NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, on Wednesday condemned recent decisions by Israel’s Security Cabinet to expand the expropriation of land in the occupied West Bank.
He described the moves as a step toward unlawful annexation, and a violation of the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
The measures, approved on Sunday, expand Israeli civilian authority in parts of the West Bank, known as “Areas A and B” under the Oslo Accords, in which certain powers are currently exercised by the Palestinian Authority.
“This is yet another step by the Israeli authorities toward rendering a viable Palestinian state impossible, in violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” Turk said.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, the package of measures alter existing legal arrangements to allow Israeli authorities and individuals to acquire land in those areas, a move Turk said violates the laws of occupation.
“If these decisions are implemented, they will undoubtedly accelerate the dispossession of Palestinians and their forcible transfer, and lead to the creation of more illegal Israeli settlements,” he said.
“This will also further deprive Palestinians of their natural resources and restrict their enjoyment of other human rights.”
The measures would “further cement Israel’s control and integration of the occupied West Bank into Israel, consolidating unlawful annexation,” Turk added.
The decisions also strip the Palestinian Authority of certain planning and building powers in parts of Hebron, including the area around the Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs, and establish Israeli administrative control over Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, he said.
“This not only violates the land rights of Palestinians, but also their cultural rights in respect of sites of particular significance,” he added.
Turk’s comments came amid what the Human Rights Office described as a broader pattern of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinians in the West Bank, including reports of forced transfers, evictions, home demolitions, land seizures and restrictions on movement.
“We are witnessing rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory, stripping its people of their lands and forcing them to leave,” Turk said.
The measures were “supported by rhetoric and actions by senior Israeli officials” that violated Israel’s obligations as an occupying power to preserve the existing legal order, he warned.
“These decisions must be overturned,” Turk added. “The settlements must be evacuated. The occupation must end. Now.”
