The UN human rights chief slammed Israel’s far-right finance minister for remarks in which he called for The Palestinian village of Huwara will be ‘annihilated’describing the comments as “an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility”.
“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is a tragedy, a tragedy first and foremost for the Palestinian people,” Volker Turk told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council on Friday as he officially presented a report on the situation in the occupied territories.
He was referring to remarks by Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of a pro-settler party in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government. Smotrich made the comments Wednesday after a series of deadly Palestinian attacks and Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
“My report finds that during the reporting period, lethal force was frequently employed by the Israeli security forces (ISF), regardless of threat level and sometimes even as an initial measure rather than a last resort” , Turk said.
“My office has also documented several cases of apparent extrajudicial targeted killings by members of the ISF,” he said. “The report finds that 131 Palestinians have been killed by ISF personnel over the past year in a law enforcement context that is outside any context of hostilities. This includes 65 people who, to our knowledge, were not armed or engaged in attacks or clashes.
“The occupation eats away at the health of both societies at all levels, from childhood to old age and in all aspects of life. For this violence to end, the occupation must end. On all sides, there are people who know it.
EU envoy calls for accountability
The European Union envoy to the Palestinians also called on Friday for accountability and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice after a rampage by Israeli settlers this week in the occupied West Bank in which a Palestinian was killed and dozens of homes, shops and cars were set on fire.
Ambassador Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, leading one of the largest EU delegations to visit the West Bank, said officials wanted to see with their own eyes the damage wrought by Sunday’s violence in Huwara and around. The rampage followed a Palestinian gun attack that killed two Israeli brothers.
“It is absolutely necessary for us that liability is fully assured, that the perpetrators are brought to justice and that those who have lost property are compensated,” said Kuhn von Burgsdorff.
Local media reported that in a rare move, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday signed administrative detention orders for two suspects following the rampage after a Jerusalem court ordered police to release the suspects. seven people who had been arrested in connection with the rampage.
Amnesty International on Friday condemned the release of the suspects. He also condemned the use of administrative detention, which he said is a practice contrary to international law.
Israeli rights group Yesh Din found that 93% of investigations into settler attacks in the occupied West Bank between 2005 and 2022 were closed without charge.
Israeli Major General Yehuda Fuchs, who commands the Israeli army in the area, said on Tuesday that his forces had prepared for an attempted retaliation by settlers following the gun attack, but had been surprised by the intensity of the violence, which he said was perpetrated by dozens of people. He called it a “pogrom perpetrated by outlaws”.
The United States also demanded that Netanyahu disavow Smotrich’s call for Huwara’s erasure.
On the night of the rampage, Netanyahu urged people not to take the law into their own hands, but he did not publicly address Smotrich’s statement or respond to the unusual criticism from Washington, a close ally.
Rising tensions in the West Bank
Late Thursday, Palestinian officials said Israeli forces shot dead 15-year-old Mohammad Nidal Saleem rear in the occupied town of Azzoun in the West Bank.
Ahmad Enaya, the town’s mayor, said an Israeli military vehicle drove into town and when teenagers threw rocks at the car, soldiers responded with live ammunition.
The Israeli army said in a statement that soldiers fired at suspects who threw explosives at them as they searched the area for people who threw fireworks at passing Israeli vehicles. near Azzoun.
He said he was aware of reports of injuries but did not confirm any Palestinian deaths.
Violence in the West Bank has increased as the Israeli army has stepped up raids and killed more than 60 Palestinians since January.
The United States, Jordan and Egypt have called for calm as concerns grow about an escalation ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover in late March and early April.
In his remarks in Geneva, the UN rights chief said decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine have led to “increasing dispossession…and recurrent and grave violations of their [Palestinians’] rights, including the right to life”.
“No one could wish to live this way or imagine that forcing people to live in such desperate conditions could lead to a lasting solution,” he said.