MADRID, 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
An investigative commission of the United Nations has determined this Thursday that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory is illegal according to International Law.
The commission’s chairperson, Navi Pillay, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has stated that there are “reasonable grounds” to conclude that the Israeli occupation violates international standards.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel issued this Thursday its first report to the General Assembly explaining that the permanence of the Israeli government’s annexation policies is the reason why international law is violated.
According to International Humanitarian Law, the occupation of territory in times of war is a temporary situation and does not deprive the occupied power of its status as a State or of its sovereignty.
“Recent statements by the Secretary General (of the UN, António Guterres) and numerous Member States have clearly indicated that any attempt to unilaterally annex the territory of a State by another State is a violation of international law and is null and void,” he said. Pillay explained in reference to last week’s General Assembly vote in which 143 member states, including Israel, rejected Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories.
The commission has indicated that, therefore, said fundamental principle of the Charter of the United Nations “will cease to make sense” in the event that it is not applied universally.
In reaching its conclusions, the commission has reviewed the policies and actions used by Israel to maintain the occupation and annex parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Among these actions, they highlight how Israel has sustained and advanced its “settlement enterprise”, which includes the declarations of officials of that country that reaffirm the intention to maintain permanent control over the land in violation of international law.
“By ignoring international law in establishing or facilitating the establishment of settlements, and by directly or indirectly transferring Israeli civilians to these settlements, successive Israeli governments have established facts on the ground to ensure Israel’s permanent control of the West Bank,” Pillay said.
According to the report, Israel continues to violate the rights of Palestinians individually and collectively as a people, as they expropriate land and natural resources, actions that require confiscation, demolition and displacement of residents.
“There is so much ‘silent harm’ and psychological trauma, which may not be immediately apparent, as a result of the erosion of economic, social and cultural rights. These debilitating processes have serious short- and long-term consequences and must be urgently addressed.” Commissioner Miloon Kothari has warned.
In this sense, the independent United Nations body has analyzed the impacts of occupation and annexation policies specifically on women and children. In addition, he has assured that “this continuous coercive environment has fragmented Palestinian society.”
The report concludes by saying that some of the policies and actions of the Government of Israel leading to permanent occupation and de facto annexation may constitute elements of crimes under international criminal law, including the war crime of transferring, directly or indirectly, part of the civilian population’s own property to the occupied territory, and the crime against humanity of deportation or forced transfer.
