[News] Palestinian Civil Society Organizations Stand with the Commission of Inquiry against Rising Attacks
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Aug 15 11:37:02 EDT 2022
addameer.org <https://www.addameer.org/news/4857>
Civil Society Organizations Stand with the Commission of Inquiry against
Rising Attacks
------------------------------
15-08-2022
The undersigned organisations extend their full support and pledge their
ongoing cooperation with the UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine, which
has been under mounting attack, led by Israel, including recent smearing of
its work and members as antisemitic, and calls for its disbandment.
The Commission of Inquiry (hereinafter the CoI or the Commission), was
established in May 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), to
investigate underlying root causes of Israel’s systematic racial
discrimination and repression against the Palestinian people on both sides
of the Green Line. In particular, the CoI will examine events surrounding
Israel’s suppression of peaceful assemblies with lethal force intended to
quash the spark of Palestinian Unity Intifada, Israel’s subsequent
aggressive military offensive on the Gaza Strip in May 2021, and the
killing of 276 Palestinians civilians
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=dd3d6aedd3&e=3049c05fc0>
by Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) and illegally transferred in colonial
settlers throughout occupied Palestine, that month.
The Commission is particularly fundamental in light of Israel’s ongoing
crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, and its longstanding
impunity, coupled with the deliberate failure of third states to recognise
the situation as it is in Palestine, or take actions to bring the illegal
occupation
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=ce2a4bd11d&e=3049c05fc0>
and apartheid to an end, including failing to implement recommendations
from previous UN investigative mechanisms. The latest aggression on the
population of the Gaza Strip launched by Israel on 5 August 2022, which led
to the killing of 46 Palestinians
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=c8a467691f&e=3049c05fc0>
including 16 children and four women, and the injury of 360 Palestinians
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=97bd27b48b&e=3049c05fc0>,
is yet another flagrant example of Israel’s ongoing war crimes against the
Palestinian people which it is allowed to perpetrate without any
accountability and countermeasures. The Commission is vital to investigate
the ongoing violations and international crimes within their root causes,
with an important mandate towards ending impunity and ensuring legal
accountability
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=df70655c2b&e=3049c05fc0>.
If not addressed as a matter of urgency, these root causes and Israel’s
impunity will continue to produce cycles of violence at the expense of the
inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. The latest calls for
disbanding the Commission will only further aggravate violence, and
impunity for international crimes perpetrated by Israeli authorities, and
entrench the denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian
people.
Since its establishment, the Commission has been under pressing and
coordinated attacks by Israel, a US-led coalition of States, and civil
society, alleging its mandate and work as “biased”
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=aeaa0d8dad&e=3049c05fc0>
and “disproportionately focusing on Israel”
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=d6d96c6861&e=3049c05fc0>.
For example, during the interactive dialogue of the CoI’s mandate at the
50th session of the HRC on 13 June 2022, some 22 States, led by the United
States
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=e467e526fe&e=3049c05fc0>,
condemned the CoI’s mandate and called for the halt of the “longstanding
disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council”.
Most recently, following Commissioner Miloon Kothari’s media interview
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=2feba08ede&e=3049c05fc0>
on 25 July 2022, the CoI has been smeared as antisemitic, taking quotes
from Kothari's interview out of context
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=ff59008469&e=3049c05fc0>
while using antisemitism accusations to halt the CoI’s investigation into
Israel’s international crimes against the Palestinian people, including the
crime against humanity of apartheid.
