Mr. Chair,
I am honored to introduce the five draft resolutions submitted to the Committee under agenda item 50: Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practice Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.
As in past sessions, these draft resolutions focus on the many violations of international law, particularly humanitarian and human rights law, committed by Israel, the occupying Power, in the context of its nearly fifty-year foreign military occupation of the Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Syrian Golan since 1967. The violations have been thoroughly documented by relevant UN bodies and other international organizations on the ground and have been reported to the General Assembly by the Special Committee, as well as in reports of the Secretary-General. The reporting period witnessed the persistence of a human rights crisis and a protection crisis as a result of ongoing and escalating violations by Israel, the occupying Power, which have caused widespread human suffering and instability.
In breach of its legal obligations as the occupying Power under the 4th Geneva Convention and the numerous relevant General Assembly and Security Council, Israel has persisted with all of its illegal policies and practices in a deliberate and systematic manner, causing widespread human suffering and destabilization of the situation. This has included the killing and injury of Palestinian civilians in an ongoing cycle of violence; the arrest and detention of Palestinians, including children; the forced displacement and attempts at forcible transfer of Palestinians; provocations and incitement, especially in Occupied East Jerusalem; and a vast array and network of collective punishment measures, the most egregious of which remains the air, land and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, inflicting near total isolation and deep deprivation on the 2 million Palestinian civilians there. In Gaza, a dire humanitarian crisis persists and socio-economic conditions have declined to the lowest levels since the onset of the occupation in 1967, creating an extremely toxic and unstable situation, requiring immediate remedy.
Israel has also continued its unlawful settlement campaign throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In the past year, construction and expansion of settlements and the wall, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land and natural resources, demolition of homes, and the forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population continued unabated and even escalated, further fragmenting the Territory’s contiguity and severely damaging the viability of the two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders.
The draft resolutions to be considered by the 4th Committee for recommendation to the General Assembly address all of these violations consistent with the relevant provisions of international law. The resolutions reiterate the calls for compliance by Israel, the occupying Power, with the Charter, the 4th Geneva Convention, the human rights covenants and all relevant UN resolutions, demanding an end to human rights violations, urging immediate efforts to reverse the negative trends on the ground and stop the deterioration of the situation, and calling for serious efforts to be exerted towards achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace to end this ongoing injustice and conflict.
The first draft resolution, “Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories”, is contained in document A/C.4/71/L.11. It recalls, inter alia, the relevant UN resolutions and instruments of international law, as well as the ICJ Advisory Opinion and the Declarations of the High Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention. It takes note of the report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the conflict in Gaza in 2014 and other relevant reports. It stresses the need for an end to the Israeli occupation and the violations of the human rights of the occupied peoples, along with the need to ensure accountability for violations with a view to ensuring justice, deterring violations, protecting civilians and promoting peace. Moreover, the draft renews the Special Committee’s mandate, which remains valid pending termination of the Israeli occupation, and requests the Secretary-General, inter alia, to utilize his good offices to support the Special Committee in carrying out its mandate, which has been repeatedly obstructed by the denial of access to the occupied territories.
The second draft resolution is entitled “Applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, to the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and the other occupied Arab territories” and is contained in document A/C.4/71/L.12. This draft once again reaffirms the applicability of the 4th Geneva Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967 and demands that Israel accept the de jure applicability of the Convention. It recalls the 15 July 1999 Statement, the 5 December 2001 and 17 December 2014 Declarations adopted by the Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and welcomes initiatives by State Parties, in accordance with article 1, aimed at ensuring the respect of the Convention by Israel, the occupying Power.
The third draft is entitled “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan”, and contained in document A/C.4/71/L.13.
The draft recalls the many relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions regarding Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the Occupied Syrian Golan. It condemns settlement activities, which are illegal under international law and constitute a major obstacle to peace. The draft underscores the detrimental impact of settlement activities in all forms, as well as the construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, on the situation on the ground. It affirms that such measures are undermining the contiguity and integrity of the occupied lands and the viability of the two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders, taking note of the conclusions of recent and relevant reports, including by the Quartet earlier this year. Moreover, concerns are expressed regarding acts of violence, destruction, provocation and incitement by Israeli settlers and a clear call is made for prevention of such acts and accountability in this regard
The draft reiterates the Assembly’s demand for immediate cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the Occupied Syrian Golan. It calls for affirmative steps to reverse the negative trends on the ground. It clearly calls for full implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and strict compliance by Israel with its legal obligations, and rightly underscores that a complete cessation of Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-State solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, [and calls for consideration of measures of accountability in case of continued non-compliance by Israel].
The next draft is entitled “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”, and contained in document A/C.4/71/L.14.
The draft focuses on Israeli violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people in the context of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law. While deeply regretting the onset of the fiftieth year of the occupation and the urgent need to create the conditions that will fully end this occupation, the draft addresses the realities of the current situation, including Israel’s ongoing colonization, imprisonment and detention of civilians, demolition of Palestinian homes, settler violence, forced displacement and collective punishment measures, including its nearly ten-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, severely restricting the movement and access of persons and goods. The serious humanitarian and socio-economic effects of these illegal practices are also addressed.
The draft also expresses grave concern about tensions, instability and violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, in the recent period, and deplores the loss of innocent lives. It calls for urgent measures to ensure the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The draft calls on Israel to cease all of its illegal practices and respect the human rights of the Palestinian people in accordance with international law.
The last resolution under this item is entitled “The Occupied Syrian Golan”, contained in document A/C.4/71/L.15.
The extent of Israel’s systematic violations of human rights and international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan had continued to worsen during the reporting period.
The suffering of the Syrian people under Israeli occupation in the Syrian Golan has been sustained for almost half a century. In the occupied Syrian Golan, Israeli settlement activities are still going on, and the Syrians in the occupied Golan are subjected to hideous policies of suppression, racial discrimination, detention, torture and deprivation of their natural resources, including oil, gas and water. They are deprived of their right to learn in the Syrian national curriculum, and also of their right to carry their national identity cards, or even their right to meet or to communicate with their families in the other cities of Syria after 49 years of occupation, since 1967 up till now. Furthermore, the Israeli occupying power prevents the Syrian Arab Red Crescent from working and establishing clinics and hospitals in the occupied Golan.
The Israeli occupation Government has recently granted priority to settlements in the Golan in its budgetary disbursements. In its latest provocative meeting, held in April in the Golan, Israel provided new settlers with great incentives, such as tax exemptions and assistance in establishing agricultural projects, and endorsed the construction of thousands of housing units in the occupied Syrian Golan, just as it does in occupied Jerusalem and occupied Palestinian territories, in flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions.
The latest developments in the region and in the area of separation stress the need, more than ever that The united Nations, specially Security Council, should take immediate measures against Israel to force it to put an end to its aggression and its violations and to force it to withdraw from the entire Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, in accordance with Security council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 497 (1981).
The draft resolution which is presented to the Committee, takes the same text adopted last year and updated it, but do not included any new substantive idea, due that the occupied Syrian Golan continues to be under the same situation of last year.
Mr. Chair,
On behalf of the cosponsors, we express our hopes that Member States will once again give their strong support to these important draft resolutions regarding serious matters of human rights and the prospects for peace and that efforts will be exerted to uphold international law to promote realization of the rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and independence, and a just, lasting and peaceful solution to the conflict.
Thank you. Mr. Chair.