The UN Human Rights Council recently discussed a report presented by the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights on Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories and some of its repercussions on the Palestinian people’s rights.
Christian Salazar Volkmann director of the field operations and technical cooperation division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights read the report before members of the Council on Tuesday.
According to the report “from 2012 to 2022 the population of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem had grown from 520000 to over 700000.”
“These settlers lived illegally in 279 Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank including 14 settlements in the occupied East Jerusalem with a total population of more than 229000 people. At least 147 of these settlements were outposts illegal even under Israeli domestic law” the report underlined.
The report documented a correlation between the expansion of outposts and settler attacks against Palestinians affirming that “during the past decade the United Nations had verified 3372 violent incidents by settlers injuring 1222 Palestinians.”
The report pointed out that “last year settler violence reached the highest levels ever recorded by the United Nations” accusing Israel of failing “to investigate and prosecute crimes against Palestinians committed by settlers and Israeli forces.”
The report also covered three cases of imminent forcible transfer in the West Bank describing such Israeli practice as a “war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
It explained that these forcible transfers happened in Masafer Yatta Ras al Tin and Wadi Qaddum in East Jerusalem which impacted the lives of more than 1450 Palestinian residents in total.
“From 2012 to 2021 Israel demolished 6821 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem forcibly evicting 9766 Palestinians” the report said.
The report called on Israel to “cease immediately and reverse all settlements’ development and related activities in accordance with relevant United Nations’ resolutions.”
