Special Envoy for the United Nations in occupied Palestinian
territories, John Dugard, said on Tuesday that the Israeli actions and
attacks in the Gaza Strip can be described as ethnic cleansing, after
the Israeli army sealed the Gaza Strip and made life there tragic and
intolerable.
A report published by Dugard sharply slammed Israel and western countries for the bad and continuously deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into a big prison for the Palestinians, and threw the key away”, Dugard said, “If these acts were carried out by any other country, it might be described as ethnic cleansing”.
In his report to the UN Human Rights Council, Dugard stated that 75% of the population in the Gaza Strip became dependant on aid food for survival, and the the destruction caused by the Israeli bombings and shelling is intolerable.
The report also warned that the danger of a humanitarian crisis could also reach the West Bank as a result of the Israeli Annexation Wall the isolated the residents from each other and from their lands.
“People living between the Annexation wall and the Green Line, cannot reach schools, work, and medical centers”, Dugard added, “In many other countries, this is described as ethnic cleansing, but when it comes to Israel, “political integrity” describes these acts otherwise”.
Dugard, from south Africa and a special UN investigation since 2001, said that Israel is continuously violating the International Law and carrying collective punishment.
He also slammed the policy of the United States, European Union and Canada for stopping the funding of the Palestinian Authority as a punishment for Hamas for “its refusal to recognize Israel”.
“Israel violates the international law as elaborated by the security council and the international court, and goes unpunished for its acts”, Dugard said, “The Palestinian people are punished for having democratic elections that brought a regime unacceptable to Israel, the US and the EU”.
Meanwhile, Israel was angered by the report and slammed it. Israeli Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, said that this reports “blames Israel and does not blame terror groups for taking the Palestinian people hostages”, according to Levannon.
