Palestinians live in a situation of “apartheid” in which a system of systematic repression is aimed at maintaining the domination of one racial-national-ethnic group over another.
Monitoring Desk
On Friday, the United Nations Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories Michael Lynk presented a report revealing that the Israeli occupation has become more repressive against the Palestinian people due to the conduct of the Israeli Army, the Jewish settlers, the demolitions of housing, and the obstacles for the United Nations to continue monitoring the human rights violations that occur.
“In terms of Palestinian deaths at hands of the Israeli Army, 2021 was the most fateful year since 2014 (the year of the ‘Protective Edge’ military operation launched by Israel against Gaza). Cases of settler violence towards Palestinians were the highest since records have been kept, and the demolition of Palestinian houses has also reached a peak,” Lynk denounced.
At the end of his six-year mission, he emphasized that he has not seen an improvement in the humanitarian situation but rather a worsening of the living conditions of the Palestinians.
To illustrate this, Lynk recalled that the West Bank had 370 Israeli settlers when international organizations made the last major effort for peace in 2014. Now, there are at least 480,000 settlers in that area. In the occupied territory of East Jerusalem, the situation is even more worrying as the number of Israeli settlers increased from 230,000 in 2014 to 710,000 in 2022.
The UN rapporteur pointed out that Israel has adopted new strategies of harassment against Palestinians. In Oct. 2021, for example, the Israeli authorities defined six Palestinian non-governmental organizations as terrorist entities, without having presented evidence of the accusation since then.
Currently, Israel is refusing to renew work visas for UN Human Rights Office employees working in the Palestinian territories. This has forced the UN officials to leave the country. Lynk emphasized that the occupied Palestinian territories live in a situation of “apartheid” in which “a system of systematic repression and discrimination” generates norms aimed at “maintaining the domination of one racial-national-ethnic group over another.”
He also pointed out that the most surprising thing has been the “unwillingness of the international community” to impose any type of sanction so that Israel responds for an occupation that began 55 years ago and continues in violation of countless international law provisions.
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Courtesy: TeleSur
