Tell Trump to pressure supporters to stop campaigning in Israeli settlements

(WASHINGTON DC 09/21/2016) -- Donald Trump supporters belonging to the group Republicans Overseas Israel  recently opened a campaign office in the Israeli settlement Karnei Shomron in the West Bank and soon will open a second office in the Gush Etzion settlement, according to several published reports. This is the first time a campaign office for any U.S. presidential candidate has been opened in the West Bank. While the Trump campaign is not behind the initiative, the group is in close contact with the residential candidate as well as the Republican National Committee, according to Reuters. 

The illegality of Israeli settlements has been recognized by the international community through United Nations Security Council resolutions and General Assembly, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the International Court of Justice. The United States has long held the position that settlements are illegal. In a statement from July 2015, State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said, "The United States continues to view settlements as illegitimate and we strongly oppose steps to advance construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

Recent reporting shows there are already plans to open a third and fourth office in other settlements. These are in addition to the four Trump campaign offices already in place, including one in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. An estimated 60,000 Americans – 15 percent of the total settler population – live in West Bank settlements, according to a recent study by Oxford University. To put it in perspective, the Trump campaign only has a single field office in the entire state of Florida. Florida is about 66,000 square miles and has 17.9 million citizens, while Israel is about 8,000 square miles and has between 300,000 and 400,000 American citizens, according to the CIA World Factbook. 

This is not the first time the Trump campaign has supported Israeli aggression.  Republicans removed all references to Israel as an occupier at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last July and a Trump advisor told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Trump would support a partial or even a full annexation of West Bank settlements into Israel. This is not only a departure from U.S. policy that has been in place since President Lyndon Johnson, but also a morally appalling regression from it. 

"A Trump administration that further ignores the plight of the Palestinian people and empowers the criminal settlers will undermine the long-claimed role by the U.S as an honest broker, and will hinder efforts to bring peace to the region.” said Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, AMP national policy director. “It sends a clear message that international law is only applicable to the weak. Such reckless policy, if applied, will have long-lasting ramifications on U.S. credibility, our national interests, and to peace and stability in the Middle East. Therefore we call on the Trump campaign to disavow and distance itself from this move by their supporters in the occupied Palestinian territories."