Archives for 2021

Excellency,

I am compelled to write again in immediate follow-up to my last communication as tensions and violence in Occupied Palestine further escalate, particularly in and around East Jerusalem, as Israel, the occupying Power, and its extremist settlers intensify their attacks against Palestinian civilians and persist with attempts to strip Palestinian families of their homes and ethnically cleanse them from Jerusalem.

The international community must act with urgency to bring a halt to these crimes, avert further deterioration of this fragile and dangerous situation, and save human lives. The responsibility of the Security Council in this regard is patently clear.

On the same day of my last letter, on 5 May, a young Palestinian boy, Said Yussef Odeh, 16 years of age, was killed by the Israeli occupying forces who shot him twice in his back when he was at the entrance to his village of Odala, south of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.  Said, who was a student and aspiring football player who had his Palestinian national team identification card with him at the time he was shot, was then left to die of his wounds as the soldiers prevented paramedics from treating him for at least 15 minutes. By the time he was taken to hospital, the young boy was pronounced dead upon arrival, another innocent life taken, another Palestinian family devastated by this illegal colonial occupation.

Also this week, Israeli occupying forces killed a Palestinian woman, Fahima al-Hroub, age 60, near a checkpoint in Bethlehem. While the occupation authorities claim it was an alleged attack, video footage shows that at no point was she close enough to the pose a lethal threat to the soldiers who were armed to the hilt and yet proceeded to shoot her to death in broad daylight.

Against this backdrop of rising tensions, Palestinian protests also continue in occupied East Jerusalem. Demonstrations and vigils are being held nightly in solidarity with the Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood who remain under the threat of eviction from their homes by Israeli settler organizations and the Israeli Court that is equally complicit in these crimes.

These peaceful, non-violent protests continue to be met with brutal repression by the Israeli occupying forces and by violent attacks by extremist settlers, who have been emboldened by the Israeli court and Israeli Government officials who continue to incite and provoke with their inflammatory rhetoric. This includes the extremist, far-right Knesset member, Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly called for the transfer of Palestinians and who has provocatively “set up his office” in the middle of Sheikh Jarrah to stake claim to the area. It is the height of cruelty and absurdity that, while entire Palestinian families face the risk of being uprooted from their homes and their lives torn apart, it is they and those in solidarity with them who are being attacked, injured and arrested by the occupying forces, while Israeli settlers roam about freely intimidating and attacking civilians, including children, and vandalizing Palestinian homes and properties.

Instead, Israeli forces have been raiding Sheikh Jarrah night after night, assaulting residents and solidarity protesters, arresting them, spraying them with skunk water (a chemically enhanced sewage water), and using tear gas and sound bombs.  Among the Palestinians arrested have been Tala Obeid, Omar al-Khatib and Mahmoud Nabil al-Kurd, whose families face imminent displacement from their homes in East Jerusalem as Israeli settlers and Israeli Government continue attempts to ethnically cleanse the City’s Palestinian neighborhoods and take them over in a criminal drive to assert their control and sovereignty.

In this regard, it must be noted that half of the al-Kurd family home was already overtaken by Israeli settlers in 2009. Mohammed al-Kurd, who was only 11 years old when the settlers forced their way in, has been among those protesting the Israeli court’s decision to allow the settlers to evict his family from the home they have been living in for generations. Speaking of this reality and their constant harassment by the settlers, Mohammed has said “They are just sitting in our home, tormenting us, harassing us, doing everything they can to not only force us to leave the second half of our home but also harassing our neighbors into leaving their homes as part of an effort to completely annihilate the presence of Palestinians from Jerusalem,”.

In response to the Israeli court decision, the families have issued a statement rejecting that decision and stressing: “The inherently unjust system of Israel’s colonial courts is not considering questioning the illegal settler’s ownership and has already decided on the families’ dispossession”.

