KK-Forum,
USA planlegger å bygge ambassade i Jerusalem på stjålet land.
Pressemelding fra American Committee on Jerusalem.
Knut Rognes
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Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 11:17:01 -0500
From: media <media@adc.org>
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Subject: ACJ Press Release: U.S. Embassy Site in Jerusalem Challenged
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American Committee on Jerusalem Press Release:
U.S. Embassy Site in Jerusalem Challenged
WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 17 ? A new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is slated to
be built on land mostly owned by Palestinians, Dr. Walid Khalidi
revealed at an ACJ briefing on Capitol Hill today. Highlighting the
findings of a 3-year investigation, Professor Khalidi, an
internationally recognized historian and scholar of the Middle East,
explained that the ownership of the plot of land on which the U.S.
Embassy is to be built is largely a combination of Palestinian private
property and Waqf (Muslim religious endowment) property, for which the
British government was paying rent until the moment it left Palestine in
May, 1948. A total of 19 Jerusalem families, 4 Christian and 15 Muslim,
have been traced as its principal owners. A painstaking investigation of
land records and other documents has determined that at least 88 of the
original owners or their heirs are U.S. citizens, 43 are Canadians and
Europeans and hundreds have other nationalities.
The U.S. government has maintained that it knows of no private claims to
the property on which the Embassy is supposed to be built. ACJ’s legal
counsel on this matter, George Salem, said "the State Department is
mistaken in its assertions that there are no private claims to the
property." He told the Capitol Hill audience that there is an
"outstanding request for a substantive meeting with the Secretary of
State or her designee to discuss these US citizens’ claims to the
Jerusalem property." He stressed that "ACJ is committed to pursuing this
issue in all of its aspects. Under the specific terms of a 1989
agreement between Israel and the United States concerning the Embassy
site, the fact that the Jerusalem property is not "free from any
encumbrances or third party claims," Salem said, "renders any lease for
this property null and void as a matter of law."
The relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel was mandated by Congress in
1995. No U.S. administration has recognized Israeli sovereignty over
any part of Jerusalem and the United States has maintained its embassy
in Tel Aviv. Professor Khalidi observed that "The Jerusalem Embassy Act
passed by Congress in 1995 is ignorant, misguided, insensitive, and
immoral. It is a disservice to American prestige and credibility. It is
a threat to American national security interests."
According to Khalidi, the Embassy Act "retrospectively endorses Israeli
wholesale confiscations of refugee properties since 1948 because the
majority of the site is owned by Palestinian refugees. By recognizing
the Israeli settlements of East Jerusalem as parts of undivided
Jerusalem, it legitimizes the settlements. It recognizes and legitimizes
Israeli annexation and settlement of vast stretches of West Bank
territory in the neighborhood of East Jerusalem and in the heartland of
the West Bank. The act shoves aside the whole corpus of international
law including the Geneva conventions." Furthermore, Professor Khalidi
concluded, "it also ignores the interests of tens of U.S. citizens who
have private property rights on this site."
Opening remarks were delivered by ACJ President, Dr. Rashid Khalidi, and
Vice-President Khalil E. Jahshan. The event was attended by diplomats,
congressional aides, State Department officials, journalists, and human
rights and religious groups.
American Committee on Jerusalem
4201 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 302 Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (202) 237-0215 * Fax: (202) 244-3196 * e-mail: acj@acj.org
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