A U.N. report published on Wednesday says Israel is violating international law by discriminating against Palestinians in the West Bank and should vacate the territory. Photo by Alaa Badarneh/EPA
A new U.N. report says Israel has violated international law by discriminating against Palestinians in the West Bank since occupying the territory after the Six-Day War in 1967.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released the report on Wednesday and said it “details the asphyxiating impact of Israel’s laws, policies and practices on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
Israel’s policies in the West Bank run counter to international law that bans states from engaging in racial segregation and “apartheid” policies, according to the report.
“Israeli authorities treat Israeli settlers and Palestinians residing in the West Bank under two distinct bodies of law and policies, resulting in unequal treatment on a range of critical issues, including movement and access to resources such as land and water,” the report says.
“Palestinians continue to be subjected to large-scale confiscation of land and deprivation of access to resources. This has had the effect of dispossessing them of their lands and homes, alongside other forms of systemic discrimination, including criminal prosecution in military courts during which their due process and fair trial rights are systematically violated.”
The report says Israeli officials have expanded the use of “unlawful force, arbitrary detention and torture, repression of civil society” in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
According to the report, the result in the West Bank is subject to restrictions on media and movement, while Israeli settlements continue.
The report cites an “escalation of settler violence” that allegedly is supported by and at times participated in by Israeli security forces.
According to the U.N. report, Israel’s military justice system works against Palestinians and provides them with little human rights protection, while favoring Israeli settlers.
The report says lethal force has been used when unwarranted and in a manner that discriminates against Palestinians.
The report cites two examples of alleged killings by Israeli forces, both of which involved claims of suspicious activity.
One was a 10-year-old boy and the other a 23-year-old pregnant woman, both of whom were shot and killed for suspicious activities involving the ground.
A search showed the woman was unarmed, and no improvised explosive devices were found in the area.
The report does not say if an IED was found near the boy, who was shot and killed while standing, unarmed, in a doorway.
U.N. officials said Israel’s policies in the West Bank infringe on residents’ rights to work and prevent Palestinians from accessing their lands, which causes financial hardship.
The report says construction of new roads links Israeli settlements while separating Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
“Thousands of Palestinians have also been evicted from their homes across the West Bank, which may amount to unlawful transfer, a war crime,” U.N. officials said.
Israel “must repeal all laws, policies and practices that perpetuate systemic discrimination against Palestinians based on race, religion or ethnic origin,” U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said.
“Whether accessing water, school, rushing to hospital, visiting family or friends, or harvesting olives — every aspect of life for Palestinians in the West Bank is controlled and curtailed by Israel’s discriminatory laws, policies and practices,” Turk added.
He said Israel needs to vacate the West Bank and remove all Israeli settlers and return the land to the “Palestinian people.”
The West Bank separates Israel and Jordan and was part of Jordan prior to Israel’s occupation of the territory during the Six-Day War.
Israeli forces counter-attacked and occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which remain under Israel’s control.