Faced with this unjust situation and the threat of yet another displacement, following the uprooting from their homes in historic Palestine in 1948, they seek the protection of international law.On 22 April 2021, representatives of 28 Palestinian families constituting approximately 500 Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah and 191 endorsing organizations, sent a letter to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling to urgently include the imminent forced displacement of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah as part of the investigation on the Situation in the State of Palestine, with specific regard to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including forcible transfer, appropriation of property, persecution, apartheid, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering arising from their forced evictions.

The fact is that Israel launched this policy of transfer of Palestinians from East Jerusalem almost immediately after occupied the remainder of the City in 1967. Land expropriation for Israeli settlements began as early as 1968 around East Jerusalem and in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods such as the Old City’s Muslim and Christian Quarters and in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Ras al-Amoud and Abu Tur. It is a policy that continues to this day, blatantly and aggressively, aimed at entrenching Israel’s presence, occupation and control in East Jerusalem, in violation of international law, United Nations resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016), and the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

Since 1967, Israel has revoked the residency rights of more than 14,200 Palestinians, uprooting thousands of families from East Jerusalem. These measures coincide with its aggressive practice of home demolitions and forced evictions, which have not stopped even in a time of pandemic, deliberately rendering hundreds more families homeless and even more vulnerable. Moreover, the occupying Power continues to use all means of legislative and administrative “measures” to advance its illegal schemes. As cautioned in a joint alert issued on 4 May 2020 by Israeli human rights organizations Ir Amin and Bimkom, “for the first time in 53 years, Israel has underhandedly began land registration procedures in East Jerusalem, exclusively registering land rights of properties to alleged Jewish owners without the public’s knowledge. Such a move is unprecedented and has potential acute ramifications on Palestinian properties across East Jerusalem, which could ultimately lead to widespread Palestinian dispossession in the city.”

The international community cannot remain paralyzed in the face of these blatant crimes. As stated by Human Rights Watch in its recent report on Israeli apartheid, “The international community has for too long explained away and turned a blind eye to the increasingly transparent reality on the ground”.

It is high time for international action, particularly by the Security Council, using the means and measures afforded by international law to finally hold Israel, the occupying Power, accountable for its violations and crimes against the Palestinian people. It is time to cease any support to this illegal occupation and cease the preferential treatment that has for so long exempted Israel from its obligation to respect the law like all other countries in the world. We thus repeat our appeal for responsible international action to protect human lives and human dignity and to uphold the law for the sake of justice and peace.

This letter is in follow-up to our 713 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 5 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. 

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10^th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Excellency,

I must urgently draw the international community’s attention to the critical facing the Palestinian people as Israel, the occupying Power, escalates its illegal policies and practices in tandem with the rising lawlessness and impunity it has cultivated among the most extreme elements of its population, particularly the settlers it has illegally transferred to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

Abetted and emboldened by the government, Israeli occupying forces and mobs of extremists have intensified their systemic, violent and racist attacks and incitement against Palestinians in ongoing attempts to entrench the occupation and de facto annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in East Jerusalem. These acts of aggression have become a nightly occurrence since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, with hundreds of Palestinians injured and arrested by Israeli occupying forces.

The massive deployment of occupation forces in and around Jerusalem’s Old City, the prevention of the right to worship, including to access Al-Haram Al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and ongoing eviction campaigns against Palestinian families in the City are the latest violations to add to Israel’s long list of grave breaches of international law and Security Council resolutions. In addition to these provocative measures, Palestinians in Jerusalem are reeling from nights of organized incitement and terror by extremist groups that included violent marches through city by hundreds of Jewish extremists chanting anti-Palestinian slogans and threats, including “Death to Arabs” and “May Palestinian villages burn.”

