Dr. Saeb Erekat: The hostile behavior of the US Administration harms the human rights system

The Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Dr. Saeb Erekat, condemned today the US Administration’s continuous threat infringing on the stability and security of the international system. He criticized targeting and penalizing through financial blackmail and for political interests , the poor countries that stand with the principles of rights and justice. Dr. Erekat stressed that the United States is insisting on  isolating itself from the international community and international law.

The remarks of Dr. Erekat came in response to a memo by United States envoy to the United Nations, Nicky Healy, in which she calls for termination of US aid to countries that do not vote alongside the United States in the United Nations on resolutions pertaining to Israel and the Middle East.

Erekat described this act as hostile and shameful in this 21st century in which a super power blackmails poor countries and nations. He added that "the behavior of the US Administration reminds us of the behavior of the great colonial powers in past centuries that imposed coercion and sanctions on weak nations, but never succeeded in dictating their will on free peoples ".

Erekat stressed that the close cooperation between the American administration and the extreme right in Israel in instigating systematic campaigns against the rights of our people, blackmailing and threatening to cut any assistance to them and to those that support them in international fora,   aiming at subjugating them and consolidating colonialism ,does not only harm American national interests and the American people ,but also represents an insult to the expected US role on the global scene of defending human rights and values of the international community. "

Erekat affirmed that this policy is hypocritical and constitutes a double standard as it applies the principle of selectivity in cutting aid and retribution from countries over others. He added: "The identification by the US representative to the UN of 40 countries to face aid cuts and termination of humanitarian and development programs including schools and training programs and others, will contribute to the instability of the of international security order, nor will it bring any beneficial to the US administration as these countries have stated that “rights are neither sold nor bought. "

Erekat expressed his wishes that the will of the vast majority of the world countries regarding the right of Palestine to sovereignty will be translated into concrete actions to end the occupation and to materialize the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.