22 January 2021 – Illegal Israeli Settlement Colonization

Excellency,

I must again draw your attention to the critical situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, due to the escalating illegal policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people.

As detailed in previous letters, Israel’s evident annexation intentions have reached new heights of violations with the Israeli Prime Minister announcing plans for further settlement construction and expansion on our occupied land. In addition to the 800 settlement units announced last week, Israel has issued tenders for 2,500 illegal units, with more than 450 to be built in settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem, constituting yet another blatant breach of international law and UN resolutions.

Such actions must be countered as a matter of obligation under international law and UN resolutions, but also because they continue to obstruct the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, an erga omnes right; to shred the Palestinian State’s contiguity; and to destroy the viability of the two-State solution on the pre-1967 borders as envisaged by the international consensus.

This cycle of settlement expansion and encroachment is not new to the Palestinian people, as year after year, Israel steals more of their land and forcibly displaces more Palestinian families, while disguising itself as a partner for peace. According to the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now, Israel advanced construction of over 12,000 settlement units in 2020 alone, the highest number in a single year since the group began recording statistics in 2012, construction that would illegally transfer hundreds of thousands more Israeli settlers to Occupied Palestine. How do such violations and destructive actions signal any intent for peace?

The international community must explicitly demand once again that Israel immediately cease all of its illegal settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel must be abide by its legal obligations, including under the 4th Geneva Convention, as reaffirmed in Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), or bear the consequences of its rogue behavior that has deliberately prolonged oppression and injustice and undermined the drive for peace and security.

Demolitions and forced evictions also continue apace as a central tool of this illegal occupation and its settlement colonization. UN OCHA reports that in 2020, Israeli occupation forces displaced nearly one thousand Palestinians, almost half of them children, as a result of demolition of Palestinian homes and forced evictions. As documented by OCHA, “The cumulative number of structures demolished or seized in 2020 (849) across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the number of Palestinians displaced as a result (996), are the largest since 2016. The number of donor-funded aid structures targeted in 2020 (156) is also the highest since 2016.

On 14 January, a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem had to self-demolish their home under pressure from the occupation’s demolition orders and threats. Abu Hamad, the homeowner, said that he had to demolish his home, built 10 years ago and inhabited by seven family members, and to remove the rubble to avoid the excessive costs and fines if demolished by the occupation authorities, who in a depraved system not only illegally and traumatically deprive people of their homes, but cruelly impose financial loss on them for those demolitions.

On 17 January, Israeli occupation forces also issued demolition orders to a primary school and a mosque in Masafer Yatta, south of Al-Khalil (Hebron). The school, which is funded by the European Union, expects to enroll 50 students in three marginalized Palestinian communities. On the same day, a separate demolition order was taking place in Anin, west of Jenin, where Israeli occupation forces bulldozed more than ten vendor stalls, affecting the livelihoods of many vulnerable families. On 18 January, occupation forces issued demolition orders to eight Palestinian families in the village of Duma, south of Nablus, whose homes were built to accommodate the village’s growing population.

It is widely known that Palestinian 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. Whether it’s a home, school, house of worship, health center, or a donor-funded project, the occupation does not discriminate in its demolition policy as the objective is explicit: to uproot Palestinians from their lands and replaced them by fanatic Israeli settlers in ever-expanding and encroaching settlements.

The violence and harassment of those settlers against the Palestinian civilian population also persist unabated. On 17 January, settler mobs from the illegal settlements of “Eli” and “Shilo” attacked Palestinians near the village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, damaging homes and properties. As usual, the attack occurred in full sight of Israeli soldiers who stood by as the settlers carried on with their State-backed violence, proving once again that accountability is the exception, not the rule, when it relates to the occupation.

Even in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israeli attacks and military raids have escalated. In a single night, Israeli occupation forces conducted 17 military raids across the West Bank, and arrested 41 Palestinians. Many of those arrested take part in weekly demonstrations against their lands being confiscated for the construction of illegal settlements and outposts, revealing the extent to which Israel rejects any form of civilian protest to its illegal occupation.

