[News] 'Gross violation': Israel's occupation of West Bank illegal, new UN report finds

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gross-violation-israels-occupation-west-bank-illegal-new-un-report-finds>
'Gross violation': Israel's occupation of West Bank illegal, new UN report
finds
By MEE staff - August 30, 2023
------------------------------

Israel's occupation of the West Bank is illegal under international law,
according to a new report commissioned by the UN, which called for Israel's
"immediate and unconditional" withdrawal from the territory.

The annual 2023 report
<https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/legal-study-on-the-legality-of-the-Israeli-occupation-of-the-Occupied-Palestinian-Territory-including-East-Jerusalem.pdf>,
released
<https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1d/k1dg4yncse?_gl=1*10ech03*_ga*OTA2MzUyMTg1LjE2OTMzOTg5MzY.*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTY5MzQwNjM2MS4zLjAuMTY5MzQwNjM2MS4wLjAuMA..>
on Wednesday, was commissioned by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

The report found that Israel had violated several norms of international
law to meet the conditions for the occupation to be deemed illegal,
including moving to annex parts of the occupied territory, breaching rights
of the occupied people, and instituting practices of apartheid.

"The study concludes that Israel is in gross violation of these laws and
that the administration of the occupation has become illegal," Michael
Lynk, the UN's former special rapporteur on Palestine, told the committee,
unveiling the study.

"Because the occupation is illegal, the consequences should be the
immediate, unconditional complete withdrawal of Israel's military forces,
the withdrawal of colonial settlers, the repeal of all discriminatory laws
and dismantling of the military administrative regime," he said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since seizing the land
from Jordan in the 1967 war.

In 1980, Israel unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem and has since
consolidated its control of the West Bank. In 2023, under the government of
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has approved the highest number
of settlements in the territory, considered illegal under international
law, on record.

"Israel's conduct in administering occupied Palestine, characterized by the
prolonged nature of the occupation and by its policies and plans of
settlement construction, further evinces a breach of the right of
self-determination," the report said.
'Very strong legal argument'

Israel's actions have gone largely unchecked by the international
community, which Cuba's ambassador to the UN slammed at the committee on
Wednesday.

"What it is, is a process of ethnic cleansing... and here we are just
acting as if it's business as usual... the UN doesn't talk about what's
happening in Palestinian, the Security Council doesn't talk about what's
happening."

Ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso pointed to a recent visit
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams-siding-oppressor-trip-israel-sparks-controversy>
by New York City mayor Eric Adams to Israel as an example of the limited
criticism Israel has received from leaders.

"He talks on social media all the time, but there isn't a single word about
the denial of the rights of the Palestinian people. It seems there is no
price for this."

Wednesday's report, however, builds on others at the United Nations that
have criticised Israel. In March 2022, the UN special rapporteur on human
rights in the occupied Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> territories submitted a
report
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-apartheid-un-special-rapporteur-report-human-rights-council>
concluding that the situation in Israel and the occupied territories
amounted to apartheid.

The latest report echoed those findings, pointing to the confiscation of
Palestinian lands and denial of seven million Palestinian refugees their
right of return to their lands.

"Israel is administering the Occupied Palestinian Territory under a regime
of systematic racial discrimination and apartheid," the report said.

Palestinian advocates also scored a victory at the UN in December when the
general assembly adopted a resolution  requesting the International Court
of Justice (ICJ) to make an opinion on Israel's occupation of Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> lands.

The decision was criticised by Israel, which said that the Palestinians
were "decimating any chances of reconciliation" by taking their case to the
ICJ.

Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer charged with representing the State
of Palestine to the UN, welcomed Wednesday's report as an "extremely
powerful, strong, heavily researched legal argument about the legality of
occupation", adding that it contributed to the "very strong legal argument"
the Palestinians are putting before the ICJ in order to "be free from this
evil system of occupation".

The deadline for UN members to make comments on arguments submitted to the
ICJ is 25 October. The court is expected to accept the request, but an
opinion could take at least a year.
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