Emboldened by the routine incitement spouted by many extremist politicians, including in the latest Israeli election campaign, youth assailants belonging to the “Lehava” Jewish supremacist group set up roadblocks to violently intercept Palestinian vehicles as Israeli forces stood idly by. Such state-sponsored incitement and violence openly contradict the defamatory remarks made by the Israeli representative against Palestinian families and their children during last week’s Security Council debate on the Palestine question. Such hateful and racist comments against an entire nation of people – a method long used by Israel to dehumanize and demean the Palestinian people it is occupying and oppressing – have no place in the Security Council or in any civilized discourse and must be condemned and rejected.

Furthermore, directly linked to this culture of impunity and supremacy fostered by the occupation, are the rampant acts of settler violence throughout Occupied Palestine, including intimidation, harassment and attacks on civilians, seizure of Palestinian homes and destruction of crops, along with the deliberate demolition of homes, military raids by the occupying army, which have intensified in recent weeks. In a statement on 14 April, UN Special Rapporteurs warned that settler violence has increased dramatically in recent months without Israeli occupation forces taking necessary steps to stem the violence and uphold international law, including the obligation to protect the occupied population.

The UN Special Rapporteurs stressed, inter alia, “We are deeply worried by the atmosphere of impunity in which these attacks are taking place. In many cases, the Israeli military has been present, or nearby, and has not taken sufficient steps to protect the Palestinians from this violence. This amounts to a discriminatory two-tier approach to military protection and policing in the West Bank.” For instance, in one incident highlighted by the Special Rapporteurs which took place in Al-Khalil (Hebron) on 13 March, a Palestinian family – parents and their eight children – were attacked by 10 Israeli settlers, some of them armed. The injured parents were treated at a medical facility and the children left traumatized.

As spring brings key economic and cultural importance for Palestinians to harvest, settler attacks on agricultural fields and farmlands have also soared. On 12 April, Israeli settlers used heavy machinery to raze agricultural fields belonging to Palestinian families in the village of Jaloud, near Nablus. On 19 April, settlers bulldozed farmlands belonging to the Bedouin community of Khirbet al-Hamma. This latest attack is another attempt by settlers to uproot the Palestinian residents with the aim of replacing them with illegal settler outposts. On 21 April, occupying forces once again escorted extremist Israeli settlers as they stormed the archeological site of Sebastiya, near Nablus, also damaging nearby fields and preventing Palestinian farmers from accessing lands.

Israel’s systematic policy of forced displacement through home demolitions and forced evictions also persists unabated as the occupation accelerates its colonial settlement and annexation drive absent any attempts to stop them as the international community continues to fail to uphold its responsibilities and obligations in this regard, as per international law and the relevant UN resolutions, including Security Council resolution 2334 (2016).

On 12 April, Israeli occupation forces demolished a Palestinian home in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. On the same day, occupation forces destroyed residential tents and seized electric generators in Masafer Yatta, a collection of almost 19 hamlets near Al-Khalil, which rely heavily on farming and livestock as the main sources of livelihood. On 20 April, a Palestinian family in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood of East Jerusalem was forced to self-demolish their home to avoid the heavy demolition fees punitively imposed by the occupation. On the same day, occupation authorities issued demolition orders against 13 Palestinian homes in Qabalan, near Nablus.

Palestinian homes and structures continue to be demolished and seized under the pretext of lacking occupation-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain. According to the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, Israel has rejected nearly 99 percent of Palestinian building permit applications over the years. Moreover, according to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, since 1967, Israeli occupation authorities demolished more than 26,000 Palestinian-owned homes and structures.

Palestinian children have also endured rising waves of attacks by Israeli occupation forces, which regularly resort to excessive use of lethal force against an unarmed civilian population. On 9 April, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy lost his eye after Israeli soldiers indiscriminately fired rubber-tipped steel bullets onto a crowd in Al-Khalil. In a video widely shared on news networks and social media, the boy, Izz al-Din Al-Batsh, can be seen standing in a vegetable shop with his cousin as he was struck in the eye. With a metal core surrounded by a rubber coating, the projectiles are “less lethal” than live fire, but possess the capability to kill, maim, cripple, and blind, as detailed in the tragic case of Izz al-Din, who will suffer life-long disability like so many other Palestinian children and adults wounded by the occupation army’s cruelty and recklessness.

