NOVEMBER 2 — Since October 7 when Hamas militants crossed from Gaza and attacked Israeli communities and military posts, killing around 1,400 people and taking 240 hostages, Israel has been unrelenting with its bombardment of Gaza.
It has also since stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank, with at least 122 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers, leading to the European Union’s (EU) top diplomat Josep Borrell condemning attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank.
The West Bank (including East Jerusalem) is one part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), the other being the Gaza Strip (Gaza).
According to reports, Borrell has “expressed great concern over attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians [in the West Bank], which he firmly condemned.”
Borrell’s condemnation is a timely reminder not to forget Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
It must be recalled that the UN General Assembly has on December 30, 2022 adopted Resolution 77/247 in which the Assembly, among others, notes “the need for the prevention of all acts of violence, harassment, provocation and incitement by extremist Israeli settlers and groups of armed settlers, especially against Palestinian civilians, including children, and their properties, including homes, agricultural lands and historic and religious sites, including in Occupied East Jerusalem, and deploring the violation of the human rights of Palestinians in this regard, including acts of violence leading to death and injury among civilians.”
The Resolution reaffirms Resolution 75/98 of December 10, 2020 which expressed the Assembly’s “grave concern about the continuing systematic violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel, the occupying Power, including that arising from the excessive use of force and military operations causing death and injury to Palestinian civilians, including children, women and non-violent, peaceful demonstrators, as well as journalists, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel; the arbitrary imprisonment and detention of Palestinians, some of whom have been imprisoned for decades; the use of collective punishment; the closure of areas; the confiscation of land; the establishment and expansion of settlements; the construction.”
The Palestinian territories have been occupied since 1967. In the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 of 12 August 2022, Michael Lynk wrote, among others:
“There are now 5 million stateless Palestinians living without rights, in an acute state of subjugation and with no path to self-determination or a viable independent State, which the international community has repeatedly promised is their right.
“Over the past five decades, Israel has created 300 Jewish only civilian settlements, all of them illegal, with 700,000 Israeli Jewish settlers now living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the midst of, but apart from, 3 million Palestinians."
In Gaza, Israel has barricaded the two million Palestinians into what former British Prime Minister David Cameron called “an open-air prison”, a method of population control unique in the modern world.
“In recent years, prime ministers of Israel have regularly and openly proclaimed that the country’s rule over the Palestinians and their land is permanent and that no Palestinian State will emerge.
“The international community has declared time and again that the Israeli rule over the Palestinian territory is an occupation, strictly governed by international humanitarian law, as well as by international human rights law.”
Indeed.
Resolution 77/247 accordingly, among others –
· calls for urgent measures to ensure the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilian population in the OPT, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law and as called for by the Security Council in its resolution 904 (1994) of 18 March 1994 ; and
· demands that Israel, the occupying Power, cease all of its settlement activities, the construction of the wall and any other measures aimed at altering the character, status and demographic composition of the OPT, including in and around East Jerusalem, all of which, inter alia, gravely and detrimentally impact the human rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination, and the prospects for achieving without delay an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, and calls for the full respect and implementation of all relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions in this regard, including Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) of 23 December 2016 .
While focus is now on Gaza, don’t forget the West Bank. Resolutions after resolutions are reminders of Israel atrocities against Palestinian civilian population in the OPT.
As seven past presidents of the Malaysian Bar have said, it’s a matter of humanity.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
