PLO official calls on the world to treat "settlers" as terrorists, war criminals

At a speech in Bloemfontien, South Africa for "Israel Apartheid Week" in March, PLO ambassador Hashem Dajani outlined a number of initiatives to pressure Israel diplomatically.

These initiatives were, for the most part, things we have heard from the PLO for years - recognize them as a state, pressure Israel to stop any building for Jews in "east" Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, unconditional release of all Palestinian terrorists from prison, end the "illegal blockade" on Gaza, and to stop Jews from visiting the Temple Mount ("violations against holy places.")

But it looks like Dajani floated a new idea as well, which is almost certainly part of a strategy by the PLO.

Reading from a prepared text, Dajani demanded, "Terrorist settlers must be considered as war criminals, and should be prevented from entering all countries of the world." He then added, "I think that, at a minimum, friendly countries who support Palestinian rights of self-determination or who recognize the state of Palestine...can help us with this issue. Just put more pressure on the Israeli government not to allow these criminals to enter their states, just because they are criminals."




There is no basis in international law to consider Jews who move to Judea and Samaria to be committing a crime. The usual basis given to describe the settlements as illegal comes from a purposeful misreading of the Geneva Conventions, but even that cannot be interpreted as saying that the "settlers" themselves are doing anything illegal.

Expect to see this idea floated in other forums. The PLO knows that no Western government at this time wants to appear to be "pro-settlement" and therefore they are unlikely to push back against a call for illegal discrimination against Israeli Jews (and only Jews!) based on where they choose to live.

The entire speech can be seen here. It was not reported anywhere as far as I can tell.

(h/t SpotlightingSA)

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