Further disregarding its legal obligations as an occupying Power, Israel’s exploitation of the pandemic is evident through its discriminatory vaccination campaign. Israeli and international human rights groups have criticized Israel’s vaccination campaign, pointing to the fact that hundreds of thousands of illegal settlers have clear access to the vaccine, while the millions of Palestinians living under its 53-year belligerent occupation are excluded, further exposing the occupation’s institutionalized discrimination in the West Bank and Gaza.

On 18 January, the World Health Organization office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory raised a number of public health concerns over Israel’s unequal distribution and access to vaccines. While Israel boasts about its vaccination campaign and success in acquiring millions of doses, its total disregard for international law vis-à-vis obligations must be given due and urgent attention. Israel must be demanded to respect its legal obligations. Article 56 of the 4th Geneva Convention specifically stipulates that an occupier has the duty of ensuring “the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.”

In this regard, we draw urgent attention to the plight of Palestinian prisoners, including children, who are being detained in occupation jails in the time of pandemic. On 16 January, Abdul Muizz Al-Jubeh, age 59, was transferred to a medical center due to complications resulting from contracting the coronavirus. On 21 January, Fo’ad Al-Shobaki, the eldest Palestinian political prisoner in occupation jails, contracted the virus after coming into contact with an Israeli prison guard. Like many Palestinian prisoners, Mr. Al-Shobaki has an intensive medical history, including prostate cancer and heart disease. Israel must heed the international community’s call and release vulnerable prisoners, particularly women, children, older persons and those with pre-existing medical conditions, and must release administrative detainees being held in Israeli prisons.

It is clear that the occupying Power has intensified its attacks and violations in recent weeks in preparation for yet another round of elections. Unfortunately, the current Israeli political landscape offers little to no hope for respite as officials and candidates cynically compete over who can do more harm to the Palestinian people and two-State solution. Impunity is delivered to the occupation through international inaction, resulting in Israel advancing its colonial project at the expense of Palestinian rights and deepening hardships. The cycle of violations suffered by the Palestinian people continues because Israel’s preference to maintain the status quo, or worse, has not been met with international action aimed to end the occupation and injustice.

As Newton’s third law of motion states, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Likewise, the international community is obligated to hold Israel accountable through tangible action. The Security Council in specific bears Charter and moral duties and must implement its own resolutions to this end, including resolution 2334 (2016). Only such responsible action can help to end one of the gravest injustices of our time. The Palestinian people look to the Council, General Assembly and international community as a whole to give them hope in this new year by joining together to confront the harsh reality we face with concerted action to uphold the rule of law to protect human rights and ensure justice, the foundations of a just peace and security between Palestine and Israel.

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

11 December 2019 – Illegal Israeli Settlement Activities and Annexation Threats

Excellency,

I write to draw the international community’s attention once again to escalating illegal Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, that are continuing to inflict hardship and suffering on the Palestinian civilian population and undermining peace prospects, making them more remote than ever.

In the period since my last letter, more Palestinian families have lost their lands and their homes to the occupation’s unrelenting colonization and de facto annexation, especially in and around Occupied East Jerusalem; more civilians have been arrested, imprisoned and tortured; more innocents, including children and women and including peaceful protesters, have been killed and maimed by occupying forces and extremist settlers; and more families have been devastated by the inhumane siege on Gaza and other measures of collective punishment imposed by the occupying Power. With that, the Palestinian people’s hopes that this illegal occupation will end and that their rights, including to self-determination and freedom, and that a just peace can soon be realized have only further diminished.

Such rising despair is stoking already high tensions and exacerbating an already toxic, dangerous environment. We urge the international community to give this situation the urgent attention that it requires, commensurate with the political, legal and moral responsibilities and commitments to ensure a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In this regard, as the Security Council prepares to consider its last quarterly report of 2019 on implementation of resolution 2334 (2016) and on the heels of the General Assembly’s overwhelming adoption of its resolution on the “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine”, it is unquestionable that lack of implementation and lack of accountability for the ongoing grave violations by Israel, the occupying Power, have hastened the situation’s steep deterioration. Emboldened by lack of accountability and continuing appeasement, Israeli government officials continue to pursue unlawful policies and destructive actions, even boasting of their intent to breach international law.

