BACK TO MAIN  |  ONLINE BOOKSTORE  |  HOW TO ORDER

December 2000

CALLS FOR U.N. MONITORING OF OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

After a visit to the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has joined in the call for the establishment of an international monitoring presence in the OPT, an end to the construction of new settlements there, and the removal of settlements located in the midst of heavily populated Palestinian areas.

By Chakravarthi Raghavan


Geneva: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has in a report endorsed the call for the establishment of an international monitoring presence in the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and has said that every effort should be made to explore this possibility.

The report also calls for an end to the construction of new settlements in the OPT and for the removal of those settlements located in the midst of heavily populated Palestinian areas.

‘As well as protecting settlements, Israeli security forces should also protect Palestinians from violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers,’ the report says.

The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had also put forward this suggestion, but Israel rejected it.

The Commission on Human Rights, at a special session (17-19 October) convened at  the instance of Algeria on behalf of  the Arab group,  had asked Robinson to undertake an urgent visit to the occupied Palestine territories to take stock of the violations of human rights.

The resolution was subsequently endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 22 November.

But ahead of the ECOSOC action, Robinson undertook the visits to the OPT, Israel, Egypt and Jordan between 8 and 16 November, and in a report to the Human Rights Commission (E.CN.4/2001) has summarised the outcome of her meetings.

The human rights situation in the OPT is ‘bleak’, says Robinson in her report, and speaks of the civilian population feeling ‘besieged by a stronger power prepared to use its superior force against demonstrations and stone-throwing by adolescents’. At each meeting in the OPT, pleas for international protection or for some form of international monitoring presence were voiced, she adds.

In her conclusions and recommendations, Robinson says that she came away from her visit deeply concerned about the ‘serious deterioration’ of the human rights situation in the OPT and Israel and the ‘terrible cost’ it has taken in terms of human lives.

‘It is vital that both parties renew efforts to halt the current dangerous escalation,’ she says.

In the report, Robinson says that mindful of the urgent and widespread calls for international protection made to her during the visit, she believes that ‘every effort should be made to explore the feasibility of establishing an international monitoring presence’.

Israel had rejected this suggestion when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had made it a few days ago, and the Israeli government would appear to have taken the same position in meetings with Robinson.

But her repeating the recommendation now has left the impression that Israel may be open to this idea still.

The report notes that in response to her request to Chairman Arafat, he had issued a call on 15 November asking Palestinians to stop firing on Israeli targets from Zone A of the OPT.

Robinson’s report brings out that she had asked the Israeli side and its defence forces to  help break  the  present  cycle of  violence by  ‘a  withdrawal of  Israeli military forces from some of their forward positions and a lowering of the military profile in the OPT’.

The report does not mention the reactions of the Israeli side.

Robinson also calls for some specific steps to be taken to stop the escalation of violence, including calls for the security forces on both sides to act in full conformity with the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

In particular, she has stressed the importance of the ‘principle of proportionality’ to be applied, and all necessary measures taken to avoid loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian property.

The report says that throughout her visit to the OPT, the most persistent allegation she heard was that the Israeli security forces have engaged in ‘excessive force, disproportionate to the threat faced by the soldiers’.

The report says that a ‘wide range of observers, including UN representatives, expressed the strong view that the very high number of casualties combined with the nature of the injuries sustained including by young people could only be consistent with a military response which was both excessive and inappropriate. With only minor regional variations, this pattern was, say the observers, repeated in different locations throughout the affected area.’

In another recommendation, she says: ‘The construction of new settlements should cease and those located in the midst of heavily populated Palestinian areas should be removed. As well as protecting settlers, Israeli security forces should also protect Palestinians from violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers.’

The report also calls for all cases of use of lethal force on both sides to be investigated and subject to the processes of justice in order to avoid impunity.

Other recommendations include the protection of enjoyment of economic rights, including the right to development, within the OPT and respect of all holy sites and their access by all faiths.

‘The Israeli authorities should facilitate access and ensure freedom of movement of international and national staff of UN agencies to those in need of assistance. Cooperation with UN agencies is vital to ensure effective humanitarian assistance in the OPT.’ - Third World Network Features

About the writer: Chakravarthi Raghavan is Chief Editor of SUNS (South-North Development Monitor), a daily bulletin, and Third World Network’s representative in Geneva.

2127/2000

 


BACK TO MAIN  |  ONLINE BOOKSTORE  |  HOW TO ORDER