The Human Rights Council this afternoon held an interactive dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children after concluding its interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.
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IMAD ZUHAIRI (Palestine) said the efforts of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief had resulted in excellent work on protecting these rights. There were a range of Islamic, Christian and other sites in Al-Quds, the city which had suffered from the occupying power, Israel, which had continued to violate fundamental rights, by, for example, including Abraham's shrine, Bethlehem and the Old City Walls on the list of its cultural heritage. These were Arab, Islamic, and Christian sites, not part of the occupying power. Israel also continued to dig and excavate under Islamic and Christian sites in the Holy City of Jerusalem, seeking to Judasize these areas. Apart from this, Israel also continued to put obstacles before the freedom of movement of Islamic and Christian worshippers, as well as before the clergy, requiring a quick reaction by the international community to halt these practices and oblige the occupying power to respect international resolutions on the cultural and religious history of the city. However long it took and whatever different violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people took place, they would remain determined to stay on their land and return to their homes and property, including religious sites in historic parts of Palestine, and Israel would be witness to that determination for ever.
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