Press Releases

Washington D.C. (04-06-2018) H.E. Dr. Husam Zomlot, the head of the PLO General Delegation to the United States, commenting on Israel’s unlawful shooting and killing of Palestinian civilians, including children on Friday (April 6, 2018) during the second week of peaceful protests in Palestine, amounting to over dozens of Palestinians unlawfully killed and hundreds of peaceful protesters indiscriminately shot by Israel since last Friday.

“Until the international community holds Israel accountable for its indiscriminate attacks and unlawful killings of peaceful protestors, the bloodshed will continue” he stated. “The culture of impunity for Israel must end now,” Dr. Zomlot said. 

Zomlot further said that, “the continued killings of Palestinian civilians by Israel could have been avoided if the international community took action last week in the UN Security Council, including forming an international commission of inquiry to send a clear message to Israel that those who commit violations of international law will be brought to justice.”  

Zomlot called for the international protection for the people of Palestine and for the full application of international humanitarian law. “Palestinian lives are not an exception to international law,” he stated. 

He added that, “Israel’s predetermined policy to unlawfully shoot and kill Palestinians that are engaging in their internationally enshrined right to peacefully protest exemplifies the urgency and necessity for the international community, including the United States, to hold Israel to its obligations under international law including the Fourth Geneva Convention.” 

Zomlot concluded that, “despite the continued attacks and human rights violations against the people of Palestine, we maintain our dignity and rights to continue our peaceful march towards peace and justice.”

Washington (03-31-2018) H.E. Dr. Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian General Delegation to the United States, said in a statement issued Saturday, that the Israeli Occupation Forces indiscriminate murder of seventeen peaceful demonstrators and the wounding of hundreds in Gaza, is morally repugnant and a crime against humanity. 

Read more: Statement by Ambassador Husam Zomlot on the latest developments in Gaza

Washington (04-02-2018) On behalf of H.E. President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people, H.E. Dr. Husam Zomlot, the head of the PLO General Delegation to the United States, expresses his appreciation for today’s Supreme Court decision, which draws a conclusion to the Sokolow lawsuit.

Dr. Zomlot stated that “this decision reaffirms the vital relationship between the Palestinian and American people, which depends on mutual respect and, as importantly, on respect for the rule of law.” 

“The court of appeals,” he added, “upheld the rule of law when it overturned the unjust, initial decision in the Sokolow case that should never have been brought to trial in the first place.”

Despite the many anti-peace, politicized voices raised against Palestinians, the Supreme Court, the appellate court, and the Solicitor General of the United States all recognized that our position was based on established principles of U.S. law.

He concluded that the strategic relations between the Palestinian and American people can only be stronger as a result of today's decision, “which allows us to focus on our shared values and vision, and to reject the voices that seek to destroy the bond between us, abuse and deceive the U.S. legal system in order to weaponize it against the people of Palestine in their quest for freedom, liberty and pursuit of justice. Today’s decision empowers the voices seeking to strengthen the historic bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Palestine and support peace and justice.”

In response to the inclusion of the Taylor Force Act in the omnibus spending bill for 2018, H.E. Dr. Husam Zomlot, Head of the PLO General Delegation to the United States said that halting aid to the Palestinian Authority as a tool for a politically-motivated financial pressure does not work, and severely damages the prospects for peace in the Middle East. The bill, he said, rewards the illegal Israeli occupation and ongoing violations of human rights, while simultaneously punishing the Palestinian Authority, which is the only agency committed to peace and nonviolence, and undermines the American-Palestinian bilateral relationship and decades of U.S. investments in the two-state solution.

He further added that Congress’ bias is flagrantly obvious, targeting a stipend program that provides dignity and education for children and families of the victims of occupation, and security for both sides, while turning a blind eye towards Israel’s daily violations of U.S. policy and international law. To mention only a few, Israel’s ruling party (Likud) anti-peace decision to annex the occupied West Bank, the unprecedented rise in illegal colonial settlement activities, the alarming human rights abuses, including the illegal blockade of 2 million people in Gaza as a collective punishment measure, illegal house demolitions, and torturing and imprisonment of Palestinian children.

The Taylor Force Act represents the most recent effort in this 30 year old trend of legislations that deliberately targets the Palestinian people. Congress has designated the PLO as a terrorist organization since 1987 to date, despite the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel’s recognition of the PLO, and the numerous bilateral agreements with the United States.

The ongoing bias against Palestinians in Congress is not irreversible, we have taken notice of the principled and brave members of Congress who have raised concerns over the Taylor Force Act. Also, we are inspired by recent efforts to promote Palestinian children’s rights included in H.R. 4391 Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act introduced by the courageous Rep. Betty McCollum to prevent United States tax dollars from supporting the Israeli military’s ongoing detentions and mistreatment of Palestinian children. 

H.E. Dr. Zomlot concluded that Congresswoman McCollum and other honorable members in the House and the Senate make us hopeful that the future will be more in line with the great US principles and commitment to universal values of peace, equality and human rights for all.