On Tuesday, September 17th the Hilton DoubleTree in Pikesville, MD is slated to host “EXPO Israel,” which provides attendees with information on how to buy housing on Palestinian land stolen by Israel. This EXPO will feature apartments in illegal West Bank settlements, all while Israel is committing genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people which is estimated to have killed over 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza in less than one year.

Israel’s construction of West Bank settlements on stolen Palestinian land is universally acknowledged as a violation of international law and human rights. In a landmark decision in July 2024, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, ruled that “Israel’s settlement policy, its acts of annexation,…[are] in breach of international law.” The court also ruled that all UN states (including the United States) have an obligation not to “render aid or assistance” towards Israel’s presence or expansion in the occupied territories.

Palestinians in the West Bank consistently report zionist settler violence as Israel is proudly arming settlers to commit crimes against the Palestinian people. In the past year, over 690 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed and over 1,000 displaced from their homes. Over the last 57 years, Israel has built over 300 illegal settlements housing over 700,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

In February 2024, the Biden-Harris administration reaffirmed that Israeli settlements are illegal and inconsistent with international law. As the ICJ court stated, it is the responsibility of all UN nation states to categorically reject and refrain from aiding Israel in their expansion in occupied Palestine.

Through its plans to host “EXPO Israel,” the Hilton DoubleTree actively makes itself complicit in the theft of Palestinian land, which constitutes grave violations of human rights and international law. We demand that the Hilton make the right decision and cancel the EXPO Israel on September 17th to avoid further aiding the Israeli state in their illegal expansion of settlements and settler violence against Palestinians.

References:
https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15424.doc.htm
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-must-end-its-occupation-of-palestine-to-stop-fuelling-apartheid-and-systematic-human-rights-violations/
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231024-security-minister-itamar-ben-gvir-arms-israeli-settlers-in-occupied-west-bank/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/23/israel-west-bank-settlements-illegal/