General Debate Under Item 7: Human Rights Situation in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab territories

International-Lawyers.Org draws attention to continuing serious and widespread violations of Palestinians’ human rights by Israel. This situation undoubtedly necessitates the continued attention of the Human Rights Council.

We regret that rather than address these violations by ensuring respect for human rights and condemning Israel’s actions, some Member States of the Human Rights Council seek to instead hide their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is happening. Such a stance is inconsistent with the obligations of the Council’s Member States. Such intentional ignorance is a dark mark on the history of the States that are taking such an unfortunate stance and impugns the integrity of the Council itself.

Moreover, Israel’s recent action to restrict, and, in some cases suspend, electricity to parts of Gaza indicates once again the continuation of an intentional and ongoing Israeli policy aimed at creating conditions of life for Palestinians in Gaza that evidences Israel’s intention is to destroy the Palestinian people, at least in part. As every Member State of the Council is aware such actions give rise to the responsibility of all States to act to prevent these activities no matter where they occur because they constitute acts of genocide. The failure to fulfil this responsibility is not only an unfortunate example of irresponsibility by complacent States, but it may also give rise to the responsibility of these States for the international crime of genocide.

In light of this situation, we urge the Special Rapporteur to investigate whether Israel’s action have reached the level of actions—over the better part of a century—that constitute the crime of genocide.