Written by John Dugard, UN Human Rights Council and agencies Wednesday, 27 September 2006
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John Dugard, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said that political militants had rights, under both human rights law and international humanitarian law. Today this obvious truth was rejected by Israel and some Western States that should know better. Such States, and their leaders, took the view that all acts, however brutal, were permissible in the so-called war against terror. Consequently they had little sympathy for appeals for respect of the human rights law and international humanitarian law.
This explained why today the Special Rapporteur was not going to speak about Israeli actions against Palestinian militants and politicians. Instead, the Special Rapporteur wished to speak only about Israeli actions against ordinary, non-militant, non-activist Palestinians who simply wanted to lead a good life with their families and friends, who wished to educate their children for a better life, and who wished to enjoy the basic amenities of life.
>From a human rights' perspective the human rights situation in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory had deteriorated since 2001, and was
intolerable, appalling, and tragic for the ordinary Palestinian. In
Gaza, since the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit on 25 June, the people
had been subjected to continuous bombardment and military incursions in
which over 100 civilians had been killed and many hundreds wounded.
Three quarters of the population was unable to feed itself and was
dependent on food aid.
Throughout the West Bank there were checkpoints and roadblocks, now over 500 in number. The West Bank was fragmented into Bantustans by checkpoints and roadblocks. Cities were cut off from each other. A serious humanitarian crisis prevailed in the West Bank, albeit not as extreme as in the case of Gaza.
The actions of Israel, and now other States, against the people of Palestine challenged the commitment of the international community to human rights. If the States and institutions comprising the international community could not recognize what was happening in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and take some action, they must not be surprised if the people of the planet disbelieved that they were seriously committed to the promotion of human rights and the protection of an endangered people.
"I hope that my portrayal of hardships experienced by such people will trouble the consciences of those accustomed to turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of the Palestinian people," Dugard told the UN Human Rights Council.
"Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key," Dugard said. Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, rejected Dugard's allegations as "one-sided" and not reflecting reality.
"What Israel chooses to describe as collateral damage to the civilian population is in fact indiscriminate killing prohibited by international law," Dugard said."
Source: UN Human Rights Council