OPT: US veto undermines enforcement of international law | Mike Hitchen Online: i On Global Trends - news, opinion, analysis

19.2.11

OPT: US veto undermines enforcement of international law | Mike Hitchen Online: i On Global Trends - news, opinion, analysis: "Resolution Seeks End to Illegal Promotion of Settlements in Occupied West Bank
(New York) - The US veto of a proposed United Nations Security Council Resolution calling upon Israel to end illegal policies that promote settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, undermines enforcement of international law, Human Rights Watch said today. The Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a party, prohibit the transfer of a country's civilian population into territory it occupies.

'President Obama wants to tell the Arab world in his speeches that he opposes settlements, but he won't let the Security Council tell Israel to stop them in a legally binding way,' said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch."