Commissioner for Human Rights: Deepening Israel’s control over the Palestinian territories, an increasing violation of the right to self-determination

UN Commissioner Volker Türk added: “If implemented, these decisions will undoubtedly accelerate the dispossession and forced displacement of Palestinians, and will lead to the establishment of more illegal Israeli settlements. They will also further deprive Palestinians of their natural resources and restrict their enjoyment of other human rights.”

On February 8, the Israeli Security Ministerial Council approved a package of measures that expand the powers of the Israeli civil authority in Areas A and B of the West Bank. According to the Oslo Accords, some of these powers fall within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

The United Nations Human Rights Office said that these measures will lead to changing laws, in violation of occupation law, in a way that allows Israeli authorities and individuals to own lands in these areas.

The Israeli decisions also stripped the Palestinian Authority of planning and construction powers in parts of Hebron, including the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs, and imposed Israeli administrative control over Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, with the aim of accelerating settlement expansion, the UN office said.

In this context, the Human Rights Commissioner said: “This violates not only the rights of Palestinians to their lands, but also their cultural rights in relation to sites of special interest.”

Changing demographics

The Human Rights Office said that these measures come in a broader context of increasing attacks by settlers and Israeli security forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in addition to forced displacement, evictions, home demolitions, land seizures, restrictions on movement, and other violations documented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Turk added: “We are witnessing accelerating steps to permanently change the demographic composition of the occupied Palestinian territory, by dispossessing its residents of their lands and forcing them to leave.”

He stated that this is supported by speeches and practices issued by senior Israeli officials, and violates Israel’s duties as an occupying power to maintain the existing legal system and social fabric. He stressed the need to cancel these decisions, evacuate the settlements, and end the occupation now.