Last week, the Israeli Prime Minister threatened annexation once again, declaring on 5 December that Israel has the “full right” to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, if it so decides, blatantly dismissing the international prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force. Also, last week, the Israeli government announced plans to establish a new Israeli settlement in the heart of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the Old City on Shuhada Street. There the city’s central market and its thriving economic and social life had once existed, but from which Palestinians were forcibly driven out and banned from accessing after a 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinians by an extremist Israeli settler, who shot and killed them during morning prayers at the Ibrahim Mosque in the city.

Such provocative and illegal plans cannot go unchallenged. They must be roundly condemned and Israel, the occupying Power, must be demanded to respect its legal obligations, including under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the relevant Security Council resolutions, and to halt all of its settlement activities and de facto annexation measures immediately and completely. This is imperative for de-escalating tensions, stemming the deterioration of the situation and salvaging peace prospects.

It is clear, as flaunted by Israeli Ministers, that this latest colonization scheme aims at creating a contiguous bloc of settlements in the Old City that will double the Israeli settler population there. At least 700 Israeli settlers have already been illegally transferred to the city among more than 200,000 Palestinians residing there. This Palestinian population continues to live under the most oppressive and coercive conditions imposed by the Israeli occupying forces and the majority of those settlers, who are known to be religious extremists and fanatics.

In fact, after the 1994 massacre, most of the Palestinian families were subsequently expelled from their homes on Shuhada Street and their shops were shuttered and welded shut by the occupying forces. Many of the empty homes were then seized by extremist settlers and some of the homes still occupied by Palestinians were later seized by force. While Israelis and internationals may freely access the area, the few Palestinian families that still live there must cross through military checkpoints to access their own homes and routinely endure harassment, intimidation and violence by extremist settlers. This situation has been thoroughly monitored and documented by the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), UN-OCHA and by numerous human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the Israeli organizations B’tselem and Breaking the Silence, among others.

Such provocative, illegal plans expose once again the glaring fact that, although the massacre was perpetrated by an Israeli settler, who continues to be glorified and revered by extremist settler groups, it was the Palestinian population that was punished and remains without redress and justice as the occupying Power continues to act with total impunity, shamelessly exploiting the international community’s ongoing failure to hold accountable.

While recognizing the very clear and overwhelming rejection by the international community of such illegal policies and actions, as attested to most recently in the Security Council on 20 November with the near-unanimous reaffirmation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Charter principles as regards Israel’s illegal settlement activities and annexation threats, it is clear that such statements are not enough.

We reiterate the urgency of concrete action and measures to hold Israel accountable for its flagrant contempt of the Council and continuing violations against the Palestinian people and in their land. Such violations are causing profound human suffering and destroying the viability and possibility of actualizing the two-State solution on the pre-1967 borders, in accordance with United Nations resolutions, the Madrid principles and the Arab Peace Initiative, and contradict the longstanding international consensus on the parameters for just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and security.

We call once again on the international community, and particularly the Security Council, to uphold the obligations in this regard. The Security Council must implement its resolutions without exception, including resolution 2334 (2016), which called, inter alia, for the immediate and complete cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as well as the cessation of all acts of provocation, incitement, violence and terror against civilians. The Council cannot continue to neglect its Charter duties when it comes to the Palestine question. A future of peace, security and stability for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and the Middle East region as a whole is dependent on this.

This letter is in follow-up to our 677 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 18 November 2019 (A/ES-10/–/2019/–), 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.

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

Signature_English

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Ambassador, Permanent Observer

of the State of Palestine to the United Nations

9 August 2019 – Update on continued Expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Excellency,

In the absence of any serious measures of accountability pursuant to Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) and the countless other relevant United Nations resolutions demanding the cessation of Israel’s illegal policies and measures in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, and an end to its more than half-century occupation, the occupying Power continues with its flagrant violations and methodical destruction of the two-State solution.

