UN Will Continue to Follow Position that Israeli Settlements are in Breach of International Law – UNOG Press Briefing

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the United Nations Environment Programme, World Food Programme, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Labour Organization, World Health Organization and International Parliamentary Union.

/…

Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), read the following statement:

“As part of United Nations Secretariat, we continue to follow the longstanding position of the United Nations that the Israeli settlements are in breach of international law.

A change in the policy position of one State does not modify existing international law, nor its interpretation by the International Court of Justice and the Security Council.”

A journalist noted that several non-governmental organizations had called on United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to release the database of companies operating in Israeli settlements. Mr. Colville said that the High Commissioner for Human Rights would release this database.

Asked to explain which key aspect of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions Israel breached, Mr. Colville noted that the Fourth Geneva of 1949, one of the most ratified international treaties in existence, clearly prohibited the occupying power to transfer its civilian population into territories it occupied. The 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice had found that the Israeli settlements into Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in East Jerusalem, had been established in breach of international law.

Numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions declared that the settlements did not have legal validity; such was the resolution 446 of 1979 and the resolution 2334 of 2016. The latter stated that the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including in East Jerusalem, did not have legal validity and constituted flagrant violation of international law.

The European Court of Justice had noted in the last week’s judgement that the settlements established in some of the territories occupied by the State of Israel gave concrete expression to a policy of population transfer conducted by that State outside of its territory, in violation of international humanitarian law.

Asked whether this was an explosive situation that was likely to trigger the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Mr. Colville said that there would be more and more statements coming out, from the European Union for examples, and there would certainly be others from various parts of United Nations later today.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, recalled that Nickolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, had recently reiterated the appeal for calm and de-escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip.

/…