Israel also persists with its torture and ill-treatment of the Palestinians it is holding captive in its prisons and detention centers. While this has seemingly been normalized by the occupying Power, this 54-year-old policy and practice of mass arbitrary arrests and extreme abuse of the Palestinian civilian population, particularly males and including children, must be addressed as the grave violations of international law they constitute.

Palestinians face a more than 99 percent conviction rate in Israeli military courts, which is a central mechanism designed to dehumanize the Palestinian people, criminalize their presence on their land and their legitimate struggle for right to self-determination. As of today, more than 4,400 Palestinians are being arbitrarily held in Israeli jails, including 37 women and 140 children, as well as 440 who are being held in administrative detention, without charge or trial based on “evidence” that is not accessible either to the detainees or their lawyers.

In this regard, I must bring your attention to the case of Mansour Shahateet, who was forcibly kept in solitary confinement during the majority of his unlawful 17-year sentence. Shahateet was released nearly three weeks ago and suffers from psychological and neurological diseases stemming from years of severe torture and beatings, which have prevented him from recognizing his family, not even his own mother. According to Palestinian NGO Addameer, there has never been any individual or agency held accountable for the well-documented crimes of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians at Israeli prisons and interrogation centers. Moreover, according to Amnesty International, to this day, torture is not criminalized in Israeli law, enabling the torture and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli captivity.

Since the occupation began in 1967, Israel has held tens of thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention without charge or trial. Israel’s notorious policy of mass arbitrary detention is amongst many other illegal, inhumane, and immoral policies aimed to intimidate and repress the civilian population and entrench its colonial occupation. Human Rights Watch has noted: “Israel’s regular use of administrative detention, at the least, inverts international law and turns the exception into the norm, at the cost of the fundamental right to due process.” In his first report to the General Assembly in 2017, Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk called on Israel to comply with international law and standards for detentions, underscoring that “Israel’s use of administrative detention is not in compliance with the extremely limited circumstances in which it is allowed under international humanitarian law, and deprives detainees of basic legal safeguards guaranteed by international human rights law.”

Such blatant and systematic violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people, along with the repeated and documented violations of international humanitarian law, make ever more urgent the Security Council’s engagement on the Palestine question in a practical and proactive manner. Salvaging the potential for a future of peace, stability and justice depend on this. The cumulative effects of Israel’s 54-year belligerent occupation of Palestine and its decades of dispossession of Palestinians and denial of their rights, including the rights of the Palestine refugees to return and to restitution, have led to an unjust and coercive situation that the international community can no longer ignore and must not in any way assist in the maintenance of. Upholding international law and maintaining peace and security must be at the top of the Security Council’s agenda and Palestine must not be the exception. Until serious, concrete action is taken, Israel will remain unmoved, persisting with its crimes against our people with absolute impunity.

It is more urgent than ever to end the Security Council’s paralysis, which has allowed this illegal occupation to thrive rather than bringing it to an end, as repeatedly demanded by the international community in accordance with the rule of law and principles of human decency. International law and the Security Council’s mandate provide tools and mechanisms for measures to hold Israel accountable towards finally bringing an end to its occupation of the Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and promoting the realization of justice and peace, making them a reality, not only words in lofty statements.

It is well-known that the years and decades of inaction in this regard have not only gravely harmed the Palestinian people, but have also detrimentally impacted the very foundations of international law and the credibility of the Security Council, General Assembly and United Nations as a whole. What the world sees is that, despite clear and systematic violations of international law, Israel has not been held accountable. If anything, it has been rewarded and, increasingly emboldened by the status quo, Israel has believed it can commit evermore violations and pursue evermore criminal policies with zero cost to its international standing and relations. This obscenely unjust situation must end. The international community, including the Security Council, is not being asked to resort to extraordinary lengths to hold Israel accountable, but to simply have the will to respect and follow through on existing frameworks and rules of international law aimed at ending this historic injustice and longest belligerent occupation in modern history in line with international law and the relevant UN resolutions, most recently Security Council resolution 2334 (2016).

letter is in follow-up to our 711 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 14 April 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. 

