The US State Department described East Jerusalem Palestinians as “Arab residents” or “non-Israeli citizens” in an annual global human rights report released on Wednesday, changing from the previously used “Palestinian residents” description.
In a report published last year, the State Department described East Jerusalem Palestinians as “Palestinian residents of Jerusalem” in sections on civil judicial procedures, discrimination, and freedom of movement, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
In the Name of "#Israel’s Security": Retreating US Gives Israel Billions More in Military Funding – https://t.co/VJCX2hZFkz via @commondreams #Palestine #Politics #Trump #Netanyahu
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) January 25, 2020
However, this year’s annual report has changed the term to “Arab residents” or “non-Israeli citizens” in those same sections.
The change in terminology prompted criticism from Palestinians, who have accused the Trump administration of being overtly favorable to Israel since the US recognized Jerusalem as the so-called capital of Israel.
“Palestinian Jerusalemites are Palestinians, and they’ve been living there for centuries,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official who herself holds a Jerusalem residency permit.
“Just to decide this, to eradicate their identity and history and culture and rename them at will, is not only preposterous, it’s unconscionable,” Ashrawi said.
The US State Department is changing its standard description of East #Jerusalem Palestinians from “Palestinian residents” of the city to “Arab residents” or “non-Israeli citizens,” according to an annual global human rights report it released.https://t.co/a5gygENC6A
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) March 12, 2020
After unilaterally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and its annexation of the Golan from Syria in March 2019, Trump in late January 2020 unveiled a peace plan for the Middle East that included many concessions to Israel.
“US relations with Israel are not governed by the kind of political wisdom that is predicated on mutual benefit,” Palestinian journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle wrote in a recent article.
“But they are not entirely irrational either, as the American ruling classes have aligned their interests, their perception of the Middle East and their country’s role in that region with that of Israel, thanks to years of media and official indoctrination,” Baroud added.
(Palestine Chronicle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Social Media)
