Human rights situation in the OPT – Letter from Palestine

QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE

OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES, INCLUDING PALESTINE

Letter dated 3 June 1998 from the Permanent Observer for Palestine

to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the

High Commissioner for Human Rights

  The Israeli occupation authorities demolished yesterday six Palestinian­owned houses in the occupied City of Jerusalem and in the villages nearby, thus bringing the number of Palestinian homes demolished by the Israeli occupation forces in the Palestinian Territory since the accession of Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu to power in Israel to 270 homes.

Furthermore, groups of settlers have recently expropriated, under the protection of the Israeli occupation soldiers, a number of Palestinian homes in the occupied City of East Jerusalem.

While these practices are persisting in violation of article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and of the principles of international law, the Israeli occupation authorities continue establishing and expanding settlements in the Holy City in grave violation of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.  They also continue preventing the Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem from remaining in their city by revoking their identity cards, and by not allowing them to continue living there.

All these practices are taking place in the framework of a dangerous and serious plan of Judaizing the occupied City of East Jerusalem, committing in this way a crime of war which has been defined in article 85 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

I would be grateful to you if you could work in view of putting an end to these grave violations to the principles of international humanitarian law and to human rights, and also to have this letter distributed as an official document of the fifty­fifth session of the Commission on Human Rights, under agenda item 8.

(Signed):  Nabil RAMLAWI

Ambassador

Permanent Observer for Palestine

to the United Nations Office in Geneva

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