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10^th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Excellency,

I must draw urgent attention to escalating tensions in Occupied East Jerusalem as Israel, the occupying Power, persists with its violations against the Palestinian inhabitants of the City, against the sanctity of holy sites, against the freedom of worship, and against the exercise of democracy.

As the Muslims around the world yesterday began observance of the holy month of Ramadan with a shared sense of sacrifice, community and hope, the Palestinian people’s first day of observance was regrettably again marred by the heavy hand of the occupation and its continuing aggressive, disrespectful actions in violation of international law and basic decency. Moreover, such provocative actions further aggravate already high tensions in the City caused by Israel’s incessant illegal and destructive policies, including its rampant demolition of Palestinian homes and settlement colonization activities.

In addition to continued imposition of restrictions on access to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, even during this holy month of Ramadan, Israeli occupying forces yesterday cruelly seized the iftar (end of fast) meals intended for distribution to people who were fasting near Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupying forces raided the compound, harassed and intimidated Waqf staff, broke the door of Bab al-Asbat minaret and cut the wires for loudspeakers of both Al-Magharba and Al-Asbat minarets, preventing the call for evening prayers. The occupation’s soldiers went on to attack worshipers who were leaving the compound after the taraweeh prayers and confrontations ensued, injuring several civilians.

Such actions by Israel, the occupying Power, constitute blatant violations of international law and United Nations resolutions regarding Occupied East Jerusalem. These actions further violate the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest mosque in Islam, violate the historic and legal status quo at Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and violate Jordan’s custodianship of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in the City. Moreover, while fully aware of the ongoing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aggressive and arbitrary restrictions imposed by the occupation against Palestinian worshippers violate their rights to freedom of worship and religion, as enshrined in international human rights law.

Such actions are a provocation not only against the Palestinian people, but Muslims as a whole, and risk inflaming already-high tensions and religious sensitivities, threatening to transform the conflict into an endless religious conflict with grave consequences for regional and international peace and security.

The international community, including the Security Council, must demand that Israel immediately cease its violations and provocations and abide by its obligations as the occupying Power in Occupied East Jerusalem, in accordance with international law and the relevant UN resolutions, including Security Council resolutions, from resolution 49 (1948) through to resolution 2334 (2016). Moreover, Israel must be called upon to fully respect the historic and legal status quo at the holy sites and cease all incursions into the holy sites, including Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and cease its attacks against worshippers and Waqf officials and staff.

At the same time, Israel continues to interfere with the Palestinian democratic electoral process in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and especially in Occupied East Jerusalem, as previously indicated in our letter of 9 April.

In that letter, we informed of the Israeli raid on a hotel in City on 6 April to forcibly disband a civil society event on Palestinian elections. This has been followed with other obstructive and hostile actions, including the arrest of several Palestinian candidates in the West Bank and the issuing of summonses to various Jerusalemite candidates for interrogation. These actions were preceded in recent months by the repeated detention, interrogation and restrictions imposed on the Palestinian Governor of Occupied East Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith. In fact, since 2006, Israel has arrested about 60 Palestinian Legislative Council members, seven of whom remain in detention.

Such measures expose the ill intent of the occupying Power to undermine the participation of Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents and candidates in the upcoming elections, the first of which is scheduled to be held on 22 May for the Palestinian Legislative Council. Such action obstruct their right to partake in this democratic national process and ultimately obstruct their right to self-determination. As noted by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in a statement on 7 April, “The Israeli measures aimed at disrupting the Palestinian legislative elections in the city of Jerusalem are part of Israel’s policy of abolishing the Palestinian presence in the city and imposing Israeli sovereignty over it, in contravention of the rules of international laws and relevant United Nations resolutions”.

