Lazar Berman is the diplomatic reporter for The Times of Israel.
The UN Commission of Inquiry investigating rights violations in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip releases its current report, calling on the Security Council to end Israel’s “permanent occupation” and calling on UN member states to prosecute Israeli officials.
The 28-page report, which will be presented to the General Assembly on Oct. 27, accuses Israel of violating foreign laws by granting permanent rights over the West Bank and annexing land claimed by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Syrian land in the West Bank. Golan Heights.
“Israel’s moves that constitute de facto annexation come with the expropriation of land and herbal resources, the status quo of settlements and outposts, the maintenance of a restrictive and discriminatory regime of plans and structures for Palestinians, and the extraterritorial extension of Israeli law to Israeli settlers. in the West Bank,” the report says.
It also accuses Israel of discriminatory policies against Arab citizens, theft of herbal resources and gender-based violence against Palestinian women.
The authors seek an urgent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice “on the legal consequences of Israel’s continued refusal to end its occupation” and an investigation through the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The report mentions the words “Hamas,” “rockets” or “terrorism. “
Israel’s project in Geneva rejects the report, stating: “Patrons who have made anti-Semitic comments and proactively engaged in anti-Israel activism, either before or after their appointment, have no legitimacy or credibility to address the factor at hand. “
The embassy adds that it undermines the credibility of the UN and its human rights mechanisms.
Israel refused to cooperate with the commission and did not grant it access to Israel or Palestinian-controlled spaces in the West Bank and Gaza.
The investigation was launched at a special council consultation in May 2021, following clashes between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip, when the UN Human Rights Council identified a commission of inquiry to investigate “all alleged violations of foreign humanitarian law. “. and all alleged violations and abuses of foreign human rights laws” in Israel, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Former UN human rights leader Navi Pillay is leading the open investigation, along with India’s Miloon Kothari, the UN’s first special rapporteur on good enough housing, and Chris Sidoti, Australia’s foreign human rights law expert.
Kothari sparked outrage over the term “Jewish lobby” and for wondering whether Israel deserves UN membership, prompting Israeli accusations of anti-Semitism and calling for his resignation.
The CEO of the International Legal Forum, Arsen Ostrovsky, is calling on the United States to withdraw investment from the commission and deny visa access to its members weekly.
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