In our third letter in a week, we regret to inform Your Excellency that Israel remains relentless in its ferocious colonization and annexation schemes throughout Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem.   In fact, over the past 48 hours the Israeli government has approved the building of nearly three thousand illegal settlement units in the Occupied West Bank.  And, just today, in the most recent blatant violation of international law, the Prime Minister of Israel himself flew by helicopter to lay the foundation stone for the construction of 650 new illegal units in the “Beit El” settlement located near Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank. [Read more…]

8 August 2019 – Expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Excellency,

In our second letter in less than week, we are compelled to write to Your Excellency to place on record our unequivocal condemnation of Israel’s continued building and expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem. Clearly, with its continued colonization of  confiscated and stolen Palestinian land, Israel, the occupying Power,  is sending a clear message that it is determined to continue to arrogantly and aggressively defy the will of the international community, violate international law, as well as international criminal law as articulated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as  defy the resolutions of the  United Nations, including Security Council resolutions.   We regret to reiterate that continued international inaction has clearly emboldened Israel’s defiance and intransigence.

In this regard, over the past couple of days, Israel, the occupying Power, has advanced more than 2,300 settlement units in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in continuation of its of destructive, voracious and never-ending colonization campaign.  It should be noted that this latest provocative announcement comes on the heels of last week’s declaration by the occupying Power of plans to construct an additional 6,000 settlement units throughout the Occupied West Bank.  With these latest illegal Israeli annexation schemes, the population of illegal settlers also continues to grow as does the number of violent and criminal attacks perpetrated by settlers against Palestinian civilians, which continue to be carried out under the watchful gaze of Israeli occupying forces. [Read more…]

2 August 2019 – Ongoing illegal settlement activity in the Occupied West Bank

Excellency,

I must once again draw your attention to Israel’s ongoing illegal and destructive settlement colonization of the Palestinian land, including East Jerusalem. Such blatant defiance by the occupying Power continues unabated despite the resounding calls for a halt to all settlement activities made yet again from the chamber of the United Nations Security Council by Members of the Council and from across the international community.

The Israeli government has brazenly announced plans to construct another 6,000 settlement units in the Occupied West Bank, to which thousands upon thousands more settlers would be transferred, in grave breach of international humanitarian law, in gross violation of countless UN resolutions, in utter disrespect of the 2004 ICJ Advisory Opinion and in violation of the Rome Statute of the ICC.  This announcement comes as further proof of the illegal intentions of the occupying Power, as repeatedly pronounced and reflected in the provocative declarations and inflammatory rhetoric of its government and military officials and extremist settler leaders, who continue to boast of plans to seize, confiscate, colonize and annex more Palestinian land. [Read more…]

14 November 2017 – Israeli Confiscation of Palestinian Land and Eviction of Civilians

Excellency,

I regret to inform you that, in the absence of any serious measures of accountability pursuant to Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) and the countless other relevant United Nations resolutions demanding the cessation of Israel’s illegal policies and measures in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, and an end to its more than half-century occupation, the occupying Power continues with its flagrant violations and methodical destruction of the two-State solution.

Following its recent provocative announcements regarding plans for the illegal construction of thousands more settlement units across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli Government is forging ahead with its colonization and annexation schemes, escalating its confiscation of Palestinian land, demolition of Palestinian homes and properties, and its forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population.  This has included ongoing measures aimed at the forced transfer of thousands of Bedouin Palestinians from their lands. All of this is being done in grave breach of international law and direct and repeated violation of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. [Read more…]

17 November 2015 – Continued Israeli Violations and Crimes against the Palestinian People

Excellency,

We are compelled to draw your attention to the continuously rising tensions and violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem – the territory constituting the State of Palestine – as Israel, the occupying Power, continues its military aggressions and human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