In this regard, it must be once again underscored that Israel is not the sovereign in East Jerusalem, that East Jerusalem remains occupied territory and an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole, that the Fourth Geneva Convention remains applicable, and that all such actions by the occupying Power are illegal and null and void. We recall the numerous Security Council resolutions in this regard, including resolution 2334 (2016), in which the Council underlined “that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations”.

We call on the international community to uphold international law and call in specific on the Security Council to implement its relevant resolutions without exception. The international community must act forthwith to compel a halt to Israel’s violations throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including Israeli aggressions on holy sites, including at Al-Aqsa Mosque and including provocations and attacks by extremist Israeli settlers. Palestinian worshippers must be protected from attacks and their right to freedom of worship and religion must be respected. We also call for pressure to bring a halt to Israeli obstruction of the participation of Palestinian Jerusalemites in the electoral process and to avert its obstruction of the elections, whether in Jerusalem or the rest of Occupied Palestine.

Respect for international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, UN resolutions and signed agreements is paramount for preventing the further escalation of tensions and deterioration of the situation, protecting the Palestinian civilian population, and preserving the prospects for just and peaceful solution. We urge the international community to act responsibly and without delay.  

letter is in follow-up to our 709 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 22 March 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. 

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10^th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

The situation in Occupied Palestine continues to worsen as Israel intensifies its human rights violations and war crimes against the Palestinian people. The occupying Power has escalated its appropriation of Palestinian homes, lands and properties seeking to accelerate the forced transfer of Palestinian civilians, especially areas in and around occupied East Jerusalem, and its settlement colonization schemes. It is beyond apparent by now that this is all part of a systematic, deliberate plan to remove Palestinians – i.e. ethnically cleanse these areas – in preparation for annexation.

As underscored in recent letters, Palestinian families in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem remain at imminent risk of forced eviction and mass dispossession due to Israel’s unlawful and inhumane policies of forcibly removing Palestinians and replace them with Jewish settlers, particularly in and around Jerusalem. Such policies have spiked in recent months, as Israel blatantly entrenches its nearly 54-year belligerent occupation in grave breach of international law and contempt for the will of the international community, including decisions of the United Nations Security Council.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israel’s systematic policy of forced displacement is haunting hundreds of Palestinian families who face impending home demolitions. On 24 March, occupation forces demolished three Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, one in Shufat refugee camp and two in Jabal al-Mukabbir. Also in Jabal al-Mukabbir, despite attempts to obtain the nearly impossible occupation-issued building permit, a Palestinian family was forced to self-demolish their home on 4 April to avoid the heavy demolition fees punitively imposed by occupation authorities. On 7 April, Israeli demolition orders were also issued against 63 Palestinian structures in Al-Ras al-Ahmar, near Tubas, threatening the homes and livelihoods of the entire community. Yesterday, 8 April, dozens of Israeli settlers accompanied by security guards seized three houses in Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel constantly resorts to the unjustifiable claims that Palestinian homes are built without occupation-issued permits, purposely restricting Palestinian development and growth in order to facilitate expansion of its settler colonies throughout Occupied Palestine. As Israeli human rights group B’Tselem points out:“This practice of not granting permits allows Israel to confine the Palestinian people to small, crowded, impoverished and disconnected enclaves, leaving the rest of the land free for Israeli settlement.”

Just this week, Israeli occupation authorities announced plans to yet again expand the illegal settlement of “Har Homa” (Jabal Abu Ghneim) with the construction of another 540 illegal housing units. Once more, this belies the claim that Israel’s annexation plans have been “suspended” as in reality they are only advancing by the day, destroying the contiguity of the Palestinian land and the prospects of achieving the two-State solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders.

