UN human rights experts strongly condemned on Wednesday a recent Israeli government’s announcement regarding its intention to build new housing units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in a statement that was received by The Palestine Chronicle and other international media.
“The United Nations has repeatedly stated that the Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are a ‘flagrant violation under international law’,” the statement read, adding that “the illegality of the Israeli settlements is one of the most widely-accepted issues in modern international law.”
“The Israeli settlements..are responsible for a wide range of human rights violations against the Palestinians, including..mounting settler violence, and racial and ethnic discrimination."
Will these UN experts soon be called 'terrorists' by Gantz? https://t.co/zwCTBKmpXS pic.twitter.com/4aodg2r200
— kristyan benedict (@KreaseChan) November 3, 2021
In the statement, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories Michael Link and UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal also denounced the Israeli government’s intention “to retroactively legalize several settlement outposts.”
“The very raison d’être of the Israeli settlements in occupied territory – the creation of demographic facts on the ground to solidify a permanent presence, a consolidation of alien political control and an unlawful claim of sovereignty – tramples upon the fundamental precepts of humanitarian and human rights law,” the experts said.
UN human rights experts remind us: "the Israeli settlements are a presumptive war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and should be treated as such by the international community.” https://t.co/TKi2w2LrIz pic.twitter.com/9fErNue1ZV
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) November 3, 2021
The UN experts also urged the international community to support the current investigation into illegal Jewish settlements by the International Criminal Court, calling upon UN member states “to ensure that corporations and institutions under their respective jurisdiction have no involvement in aiding, assisting or investing in the settlements.”.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
