Israeli occupation 'main cause' of Middle East tensions, says UN
Navi Pillay, here when she was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on July 31, 2014 in Geneva.
AP - Martial Trezzini
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In a report, a commission of the Human Rights Council accuses Tel Aviv of being largely responsible for the chronic instability of the region, by carrying out a "
perpetual occupation
" of the Palestinian territories.
The conclusion is nothing new.
But it is enough to make Israel jump, which denounces a “biased report” written by an “anti-Israel activist”.
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With our correspondent in Geneva,
Jérémie Lanche
The words are weighed, but just clear enough to leave no doubt about the nature of the conclusions: the "
root causes
[of the conflict]
point overwhelmingly to Israel
", says the president of the commission of inquiry, Navi Pillay .
Ex-High Commissioner for Human Rights cites '
sense of impunity
' and Israel's '
no intention
' of ending occupation as factors aggravating tensions .
“
Ending the occupation of territories by Israel, in full compliance with Security Council resolutions, remains crucial to ending the persistent cycle of violence
,” reads this first report by this commission.
What the commission of inquiry, created last year after the lightning war between Hamas and Israel, says, dozens of reports have already said.
In more or less different forms.
But with this text, the Human Rights Council shows above all its desire to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back on the international diplomatic and media agenda.
After years of virtual indifference, Israel, which did not want to respond to the commission, sees in it, on the other hand, further proof of the relentlessness of the Human Rights Council.
Israel is indeed the only country to systematically be on the agenda of each council session.
The investigation "
ignored the real reasons that led Israel to defend its citizens against lethal terrorist organizations that commit a double war crime
: shooting Israeli civilians from civilian areas in Gaza
".
“A sense of impunity”
The commission was set up following the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in May 2021, during which 260 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, including fighters, according to local authorities.
In Israel, rocket fire from Gaza killed 13 people, including a soldier, according to the police and the army.
For the time being, the commission has reviewed the numerous recommendations and resolutions that already exist, but it has stressed that it should carry out its own investigation.
However, Ms Pillay believes that these past recommendations "
have been largely ignored, including calls for Israel to be held to account for violations of humanitarian and human rights law, as well as indiscriminate rocket fire. against Israel by Palestinian armed groups,
” writes Ms. Pillay.
"
It is this lack of implementation coupled with a sense of impunity and the very clear evidence that Israel has no intention of ending the occupation and the ongoing discrimination against the Palestinians that is at the heart of these repeated violations both in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in East Jerusalem and Israel
”, accuses the President.
To denounce the publication of the report, about twenty students and reservists of the Israeli army demonstrated Tuesday in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
(With AFP)
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