This colonial settlement campaign, which is perpetuating the supremacy of one group over another, i.e. apartheid, violates every principle and prohibition under international humanitarian law regarding situations of foreign occupation as well as countless  Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, which specifically prohibit attempts to alter the character, demographic composition and status of the occupied territory, including the Holy City of Jerusalem. In this regard, we recall Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), by which the Council, inter alia, unequivocally condemned “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions”.

Faced with incessant dispossession and displacement, the Palestinian people marked the 45^th anniversary of Land Day on 30 March. On the occasion, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics issued a statement indicating the territories seized by Israel since its creation and that Israel now controls 85% of historic Palestine with the increased establishment of illegal settlements, whose settlers now number 700,000 in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk, has observed that “the political purpose of the Israeli settlement enterprise has always been to establish facts on the ground and to obstruct Palestinian self-determination.”

Israel’s settlement-annexation drive has unquestionably emboldened settler violence, with continued rampages by religiously fanatic and extremist settlers in past weeks creating an ever more coercive environment for the Palestinian civilian population. On 25 March, a settler mob attacked the village of Al-Khader, near Bethlehem, causing injuries to many residents. In separate incidents on 31 March, settlers stormed archaeological sites in As-Samu’, near Al-Khalil (Hebron), and Sebastia, near Nablus, attacking nearby residents and preventing them from accessing agricultural lands.

All of this is occurring under watch of the Israeli occupying army, which permits settlers to raid such archeological and religious sites and even facilitates their access, while obstructing Palestinian access to these sites and their own lands. According to B’Tselem, “These actions are part of a joint strategy by the settlers and Israeli authorities to systematically block Palestinian access to land – one acre, field, fertile plot, grove or pasture at a time – for decades on end, and take effective control of it. This way the state transfers the means of livelihood of Palestinians into the hands of Israelis. Settler violence is the state’s unofficial, privatized arm that serves to gradually achieve this goal.”

Coinciding with the dangerous increase in settler violence, I must bring your attention to the brutal killing of yet another innocent Palestinian civilian. Two days ago, on 7 April, an elderly Palestinian woman, Shafiqa Abu Aqeel, age 73, was killed after being deliberately run over by an Israeli settler in As-Samu’. Once again, Israel has yet to come forward with signs of accountability, further reaffirming its willful failure to respect its obligations as an occupying Power under international law.

Settler violence has also been emboldened by the pervasive violence committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and excessive attacks against civilians. On 24 March, two Palestinians were shot and injured when Israeli occupation forces erected checkpoints at roads leading to the towns of Bir Nabala and Qalandiya. The following two days witnessed large-scale raids in Al-Khalil and Jerusalem, in which occupation forces arrested and assaulted dozens of Palestinians, including former and current officials.

On 24 and 25 March, Israeli occupation forces attacked several peaceful anti-settlements rallies across Occupied Palestine in Beit Dajan near Nablus, where a week earlier occupation forces shot and killed Atef Hanaysha, age 45, as well as in Al-Mughayyir near Ramallah and elsewhere, using excessive and lethal force against unarmed civilians, injuring dozens. Occupation forces routinely use life-threatening means to crush such rallies, which are a legitimate form of protest against this illegal occupation and which seek to draw international attention to Israel’s ongoing theft and colonization of Palestinian land.

On 1 April, Israeli occupation forces shot and injured two Palestinians in Nablus and Tubas. On the same day, occupation forces escorted a convoy of fanatic settlers into Nablus, opening fire on Palestinians during the course of the state-sponsored settler intrusion into the city. On 2 April, five Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire during a military raid into Askar refugee camp, near Nablus. On 5 April, Israeli soldiers fired at a vehicle at a military checkpoint, killing a Palestinian man and injuring his wife. Osama Mansour, 42, was fatally shot in the head while his wife sustained bullet wounds.

