Presenting Study on Legality of Israeli Occupation, Former Special Rapporteur Stresses ‘These Are Powerful Findings’

Highlighting the international community’ paralysis and lack of progress to hold Israel accountable for its actions, the Permanent Observer reported on preparations for the case being brought before the International Court of Justice that exposes Israel’s prolonged illegal practices and policies that deny the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, as the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People approved its annual report today.

The Palestinian people are outraged by the lack of progress in putting an end to their tragedies, declared Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine.  According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of Palestinians killed this year has already exceeded the number of those killed in 2022; this includes 44 children.  Yet, the Secretary-General in his report on children in armed conflict did not list Israel as a country violating children’s rights, he said.

“The current Israeli Government is the most extreme rightist Government in the history of the Governments of Israel,” he observed.  It includes fascist ministers considered by the Israeli legal system as promoting terrorism.  One such minister who has advanced a racist manifesto also announced that his and his family’s right to remain alive is greater than the right of the Palestinian people to circulate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Further, the current Government is expediting annexation, particularly to the majority area — the so-called Area C — which constitutes about 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, he continued.  Palestinians are facing the demolition of homes, displacement of families and threats against Masafer Yatta and other areas in the Occupied Territory, as well as against holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem, from extremist elements.