New York - The Occupied Territories: Europe and the Arabs
A UN expert* said that the Israeli military occupation has turned the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory into an “open-air prison, where Palestinians are constantly imprisoned, monitored and disciplined.” According to what was stated in the United Nations news bulletin, of which we received a copy this morning, Tuesday
Ms. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, presented her report to the Human Rights Council on Monday.
She said that Israel had ruled the Palestinian territories for 56 years, noting that generations of Palestinians had suffered - under Israeli occupation - from "systematic and widespread arbitrary deprivation of liberty, often for the simplest acts of life and the exercise of basic human rights."
While she stressed that she did not condone acts of violence that Palestinians may have committed during decades of illegal Israeli occupation, she noted that most of their crimes resulted from a series of violations of international law, including due process violations, which subvert the legitimacy of the administration of justice. by the occupying power.
"apartheid laws"
The report finds that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians, including children as young as 12, have been arrested and detained under authoritarian rules "enacted, imposed, and prosecuted by the Israeli military," the report said.
According to the report, Palestinians are subjected to prolonged detention for expressing their opinions, assembling, and making unauthorized political speeches, or even attempting to do so, and ultimately being denied their status as protected civilians. Palestinians are often presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial and brutalized in Israeli custody, according to the report.
Ms. Albanese noted that Israel's dual legal system of applying martial law to Palestinians and domestic Israeli laws to illegal settlers is "the foundation of Israel's apartheid system".
In this context, the Special Rapporteur said in a statement that the mass imprisonment of Palestinians "serves the purpose of suppressing peaceful opposition to the occupation, protecting the Israeli army and settlers, and ultimately facilitating colonial settlement encroachment."
Hello to the Member States
In her address to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur said that the occupying power portrays Palestinians as a collective threat to “strip them of their civilian status” and undermine their status as protected persons under international law.
This widespread and oppressive regime, she said, is "a key feature of settler colonial regimes, which throughout history crushed indigenous peoples while gradually taking over their lands." She stressed that Palestinian authorities operating under permanent Israeli control are not sufficient to defend and protect Palestinians, as was evident during recent violent attacks "by the Israeli army or heavily armed settlers" in Nablus, Jenin and elsewhere.
Ms. Albanese called on Member States to fulfill their obligations not to aid or recognize the Israeli settlement occupation and its gradual annexation of Palestinian land, and to use all diplomatic, political and economic measures under the UN Charter to end the occupation.
It is noteworthy that the special rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, which is an intergovernmental body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. Rapporteurs and experts are charged with studying human rights situations and submitting reports on them to the Human Rights Council. It should be noted that this position is ceremonial, and these experts are not considered employees of the United Nations and do not receive remuneration for their work.