Israeli occupying forces continue to use excessive force against Palestinian civilians, including against children and peaceful demonstrators, causing death and injury and destruction of property.  Moreover, Israel has been unrelenting in its pursuit of illegal colonization practices, with settlement and wall construction continuing unabated. For example, just in this past week the occupying Power approved the construction of 891 settlement “units” in the illegal settlement of “Gilo” and approved the construction of 450 more settlement “units” in the illegal settlements of “Ramat Shlomo” and “Ramot”, all in Occupied East Jerusalem.  At the same time, Israel continues to impose countless collective punishment measures on the Palestinian people, including, inter alia, home demolitions and its blockade on the Gaza Strip.  The destructive impact of such Israeli violations on the situation on the ground is immense, as reflected in rising tensions, deteriorating socio-economic conditions, and deepening anger and frustration among the Palestinian civilian population living under this nearly fifty-year old Israeli occupation.  [Read more…]

11 May 2015 – بيان صحفي

عقب تشكيل الحكومه اليمينية الجديدة

السفير منصور يبعث برسائل متطابقة  لاركان الامم المتحدة

بعث السفير د. رياض منصور، المندوب الدائم لدولة فلسطين لدى الامم المتحدة، برسائل متطابقة لاركان الامم المتحدة الثلاث، الامين العام السيد بان كي مون، ورئيس مجلس الامن، ورئيس الجمعية العامه، مستهلا اياها بتركيبة الحكومة الاسرائيلية الجديدة مؤكدا ان هذه التشكيلة الحكومية هي بالضرورة ضد السلام وضد حل الدولتين وستعمل على اشتقاق سياسات غير قانونية من شانها ان تعزز الاحتلال الاستعماري الاسرائيلي على ارض الدولة الفلسطينية بما فيها القدس الشرقية، كما انها ستستمر في مصادرة حقوق الانسان وليس ادل على ذلك من وجود “ايلي شكيد” وزيرة للعدل في حكومة نتنياهو والتي سبق وان دعت لاستخدام العنف والتدمير ضد الفلسطينين سيما الامهات الفلسطينيات ودعت الاطفال الفلسطينين بالثعابين الصغيرة.  منصور اعاد التأكيد على ان الحكومة الاسرائيلية الجديدة ستعمل على تسريع عمليات الاستيطان في القدس الشرقية وفي هدم بيوت الفلسطينيين والسماح للمستوطنين بتملك بيوت الفلسطينيين وكذلك ترحيل وتشريد الاف الفلسطينيين لمصلحة مشاريع الاستيطان الكبرى سيما القاطنين في منطقة E1 وستستمر في حصار غزة واعتقال الاف الفلسطينيين بما فيهم الاطفال والنساء وقيادات فلسطينية منتخبة وهذا يدعم ما سبق وان اكدناه وقلناه بان الحكومة الاسرائيلية غير معنية بعملية السلام وانها مستمره باحتلالها الكولونيالي في تحد واضح لارادة المجموعة الدولية والقانون الدولي وقرارات الامم المتحدة ذات الصلة. [Read more…]

11 May 2015 – Israeli Violations and Anti-Peace Stance

Excellency,

In both word and deed, the new Israeli Government is proving its anti-peace, anti-two-State stance as it persists with unlawful policies and practices entrenching its illegitimate occupation and colonization of the State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, and systematically and grossly violating the human rights of the Palestinian people. [Read more…]

2 February 2015 – Incessant Israeli Settlement Activities

Excellency,

As the Security Council remains sidelined vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel, the occupying Power, continues to exploit the international community’s inaction by persisting with its illegal policies and practices with impunity.  In particular, the Israeli Government continues its insidious colonization of the Palestinian land it has belligerently, illegitimately occupied since June 1967, in grave breach of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, as well as international criminal law as articulated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

There is no difference – whether through periods of peace process or periods of unrest and conflict – Israel has never ceased its settlement activities in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem.  In words and in deeds, every single Israeli government has actively carried out this illegal settlement campaign, openly entrenching the occupation in every way.  The latest such step was taken on Friday, 30 January, when it was revealed that the occupying Power has decided to move forward with the construction at least 450 new settlement units in various areas throughout Occupied Palestine, including in East Jerusalem.   [Read more…]