From the Website of United Nations
links https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135602
UN independent experts spotlight ‘prima facie war crime’ in East Jerusalem
The international community must
take immediate action to stop Israel’s forced evictions and displacement
of Palestinians in East Jerusalem as part of Israel’s annexation and “de-Palestinianization” of the city, UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Thursday.
“Israel’s transfer of its own population into the occupied territory confirms a deliberate intention to colonize the territory it occupies, a practice strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law,” they said.
“It amounts to a prima facie war crime,” they declared.
The joint statement came from three UN independent experts: Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing; and Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.
After repeatedly raising these issues with the Government of Israel, they said no response has been received to date.
‘Irredeemably’ altering city’s status
Indeed,
despite efforts of international organizations and activists,
Palestinians under Israeli occupation continue to be forced out of their
homes and dispossessed of their land and properties on the basis of
discriminatory laws.
The laws, designed to consolidate Jewish
ownership in Jerusalem, are irredeemably altering the city’s demographic
composition and status, they warned.
Discriminatory laws
In
neighbourhoods adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem, an estimated 150
Palestinian families are currently at risk of forced eviction and
displacement by Israeli authorities and settlers.
Over the past
decades, hundreds of Palestinian properties in occupied East Jerusalem
have been taken over by settlers, in part due to a law that claims to
allow the transfer of pre-1948 Jewish property to the “original Jewish
owners” or their “heirs”, the experts said.
‘Lawfare’ in action
The
current legislation helps settler organizations expropriate Palestinian
properties through a manipulation of the law, they added.
“This
is lawfare in action,” they said. “The law is discriminatory and
acquisitive by design, and no such right to restitution exists for the
over 1 million Palestinians and their descendants who were displaced and
dispossessed from Jerusalem, Israel, and the rest of the West Bank and
Gaza as of 1947 and in 1967.”
Longing for justice
“They are still longing for justice,” the UN experts said.
Of
specific concern are three families that are currently at risk: the
Shehades in Silwan, the Ghaith-Sub Labans in the Old City, and the
Salems in Sheikh Jarrah. Despite living in their homes for many decades
under a protected tenancy lease, these families have faced eviction
lawsuits filed by settler organizations seeking to take over their
properties for years.
The Ghaith-Sub Laban family has already
exhausted all legal avenues to challenge the eviction order, they said,
adding that Israeli authorities have served them with a notice to vacate
their house by 25 April, or face forced eviction.
'Blatant violation of international law'
“This
is in blatant violation of international law that does not confer the
occupying Power the authority to change the local legislation unless
strictly required by security needs: settler-colonial intent and
interests are not a security need,” the experts said.
The
establishment and expansion of settlements constitute “a grave breach of
international law, prosecutable under the Rome Statute”, they said,
emphasizing that no State should passively acquiesce with these illegal
acts to “trump the rights of Palestinians to self-determination,
adequate housing, property, non-discrimination”.
“For the
Palestinians, the enjoyment of human rights is a far-off hope as the
suppression of these rights is part of the very architecture of the
Israeli occupation,” they said.
“The almost 56-year-long
occupation and the way it is allowed to conduct itself with general
impunity and without consequences, makes a farce of international law
and the credibility of the system mandated to enforce it,” they said.
“The
occupation must end with all deliberate speed and until that day,
Israel must comply fully with international humanitarian law and
international human rights law obligations,” they stressed.
Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. They monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues.
They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.
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