has had punishing consequences for the Palestinian people who live within the illegally occupied territories and illegitimately blockaded Gaza.

By vetoing the 2011 settlement resolution, Israel has been able to escalate its criminal acts that continue to violate international law, rules of armed conflict and respect for human rights against the Palestinian people.

Under the Rome Statute, settlements in occupied territories are a war crime.

The responsibility is on the United Nations with regard to Palestine in all its aspects in accordance to international law that after 68 years of resolutions, must be mitigated immediately:

77+ resolutions against Israel on ethnic cleansing, occupation and war on Palestine have amounted to nothing.

The United States as a permanent member of the UN Security Council must use its power to protect Palestine and its unarmed civilians; as articulated by the laws, resolutions, reports and legal opinions provided below.

Law on illegality of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem
Settlements are War Crimes	Rome Statute	Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the International Criminal Court Rome Statute defines “[t]he transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” as a war crime.
International law no longer recognizes that a state could acquire title to territory by conquest (1922).	SECURITY COUNCIL S/RES/242 (Document) November 22 1967 The situation in the Middle East Re: Principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war	Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations requires all members to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations The Security Council cannot create loopholes in peremptory norms of international law or the UN Charter, and that any use of indefinite language has to be interpreted in line with the overriding legal principles regarding the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and the prohibitions on mass deportations or displacement in connection with the settlement of the refugee problem
Right to Self-Determination Equal Rights		UN Charter Principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples is among the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations
Law on occupation and illegal settlements	International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 12 August 1949 CONVENTION (IV) RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS IN TIME OF WAR	The applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem U.N.T.S. No. 973, Vol. 75, p. 287 Article 2 states that signatories are bound by the convention both in war & armed conflicts where war has not been declared, and in an occupation of another country’s territory Article 49 states that the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies
UN Resolutions affirming the illegality of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem
General Assembly A/RES/70/154December 2015	Resolutionadopted by the General Assembly on 24 November 2015 70/15. Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine	Reaffirming the illegality of the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem Encouraging all States and international organizations to continue to actively pursue policies to ensure respect for their obligations under international law with regard to all illegal Israeli practices and measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly Israeli settlements Gravely concerned over the negative developments that have continued to occur in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including the escalation of violence and any excessive use of force, resulting in a large number of deaths and injuries, mostly among Palestinian civilians, including children and women, the construction and expansion of settlements and the wall, the arbitrary arrest and detention of more Palestinian civilians, the acts of violence, vandalism and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the widespread destruction of public and private Palestinian property, including religious sites, and infrastructure and including the demolition of homes, including if carried out as a means of collective punishment, the internal forced displacement of civilians, especially among the Bedouin community, and the consequent deterioration of the socioeconomic and humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian people
Security Council resolutions that include call Israeli settlements to be in violation of international law	242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 338 (1973) of 22 October 1973 1397 (2002) of 12 March 2002 1515 (2003) of 19 November 2003 1544 (2004) of 19 May 2004 1850 (2008) of 16 December 2008
General Assembly A/RES/58/292May 2004	58/292 of 6 May 2004	Status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem Reaffirming the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force Affirms that the status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, remains one of military occupation, and affirms, in accordance with the rules and principles of international law and relevant resolutions of the United Nations, including Security Council resolutions, that the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and to sovereignty over their territory and that Israel, the occupying Power, has only the duties and obligations of an occupying Power under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949 1 and the Regulations annexed to the Hague Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, of 1907 Expresses its determination to contribute to the achievement of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the attainment of a just and comprehensive negotiated peace settlement in the Middle East resulting in two viable, sovereign and independent States, Israel and Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders and living side by side in peace and security
Security Council Resolution 446 22 March 1979		The issue of Israeli settlementsin the “Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem”
General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV) 24 October 1970	“The Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States”	Reiterating the importance of maintaining and strengthening international peace founded upon freedom, equality, justice and respect for fundamental human rights and of developing friendly relations among nations irrespective of their political, economic and social systems or the level of their development
General Assembly A/RES/181(II) 29 November 1947	Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine	That it is now 68 years since the adoption of resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 and 48 years since the occupation of Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, in 1967 and nothing has been resolved.
General Assembly Security CouncilA/70/354S/2015/677 1 September 2015	Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine Report of the Secretary-General submitted pursuant to the request made in resolution 69/23 of 25 November 2014	“Israel’s violations include, inter alia, continuation of its illegal settlement campaign in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, involving land confiscation, construction of settlements, the annexation wall, Israeli-only by-pass roads and other related infrastructure and the transfer of more Israeli settlers, as well as its military campaign against the Palestinian people, including the 2014 war on Gaza and daily military raids in the West Bank, causing death and injury to Palestinian civilians; destruction of Palestinian homes and property; forced displacement of Palestinians, particularly Bedouin families; exploitation of natural resources, including water; daily arrest raids, resulting in imprisonment and administrative detention of over 6,000 Palestinians, who are enduring inhumane conditions, abuse and torture at the hands of the occupier; policies aiding and abetting settler terror and violence against Palestinian civilians and destruction of property, including agricultural lands and Muslim and Christian holy sites; the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip in collective punishment of the 1.8 million Palestinians there and strangulation of the economy and innumerable other measures of collective punishment against the Palestinian people, all in breach of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, relevant United Nations resolutions and the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and in violation of provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Reports and legal opinions confirming illegality of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem
Advisory opinion rendered on 9 July 2004	International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and recalling also its resolutions ES-10/15 of 20 July 2004 and ES-10/17 of 15 December 2006	Recalling in particular relevant United Nations resolutions affirming that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and an obstacle to peace and to economic and social development as well as those demanding the complete cessation of settlement activities Settlements established by Israel in breach of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Construction of the wall and its associated régime create a “fait accompli” on the ground that could well become permanent Risk of situation tantamount to de facto annexation Construction of the wall severely impedes the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination and is therefore a breach of Israel’s obligation to respect that right
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)	Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, 5 December 2001	ICRC holds that the establishment of Israeli settlements violate Fourth Geneva Convention The ICRC also holds that the displacement of Palestinians that may occur due to the settlements also violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
General Assembly A/RES/70/154December 2015		Extreme and detrimental impact of Israeli settlement policies, decisions and activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including on the contiguity, integrity and viability of the Territory, the viability of the two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders and the efforts to advance a peaceful settlement in the Middle East