Latest news with #EastJerusalem
Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Israel continues to flout world court ruling on its occupation
One year ago on Saturday, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion. The world's highest interstate court determined on July 19, 2024, that Israel's occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip was 'unlawful' and must be brought to an end. The key paragraph was crystal clear. It stated: 'The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel's presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.' It also ruled that Israel's discriminatory legislation and measures are also in breach of international law. They constituted a breach of Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. This was an authoritative determination on the state of the law on a specific issue. It was fortified by a UN General Assembly resolution last September endorsing the advisory opinion and demanding that the Israeli occupation ends by September 2025. There is more chance of Benjamin Netanyahu knocking on the doors of the International Criminal Court and saying, 'here I am, arrest me, I am guilty as charged,' than there is of that happening. Israel has to dismantle its settlements and evacuate settlers. It has to do so immediately. And its military presence also needs to be withdrawn. The court determined that Israel owes full reparation for all the damage done by its illegal acts since 1967. Working out the exact compensation due will be some process, but the end figure will have many digits. The court determined that Israel owes full reparation for all the damage done by its illegal acts since 1967 Chris Doyle Showing the sort of contempt that might be expected from a government perpetrating genocide in Gaza, Israel has simply doubled down on its occupation. Settlements are expanding faster than ever, with approval for the doomsday settlement of E1 east of Jerusalem going forward apace. Settler violence is off the charts, with more than 740 settler attacks in the first half of 2025, according to the UN. Demolitions are a daily event. Israel has forcibly displaced more than 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank alone, as well as nearly the entire population of Gaza. Rather than end the occupation, the Israeli government is pushing relentlessly toward annexation. Occupation in and of itself is not illegal. It may even be necessary. But it is meant to be temporary and is governed by international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. At the time the court's opinion was issued, Israel's occupation had lasted a jaw-dropping 57 years and involved the insertion of 750,000 settlers into occupied territory. But the court also went further. It determined that Israel had violated the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. It was the ultimate legal determination as to Israel's crimes and unlawful conduct across the whole of the Occupied Territories. There is no higher judicial body to make such a determination. Major powers are under an obligation to prevent and to punish genocide when other states are perpetrating such acts Chris Doyle But who refers to the occupation as unlawful? The US, of course, refuses, as it barely even acknowledges the occupation, a head-in-the-sand legal position. The UK government promised Parliament it would issue a formal response to this — a pledge repeated multiple times. But it seems that 365 days is insufficient time for the government to develop the courage to publish its response, as sources have told this author that a draft has been ready for months. Remarkably, the UK government has stated at the UN that it does not disagree with the central findings of the advisory opinion. The awkwardness of the double negative sums up the awkwardness of the position. Ministers cannot even outline what they consider to be the central findings. Has the media changed how it describes the Occupied Territories? Certainly not the BBC or CNN. This was barely mentioned. It is as if it is still treated as a disputed issue, as opposed to a settled matter of legal certainty. The lack of respect for the International Court of Justice is also exhibited in the abject refusal of Israel to adhere to the provisional measures the court ordered on three occasions under the Genocide Convention between January and May 2024. Major powers have not insisted Israel do so either, even though they are under an obligation to prevent and to punish genocide when other states are perpetrating such acts. Israel should have taken all measures to prevent genocidal acts and ensure the unhindered provision of humanitarian aid, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, and medical supplies. Instead, Israel has, as a matter of declared policy, blocked this. Many governments pay lip service to upholding international law when it comes to Israel. It is time for those who do care to expose this hypocrisy for what it is.
Al Arabiya
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Israel demands UN scrap investigation body for Palestinian territories
Israel has demanded the UN Human Rights Council scrap a commission investigating rights violations in the Palestinian territories and Israel, accusing the body of bias, in a letter seen by Reuters. In the message sent on Wednesday, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Daniel Meron, said The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, discriminated against his country. Israel has regularly criticized findings by the UN-mandated commission, which has condemned actions by the Israeli military since it launched its offensive on Gaza following the deadly attacks by Hamas militants in October 7, 2023. The commission - established in May 2021 by the Human Rights Council during earlier hostilities between Israel and Hamas - can provide evidence used in pre-trial investigations by tribunals such as the International Criminal Court. 'The Commission of Inquiry, both in its mandate and in the work of its members, constitutes nothing less than a manifestation of the institutional discrimination against Israel in the Human Rights Council,' read the letter. Council President Jurg Lauber Lauber had received the letter but had no authority to abolish the commission, Council spokesperson Pascal Sim said. That would be up to the Council's 47 members, Sim added. In March a report by the commission said that Israel had carried out 'genocidal acts' against Palestinians. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report's findings biased and antisemitic.
