UN panel calls Israeli West Bank settlements 'creeping annexation'
Source: Agencies |
February 1, 2013, Friday
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UN human rights investigators called on Israel yesterday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes.
A three-member UN panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians.
About 250 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold an estimated 520,000 settlers, according to the UN report. The settlements impede Palestinian access to water and farm lands.
The settlements were "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," it said.
"Israel must cease settlement activities and provide adequate, prompt and effective remedy to the victims of violations of human rights," said Christine Chanet, a French judge who led the UN inquiry.
The settlements contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory and could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the UN report said.
"To transfer its own population into an occupied territory is prohibited because it is an obstacle to the exercise of the right to self-determination," Chanet said.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel, in a letter to the UN, of planning to commit what it said were further war crimes by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto UN recognition of statehood, and said Israel must be held accountable.
Israel's foreign ministry swiftly rejected the UN report as "counterproductive and unfortunate." The Palestine Liberation Organization welcomed its "principled and candid" findings.
"The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct negotiations without pre-conditions. Counterproductive measures, such as the report before us, will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict," Israel's foreign ministry said.
Hanan Ashrawi, a top PLO official, said: "We are extremely heartened by this principled and candid assessment of Israeli violations. This report clearly states the Israel is not just violating the 4th Geneva Convention, but places Israel in liability to the Rome Statute under the jurisdiction of the ICC."
The UN investigators interviewed more than 50 people who came to Jordan in November to testify about confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods and violence by Jewish settlers.
A three-member UN panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians.
About 250 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold an estimated 520,000 settlers, according to the UN report. The settlements impede Palestinian access to water and farm lands.
The settlements were "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," it said.
"Israel must cease settlement activities and provide adequate, prompt and effective remedy to the victims of violations of human rights," said Christine Chanet, a French judge who led the UN inquiry.
The settlements contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory and could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the UN report said.
"To transfer its own population into an occupied territory is prohibited because it is an obstacle to the exercise of the right to self-determination," Chanet said.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel, in a letter to the UN, of planning to commit what it said were further war crimes by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto UN recognition of statehood, and said Israel must be held accountable.
Israel's foreign ministry swiftly rejected the UN report as "counterproductive and unfortunate." The Palestine Liberation Organization welcomed its "principled and candid" findings.
"The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct negotiations without pre-conditions. Counterproductive measures, such as the report before us, will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict," Israel's foreign ministry said.
Hanan Ashrawi, a top PLO official, said: "We are extremely heartened by this principled and candid assessment of Israeli violations. This report clearly states the Israel is not just violating the 4th Geneva Convention, but places Israel in liability to the Rome Statute under the jurisdiction of the ICC."
The UN investigators interviewed more than 50 people who came to Jordan in November to testify about confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods and violence by Jewish settlers.
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