Israel asked to vacate Palestinian land
According to an AFP report Israel has been asked to immediately
stop all settlement activity and begin withdrawal of its settlers from the Palestinian
territories on Thursday.
“Israel must … cease all settlement activities without
preconditions (and) must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all
settlers” from the occupied territories, a UN fact-finding mission concluded.
Because of the settlements, Palestinians’ human rights “are
being violated consistently and on a daily basis,” the three independent
experts said in a report commissioned by the UN’s Human Rights Council last
March.
The three experts; Christine Chanet of France, Asma
Jahangir of Pakistan and Unity Dow of Botswana will present their findings to the 47-member state
council on March 18. Israel has been asked Jewish to “ensure adequate, effective
and prompt remedy to all Palestinian victims … of human rights violations that
are a result of the settlements.”
The council’s decision to dispatch the fact-finding mission
to determine what impact the settlements are having on the rights of Palestinians
so enraged the Jewish state that it cut all ties with the 47-member state
council in March 2012.
The experts published their findings just two days after
Israel made its anger felt by becoming the first country to ever boycott a
special council review of its rights situation.
Israel, as usual has termed this report bias saying it would
only hamper peace efforts.
“The Human Rights Council has sadly distinguished itself by
its systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest
report is yet another unfortunate reminder of that,” foreign ministry spokesman
Yigal Palmor said.
“Counterproductive measures, such as the report before us,
will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the
Israel-Palestinian conflict,” Palmor said.
“The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel
and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct
negotiations without pre-conditions.”
The experts were not able to visit Israel or the Palestinian
territories, after failing to secure Israeli permission, and instead met in
Jordan with more than 50 people affected by the settlements or working in NGOs
in a relevant field, it said.
The Jewish state is not a member of the council but like all
193 UN countries it is required to undergo Universal Periodic Reviews of its
human rights situation.
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