Reuters
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Israel demands UN scrap investigation body for Palestinian territories
GENEVA, July 17 (Reuters) - Israel has demanded the U.N. Human Rights Council scrap a commission investigating rights violations in the Palestinian territories and Israel, accusing the body of bias, in a letter seen by Reuters. In the message sent on Wednesday, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Daniel Meron, said The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, discriminated against his country. Israel has regularly criticised findings by the U.N.-mandated commission, which has condemned actions by the Israeli military since it launched its offensive on Gaza following the deadly attacks by Hamas militants in October 7, 2023. The commission - established in May 2021 by the Human Rights Council during earlier hostilities between Israel and Hamas - can provide evidence used in pre-trial investigations by tribunals such as the International Criminal Court. "The Commission of Inquiry, both in its mandate and in the work of its members, constitutes nothing less than a manifestation of the institutional discrimination against Israel in the Human Rights Council," read the letter. Council President Jurg Lauber Lauber had received the letter but had no authority to abolish the commission, Council spokesperson Pascal Sim said. That would be up to the Council's 47 members, Sim added. In March a report by the commission said that Israel had carried out "genocidal acts" against Palestinians. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report's findings biased and antisemitic. Israel disengaged from the Human Rights Council in February.
LBCI
15-07-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
UN: Killings and attacks against Palestinians escalate in the West Bank
Killings and attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers and security forces in the occupied West Bank have increased over the past few weeks, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday. 'Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified killings, attacks, and harassment against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in recent weeks,' OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Khaitan told reporters in Geneva.
Al Jazeera
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Attacks on Palestinians intensifying in occupied West Bank: UN rights body
Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in recent weeks in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the United Nations human rights office warns. The violence also includes the demolitions of hundreds of homes and forced mass displacement of Palestinians as well as annexations of more land in violation of international law, Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. The UN body's warning came as the Palestinian death toll in the West Bank inches closer to 1,000 since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israeli forces launched their genocidal campaign in Gaza, where more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed. At least 964 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since that day, according to the UN. At least 2,907 home demolitions were also carried out by Israel during the same period. The UN issued its warning on Tuesday on the heels of the killing of 20-year-old United States citizen Sayfollah Mussallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in Sinjil town, northeast of Ramallah, on Friday. 'Israel must immediately stop these killings, harassment and home demolitions across the occupied Palestinian territory,' Al-Kheetan said in a separate statement published on the OHCHR website. 'As the occupying power, Israel must take all feasible measures to ensure public order and safety in the West Bank.' Since January, there have been 757 settler attacks on Palestinians or their properties, which is a 13 percent increase over the same period last year, the OHCHR said. In January, Israel also launched a major military operation called 'Iron Wall', forcibly displacing 30,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, the agency added. The OHCHR also accused Israeli forces of firing 'live ammunition at unarmed Palestinians', including those trying to go back to their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams. The intensity of violence by settlers and Israeli forces has so alarmed Palestinians that many, including residents in the Old City of Hebron, have been forced to turn their homes into cages, putting up barbed wire on their windows to protect themselves. Hebron resident Areej Jabari told Al Jazeera that despite the protective wire, her family still feels unsafe. 'Barbed wire can't protect from all the wire that settlers throw at us and from bullets and tear gas often fired by Israeli forces,' she said. Parts of Hebron, where about 35,000 Palestinians and 700 Israeli settlers live, are under Israeli military control. Jabari said that when she tried to document one of the attacks, Israeli forces broke into her residence, broke the glass windows, and seized her camera and its memory card. The OHCHR said Israeli forces have often used unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal force, against Palestinians 'who did not pose an imminent threat to life'. The youngest of the victims has been two-year-old Laila al-Khatib, who was shot in the head by Israeli forces in January while she was inside her house in Ash-Shuhada village in Jenin governorate. On July 3, 61-year-old Walid Badir was shot and killed by Israeli forces, reportedly while he was cycling home from prayers and passing through the outskirts of the Nur Shams camp. In June, the UN said it recorded the highest monthly injury toll of Palestinians in more than two decades with 96 Palestinians injured in Israeli settler attacks. Al-Kheetan said Israel is obligated as an occupying force to protect Palestinians from settler attacks. He called for an 'independent and transparent' investigation into the killings. 'Those responsible must be held to account,' Al-Kheetan said. On Monday, top church leaders and diplomats from more than 20 countries also called on Israeli settlers to be held accountable during a visit to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh after recent attacks in the West Bank village.
