In a report issued this week Amnesty International asked, "What Happened to Human Rights for Palestinians?" Amnesty chief Agnès Callamard and Human Rights Watch director Federico Borello accused the US of trying to dismantle the international justice system which emerged after the horrors of World War II by imposing sanctions on three major Palestinian human rights organisations, Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Centre, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

 

Established in 1979, Al-Haq has documented violations in occupied Gaza and the West Bank, Al-Mezan Centre has reported laws of war violations in Gaza, and the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has provided legal aid to Palestinians accused of crimes by Israel. It is ironic that the PCHR has been sanctioned as it was the recipient of the Robert F Kennedy award which honours individuals, notably PCHR founder Raji Sourani in 1991, who have "fought for human rights at great personal risk." It is also striking that a Palestinian rights organisation should be chosen because Kennedy was assassinated by Palestinian refugee Sirhan Sirhan in 1968 after expressing full support to Israel after the conquest of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

 

These sanctions belong to a Trump administration campaign against individuals and organisations supporting justice for Palestinians. The stated reason for the latest sanctions was that the three groups had helped the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its probe of Israel “without Israel’s consent.” This is nonsense because no state under ICC investigation is likely to give "consent," and certainly not Israel which was founded and maintained by war on Palestinian territory and at the expense of Palestinians, their freedom and independence.

 

The US government has previously sanctioned ICC officials who have investigated allegations of serious crimes by Israeli forces in Gaza and have issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The Trump administration has sanctioned ICC prosecutor, deputy prosecutors and six judges, under-mining its independence. Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Gaza and the West Bank, has also had bank accounts in the US frozen and her entry to the US denied.

 

In addition to harm done to the Palestinians, the Trump administration has cut funding to the UN and disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council. Trump has dramatically reduced US foreign aid and cut assistance to all refugees.

 

Trump has also failed to press for Israeli and Hamas implementation of his own peace plan put forward at the end of September. This includes a ceasefire, an end to the war, a strong flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its reconstruction.

 

Once both sides agreed, hostilities were supposed to be suspended and the war to be ended. However, Israel has not halted air raids, artillery attacks and military incursions while Hamas has claimed it has committed no violations. Israel has killed more than 226 people, including 97 children, and wounded 594. Israel has demolished civilian homes, arrested more than 29 Palestinians, maintained the closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, and allowed only 145 trucks loaded with supplies to enter Gaza daily instead of 600, including 50 with fuel. Only around 10 per cent of essential and urgently needed medical supplies and heavy machinery needed to clear rubble have been permitted to enter Gaza. The transitional authority comprised of respected Palestinians and the "board of peace" made up international figures, including ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have not been formed. Parties involved in negotiations over the post-war management of Gaza have not created an international stabilisation force or defined its role. Potential troops contributors have called for this force to be sponsored by the United Nations.

 

It is impossible to rely on Trump ahead of Tuesday’s mid-term elections in the US at a time his personal disapproval rating has reached 63 per cent, the highest number in both his terms in office. Fifty-six per cent said his foreign policies have damaged US global standing.