UN Human Rights Council Report Condemns Israel’s Settlements
The full report is here. A helpful list of “selected
sources” is here (see especially the list of articles and books on p. 5), although
I’ve included a few of those and others below under “further reading.”
At Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller correctly notes “nothing”
in this “blistering report condemning Israel’s settlements” “is particularly
novel,” for “it’s long been obvious that both the settlements and the transfer
of Israeli civilians into the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.”
Conclusions (from pp. 20-21 of the 37 page report, which is followed by ‘recommendations,’ a ‘timeline,’ and map):
100. The facts brought to the attention of the Mission
indicate that the State of Israel has had full control of the settlements in
the OPT since 1967 and continues to promote and sustain them through
infrastructure and security measures. The Mission notes that despite all the pertinent
United Nations resolutions declaring that the existence of the settlements is
illegal and calling for their cessation, the planning and growth of the
settlements continues both of existing as well as new structures.
101. The establishment of the settlements in the West Bank
including East Jerusalem is a mesh of construction and infrastructure leading
to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and
viable Palestinian State and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination.
102. The settlements have been established and developed at
the expense of violating international human rights laws and international
humanitarian law, as applicable in the OPT as notably recognised by the 2004
ICJ Advisory Opinion.
103. The settlements are established for the exclusive
benefit of Israeli Jews; settlements are being maintained and developed through
a system of total segregation between the settlers and the rest of the
population living in the OPT. This system of segregation is supported and
facilitated by a strict military and law enforcement control to the detriment
of the rights of the Palestinian population.
104. The Mission considers that in relation to the
settlements Israel is committing serious breaches of its obligations under the
right to self-determination and “certain obligations under international
humanitarian law,” including the obligation not to transfer its population into
the OPT. The Rome Statute establishes the International Criminal Court’s
jurisdiction over the deportation or transfer, directly or indirectly, by the
occupying Power of parts of its own population into the territory it occupies,
or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the
occupied territory within or outside this territory. Ratification of the
Statute by Palestine may lead to accountability for gross violations of human
rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law and justice
for victims.
105. The existence of the settlements has had a heavy toll
on the rights of the Palestinians. Their rights to freedom of
self-determination, non-discrimination, freedom of movement, equality, due
process, fair trial, not to be arbitrarily detained, liberty and security of
person, freedom of expression, freedom to access places of worship, education,
water, housing, adequate standard of living, property, access to natural
resources and effective remedy are being violated consistently and on a daily
basis.
106. The volume of information received on dispossession,
evictions, demolitions and displacement points to the magnitude of these
practices. These are particularly widespread in certain areas and acute in East
Jerusalem.
107. The Mission has noted that the identities of settlers
who are responsible for violence and intimidation are known to the Israeli
authorities, yet these acts continue with impunity. The Mission is led to the
clear conclusion that there is institutionalised discrimination against the
Palestinian people when it comes to addressing violence. The Mission believes
that the motivation behind this violence and the intimidation against the
Palestinians as well as their properties is to drive the local populations away
from their lands and allow the settlements to expand.
108. The Mission is gravely concerned at the high number of
children who are apprehended or detained, including for minor offences. They
are invariably mistreated, denied due process and fair trial. In violation of
international law they are transferred to detention centres in Israel.
109. Children suffer harassment, violence and encounter
significant obstacles in attending educational institutions, which limits their
right to access education. Israel, the occupying Power is failing in its duty
to protect the right to access education of the Palestinian children and
failing to facilitate the proper working of educational institutions.
110. Information gathered by the Mission show that some
private entities have enabled, facilitated and profited, from the construction
and growth of the settlements, either directly or indirectly.
111. Women alone in their homes, the Bedouins and other
vulnerable groups are easy targets for settler violence, creating a sense of
insecurity amongst the wider Palestinian society
Further Reading:
- Cypel, Sylvain. Walled: Israeli Society at an Impasse. New York: Other Press, 2006.
- Kretzmer, David. The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002.
- Makdisi, Saree. Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2008.
- Weizman, Eyal. Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation. London: Verso, 2007.
- Zertal, Idith and Akiva Eldar. Lords of the Land: The War Over Israel’s Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007. New York: The Nation Books, 2007.
posted by Patrick S. O'Donnell at 9:58 AM
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