Robert Destro, US Assistant Secretary of State for "Democracy, Human Rights and Labor" said on Wednesday / March 11, 2020, that the administration of President Donald Trump raised the issue of Israel´s demolition of Palestinian homes, "and whether that It causes a violation of human rights. "
"What I can tell you is that we are interfering with every country when we consider that there are human rights violations that exist," Destro said in response to a question from him, "Jerusalem", regarding the significant rise in the demolitions of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian homes during the past 14 months in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. ".
"Now, with regard to Israel (here in the report), I think the best way to respond is that the United States is actively interfering with Israel whenever it sees a serious human rights problem. We have expressed our views regarding discrimination (that it engages in)," Destro added. Israel vs. the Palestinians) It seems ... Regarding whether or not house demolition is a major human rights problem, these are issues that we will raise with the government of Israel, and I am sure we have done so. "
It is noteworthy that Destro was accompanying US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the press briefing room Wednesday / March 11, 2020 when the minister revealed the annual Human Rights Report (issued by the US Department of State each year) for 2019.
In its latest report on human rights in the world announced on Wednesday, the US State Department changed its usual characterization of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem from "the Palestinian population" in the city to "non-Israeli citizens."
This definition applies to the vast majority of the Palestinians of occupied Jerusalem, who number more than 340,000.
The Palestinians are seeking to make occupied Jerusalem, including the Old City, with its holy sites, the capital of an independent Palestinian state, knowing that the world considers Jerusalem and the West Bank occupied lands from which Israel must exit.
Palestinians in Jerusalem hold Israeli residence permits, but few of them hold the citizenship of Israel, of which all of Jerusalem is its eternal and indivisible capital.
More than 500,000 Israelis reside in occupied Jerusalem.
The change in the new American characterization comes amid increasing squabbles around the city in the wake of the publication of US President Donald Trump´s peace plan known as the "Deal of the Century" that sees "Jerusalem remain the sovereign capital of the State of Israel" in any peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel.
It is noteworthy that the US State Department report in 2017 and 2018 referred to the Palestinians of Jerusalem as "the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem."
For their part, the Palestinians renewed their rejection of the American plans to pass the "Deal of the Century" plan, the most recent of which was the replacement of the American State Department with the definition of Palestinian citizens in occupied Jerusalem, to the status of "Arab residents", where the Palestinian presidency confirmed that this plan is a forgery of history.
"Any attempt to falsify history and the truth will not give legitimacy to anyone, nor will it change the history of the Palestinian Jerusalemite people," Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in his response to the US State Department report.
He emphasized that this report constitutes another failed attempt by the American administration to implement the "dead-century deal", which is rejected by the Palestinians, Arabs, and internationals, stressing that "it is not permissible to tamper with the rules of international law and international legitimacy resolutions, which all affirmed that Jerusalem is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory in the year of 1967 ".
He stressed that the US policy blindly biased in favor of the occupation represents a challenge to the UN Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution No. 2334, and the United Nations General Assembly resolution passed on December 23, 2016.
He pointed out that the US administration’s continued desperate attempts "will not bring peace, security and stability to anyone, nor will they harm the Palestinian people and their leadership, who are able to thwart this conspiracy as they have failed all previous conspiracies."
