The occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel and discrimination against the Palestinian population are “the main causes” of the recurring tensions and instability: this is what has been estimated by a commission of inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council UN man, in a report published on Tuesday.
Israel, which refused to cooperate with the commission, reacted by saying “that the report is biased and biased, disqualified by its hatred for the State of Israel and based on a long series of biased and biased reports”, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Crucial” to “end the occupation of territories by Israel”
“The conclusions and recommendations related to the root causes (of this conflict, editor’s note) point overwhelmingly to Israel, which we analyze as an indicator of the asymmetrical nature of the conflict and the reality of one state occupying another” , writes the president of this commission, the South African and former High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay. “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 has become a situation of perpetual occupation has been cited by both Palestinian and Israeli stakeholders as one of the roots of recurring tensions, instability and protracted conflict both in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem is that in Israel,” the report continues. He specifies that the 18-page document was submitted before publication to the Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
The international commission was mandated last year by the Human Rights Council to investigate alleged human rights violations committed in the Palestinian Territories and Israel, since April 13, 2021. The Jewish state, which accuses Navanethem Pillay of being “an anti-Israel activist”, believes that the investigation “ignored the real reasons that led Israel to defend its citizens against lethal terrorist organizations which commit a double war crime: shooting Israeli civilians from civilian areas in Gaza”.
Recommendations “widely ignored”
The commission was set up following the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in May 2021, in which 260 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza, including fighters, authorities say. local. 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, Navanethem Pillay believes that these past recommendations “have been largely ignored, including calls for Israel to be held accountable for violations of humanitarian and human rights law, as well as indiscriminate rocket fire. against Israel by Palestinian armed groups”. “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 continued discrimination against Palestinians that lie 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 this Tuesday in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.