By Louise requin/GICJ
An worrying trend of violence is facing Palestinians in the Occupied Territories (OPT). Israeli settlers are endlessly targeting Palestinian locals, in an attempt to strain their resources and eventually drive them out of their land. Settlers attack property and individuals, in a record of 410 attacks total according to OCHA. Attacks include gun violence, destroying property and field, ransacking and torching and other forms of vandalization. The settlers want to harm Palestinians, but also to drive them out and strain their economic resources, as demonstrated by the targeting of olive harvests, crops, and livestock. The goal seems to be to deprive Palestinians of their opportunities to make a livelihood, to drive them away after exhausting their resources.
The attacks are directly against rural Palestinians in the occupied west Bank, an area annexed and controlled by Israel. Therefore, Palestinians have even fewer remedies than elsewhere. UN Human rights experts are warning against the rise in violence, specifically since little is done to face perpetrators with consequences. The security forces are well aware of these attacks, but have decided to do nothing. Ninety-one percent of the investigations into the targeting of Palestinians by settlers were closed by Israeli authorities. This has discouraged Palestinians from even trying to access justice. Authorities respond to settler violence by sending Palestinians away, and taking their land away from them.
It is clear that the Israeli government is complicit with settler violence; they willingly disregard their obligations to Palestinians in the OPT and contribute to forcing them out of their land. Widespread impunity awarded to the settlers proves Israel’s tacit agreement with the violence. Any act of resistance from Palestinians is being labeled as “terrorism” from the Israeli security forces, which enables authorities to enact violence, detention and human rights abuse against Palestinians. Israel’s unlawful expansion continues despite repeated calls from the international community that the country should respect its international legal obligations.
UN Human Rights experts worry that impunity contributes to an atmosphere of coercion. More importantly, the lack of accountability for such violations contributes to an ever-so-clear scheme of ethnic cleansing and land expropriation that Israel is conducting against Palestinians. Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) calls for the implementation of an international mechanism to bring justice and effective remedy to Palestinians directly. If Israel is to be seen as a legitimate international actor, it should abide by the principles of the Geneva Convention IV, which impose the protection of the occupied populations. GICJ reiterates its concerns regarding what it considers to be a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing under a regime of apartheid which Israel is directing against Palestinians. The international community must label the conflict as such and take appropriate measures immediately.
Justice, Human rights, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre For Justice
