Occupation, discrimination against Palestinians behind tensions: OHCHR
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The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory issues its first report on the May 2021 Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
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A sound grenade is fired by Israeli forces during a protest against the creation of a new road for Israeli settlers, near the Palestinian village of Beita, north of the West Bank, Nablus, August 25, 2021 (AP)
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the investigative committee formed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights following the May 2021 Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, issued Tuesday its first annual report on occupied Palestine.
The Israeli occupation had launched a brutal, 11-day-long war on the Gaza Strip last year, that claimed the lives of more than 200 Palestinian civilians and destroyed the infrastructure of the blockaded strip.
During its murderous aggression on #Gaza a year ago, the Israeli occupation did not spare women, children nor elderly.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/eOfCY1OUAE
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 17, 2022
The commission attributed the "recurring tensions, instability, and protraction of conflict" to systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial, or religious identity, calling the latter the "root causes" of Israeli aggression and violation of humanitarian law against occupied Palestine.
The commission noted the views of the former Secretary-General that a sense of despair and frustration had been growing "under the weight of half a century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process."
It also stressed that impunity was "feeding increased resentment among the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory", as well as fuelling tensions, instability, and "conflict", in addition to an endless cycle of violence that undermines any chance for peace and security.
The increased level of Israeli violence against Palestinians during the 2021 aggressions and again in early 2022 prompted the Commission and its Special Rapporteur to voice a stark warning regarding the situation.
The Commission voiced concerns about threats of forced displacement, forced displacement, demolitions, settlement expansion, and settler violence throughout the occupied West Bank, as well as the Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip, underlining that all of these actions have contributed to and will continue to contribute to the "cycle of violence" within occupied Palestine.
"Discrimination emanating from divisions, and restrictions on human rights to varying degrees, have created an oppressive environment that itself fuels Palestinian resentment towards those imposing the restrictions and Israeli fear," the first annual report read.
The Israeli occupation Foreign Ministry rejected the report, like many others criticizing its violations of human rights, claiming it was "part and parcel of the witch hunt carried out by the Human Rights Council against Israel."
The root causes found by the investigation are mainly committed by "Israel", Commission chief Navanethem Pillay said, noting that this was an indication of the unequal nature of the "conflict".
The authors underlined that the evidence found by the committee convincingly indicates that "Israel" has no intention of ending the occupation and has plans to ensure complete control of the Palestinian territories.
Furthermore, Pillay noted that the authors have concluded that the majority of the UN recommendations were not implemented, which include probing the Israeli occupation's violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
The Israeli occupation, the report highlighted, has paid no respect to the rules and laws of war, including those regarding the military occupation, the violations of individual and collective rights, and impunity.
"The Security Council, the General Assembly, the Secretary-General, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights have all reaffirmed the illegality of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem [al-Quds], and in the occupied Syrian Golan," the report added.
"The policy of settlement runs contrary to the obligation of Israel under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, the transfer, directly or indirectly, by an occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory that it occupies constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute."