The situation in Gaza also remains extremely worrisome. Backed by warplanes and ever-present drones, occupation forces continue to infiltrate Gaza’s shores and agricultural lands, indiscriminately attacking civilians and further damaging Gaza’s already devastated economy and infrastructure. On 24 March, Israeli gunboats fired at Palestinian fishermen in numerous attacks. In a constant campaign of intimidation and harassment, occupation forces have long been targeting Palestinian fishermen, causing death and injury to them and loss of livelihood, compounding the socioeconomic hardships already being inflicted by Israel’s nearly 14-year blockade of Gaza and its successive military aggressions.

Other tools used by Israel to destroy the viability and contiguity include denying Palestinians the freedom of movement, with East Jerusalem being the prime target in recent months. Last month, Israel also undertook punitive measures against Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki following his meeting with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Shortly after, Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq issued a statement stressing the following:

“It is imperative that all states, including states party to the Rome Statute, condemn Israel’s unlawful targeting of Palestinians for their engagement with the International Criminal Court in its ongoing investigation into the Situation in Palestine. Palestinians have the right to accountability, and to struggle to bring to an end the root causes underpinning Israel’s disinformation campaign and quashing of freedom of opinion and expression in the occupied Palestinian territory, namely an end to the 13-year long land and naval closure of the Gaza Strip, an end to the 53-year occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and an end to the 72-year apartheid on both sides of the Green Line.”

Another recent example of Israel’s restrictions on movement and expression occurred on 6 April when occupation forces raided a hotel in occupied East Jerusalem to disband an event on Palestinian elections, detaining several attendees. The event, called for by Palestinian civil society organizations, was slated to be held under the title “International Law Guarantees our Right to Vote.” Such actions by the occupying Power prove Israel’s intentions to disrupt the upcoming elections by intensifying pressure and attacks Palestinian Jerusalemites aimed at undermining their political participation and disconnecting them from their Palestinian brethren and severing the city from its natural Palestinian environs. As OCHA notes: “Israeli measures have increasingly cut off East Jerusalem, once the focus of political, commercial, religious and cultural life for the entire Palestinian population of the occupied Palestinian territory, from the rest of the West Bank and from the Gaza Strip.”

Despite the international community’s increasing cognizance of the magnitude of these grave crimes and violations, persistent legal and political failures have allowed Israel’s occupation and de facto annexation to carry on with impunity and absolute disregard for international law, including countless relevant UN resolutions. The Palestinian people have as persistently sought justice through peaceful, legitimate, international mechanisms for decades, yet with regrettably little to no progress in enforcing a change to Israel’s rogue behavior.

In order to remain consistent with the values of international law and uphold a rules-based order, it is the international community’s obligation, particularly the Security Council, to oppose Israel’s crimes and violations through concerted action and effective measures to counter such blatant defiance of international law. Only this can bring an end to the impunity and make possible the realization of a just solution that guarantees respect for the national and human rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and freedom, and establishes lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and security based on two States living side by side on the basis of the pre-1967 borders.

Month after month, year after year, condemnations against Israel’s crimes and violations are heard. Yet we continue to await real action to uphold the law towards ending this historic injustice. The Palestinian people and their leadership thus continue their appeals to the international community for solidarity, support and urgent collective measures for accountability, which is essential for the attainment of justice, the central pillar of any future peace.

While making this appeal, we reaffirm our deep gratitude to all peoples and countries all around the world who continue to support and stand with the Palestinian people and their just cause. In this regard, we must recall that this week marks the 18^th anniversary of the death of Tom Hurndall, a 22-year-old British activist who was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper while attempting to rescue Palestinian children from Israeli military gunfire. Like thousands of Palestinian families, Tom’s family has yet to receive justice for the killing of their son.  Action for accountability is imperative to deter the taking of more innocent lives and the devastation of more innocent families and to salvage the possibility of a just solution that will serve as the foundation of genuine peace and stability in the Middle East.

This letter is in follow-up to our 709 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 22 March 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systemic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter made available to the members of the Security Council for their immediate, valuable consideration and also distributed as an official document of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer