By Yasmine Darwish / GICJ

"The occupation must end now" said Navi Pillay Chair of the three members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (OPT).

On June 13th, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry established by the Human Rights Council to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian law in the OPT, reviewed the findings and status of implementation of recommendations of previous United Nations fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry on the situation. It found that “the key findings and recommendations linked to the underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict have not been implemented, and that 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐏𝐓”.

During the discussion, the delegation of Palestine lamented the lack of accountability for the demolition of houses, hospitals, and the constant targeting of civilians by Israeli forces. The delegate asked for practical recommendations to hold Israel accountable. The persistent discrimination against Palestinians throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, threats of forced displacement, forced displacement, demolitions, settlement expansion and settler violence and the blockade of Gaza have all contributed to and will continue to contribute to cycles of violence.

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐚 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 (𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐉) calls on the International Community to do its utmost to end Israel's occupation and hold it accountable for all the violations of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law. 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐔𝐍 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.