AMP condemns Pompeo announcements on Israeli settlements, BDS

AMP strongly condemns today's moves by the State Department to legitimize illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, to further fragment Palestine by dividing the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, and to delegitimize the nonviolent Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's directive to issue new guidelines to allow products from illegal Israeli settlements to be designated as being "Made in Israel" sets the stage for US recognition of further de jure Israeli annexation of West Bank lands already green lighted in the Trump administration's so-called "deal of the century." 

In addition, his severing of the West Bank and Gaza Strip country of origin labeling requirements is designed to further fragment the Palestinian people and upend decades of US policy which treated both occupied Palestinian territories as one integral territorial unit.

Finally, Pompeo's directive to cut off US funding to foreign organizations supporting BDS campaigns is designed to hamper both Palestinian and other foreign nongovernmental organizations from acting nonviolently in support of Palestinian people's long-denied quest for justice, freedom, and equality in the face of Israel's separate-and-unequal policies.