Such smearing and attacks included a letter
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=bebe47b1e4&e=3049c05fc0>
on 31 July 2022 by Prime Minister Yair Lapid to United Nations
Secretary-General António Guterres, accusing the Commission of endorsing
and fuelling antisemitism and demanding, “the immediate removal of all
three members of the Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating
Israel, and the disbanding of the Commission.” Representatives of a number
of States have also condemned
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=2c7fdbdeca&e=3049c05fc0>
the Commission and Mr. Kothari’s remarks as antisemitic, including: the United
States
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=3ab71b864c&e=3049c05fc0>,
France
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=9355b27a86&e=3049c05fc0>,
Canada
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=0b7744d97b&e=3049c05fc0>,
Germany
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=6f678a7ea1&e=3049c05fc0>,
the United Kingdom,
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=f7bd8d549c&e=3049c05fc0>
the Netherlands
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=f5115ad518&e=3049c05fc0>,
and Austria
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=1039aa80fe&e=3049c05fc0>
.
Since its establishment, Israel has been systematically suppressing and
silencing the voices of human rights defenders and civil society
organisations, whether Palestinian, regional or international, advocating
for the realisation of the rights of the Palestinian people and attempting
to challenge Israel’s impunity, and its apartheid regime. Such attacks have
also targeted international accountability mechanisms
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=860d9fb6ee&e=3049c05fc0>,
including UN international Commissions of Inquiry and Fact Finding Missions.
Israel has a record of attacks and non-cooperation with UN investigative
bodies, UN special rapporteurs and the staff
<https://alhaq.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=10071401ba4201bc1a4992f68&id=01b7647bb9&e=3049c05fc0>
UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, including by preventing
the entry into Palestine, leading organised lobbying efforts against such
bodies, and engaging smear campaigns accusing the bodies of bias and
‘antisemitism’. As such, the latest attack on the mandate of the CoI is a
continuation of Israel’s systematic efforts to shut down internationally
mandated accountability mechanisms.
The intense attacks come in light of the unique and historic mandate of the
present Commission, the first permanent UN investigative body with a
comprehensive mandate covering colonised Palestine, the entirety of the
Palestinian people, including refugees and exiles in the diaspora. As such,
the present Commission is a crucial step toward the recognition and remedy
of Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid regime as the root cause of
Israel’s perpetual violations of international law in Palestine.
Our organizations condemn and call for the end of the pressing attacks by
Israel, the US-led coalition, and several organisations on the CoI. We call
on all States to provide the utmost political, institutional and material
support, and to engage in good faith with the mandate of the CoI, to enable
this important accountability mechanism to continue with its mandate
unhindered.
*List of Endorsing Organisations: *
*Palestinian Organisations *
1. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
2. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
3. Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
4. Bisan Center for Research and Development
5. Center for Defense of Liberties & Civil Rights "HURRYYAT"
6. Defense for Children International – Palestine
7. Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
8. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
9. Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC)
10. The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem
11. The Community Action Center / Al-Quds University
12. The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy
13. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and
Democracy-MIFTAH
14. The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO)
15. Union of Palestinian Women Committees Society (UPWC)
16. Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC)
17. American Muslim Bar Association (AMBA)
18. Arab Lawyers Association (UK)
19. Arab Organization for Human Rights
20. Asociación Americana de Juristas (AAJ)
21. Association Suisse-Palestine ASP
22. Australian Centre for International Justice
23. Belgian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
24. Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient, Luxembourg
25. Democratic Lawyers Italy
26. European Coordination of Committees and associations for Palestine
27. European Legal Support Center
28. European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine
29. Global Network of Movement Lawyers - Movement Law Lab
30. Good Shepherd Collective
31. ICAHD Finland
32. ICAHD- Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
33. International Association of Democratic Lawyers
34. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
35. International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)
36. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
37. Jewish Voice for Peace
38. Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
39. Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste (Canada)
40. Justice for Palestinians Calgary
41. Labor for Palestine
42. MENA Working Group FNV
43. New Weapons Research Group
44. North NJ DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group
45. Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees
46. NOVACT-International Institute for Nonviolent Action
47. Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
48. Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK
49. Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
50. Progressive Lawyers' Association (ÇHD, Turkey)
51. Project South
52. Sadaka-the Ireland Palestine Alliance
53. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
54. SUDS, Internacionalisme Solidaritat Feminismes
55. The Canadian BDS Coalition
56. United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
57. Women in Black Vienna
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