In a landmark victory for Palestinian leadership, the UN Human Rights Council, Thursday, passed four resolutions pertaining to the occupied Palestinian territories, one of which will draw up a “blacklist” of companies who do business in illegal Israeli settlements.The PLO Negotiations Affairs Department said in addition to the resolution regarding settlements — which passed 32 to 0 — a resolution was adopted for the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self determination.
A resolution based on Palestinian human rights passed by the council addressed closures by the Israeli military in areas under occupation, as well as home demolitions, violations of religious sites, and extrajudicial killings carried out by Israeli forces.
Another resolution drafted to enact proper investigative systems to ensure accountability for violations carried out by Israel in occupied Palestinian territory was also passed by the council.
The resolution proposed by Palestinian leadership obliging the UN Human Rights Council to form a database of all actors conducting business, in areas under Israeli military occupation, received major push back from US and the EU, prior to Thursday’s vote, according to reports by The Guardian.
The Western leaders reportedly warned that pushing the resolution could come at the detriment to aid given to the Palestinian Authority.
The resolution echoes a recent EU decision to label products made in illegal Israeli settlements, a victory for the BDS movement which attempts to use boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel to end the decades-long military occupation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media following Thursday’s vote referred to the UN Human Rights Council an “anti-Israel circus.”
The PM called on “responsible governments not to honor the decisions of the Council that discriminate against Israel.”
Palestinian Envoy to the UN Human Rights Council Ibrahim Khreisheh called Thursday’s vote a “message of hope” for the Palestinian people.
Khreisheh called on all countries to respect the resolutions, pointing to past failures of the international community to act on UN measures regarding Israel.
“As the belligerent occupying power, Israel continues to systematically violate the inalienable rights of the Palestinians while enjoying impunity from the international community, despite numerous UN resolutions demanding an equitable and just end to the occupation,” Khreisheh said.
He continued: “We ask countries opposed to the implementation of international law in the occupied State of Palestine to consider the impact their disregard for international law has within the international legal sphere and the Israeli violations they are perpetuating against the Palestinian people.”
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday Special Rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory Makarim Wibisono gave a particularly scathing report of Israeli violations during his term.
Wibisono said that since he took up his post, in June of 2014, Israel had not allowed him direct access to victims in parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, despite repeated requests.
The human rights expert emphasized the ‘desperate need’ for effective protection of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation, and castigated Israel for its many failures as an occupying power and the international community for offering no protection.
‘I have been struck by the abundance of information documenting violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and the seeming inability of the international community to match what is known of the situation with more effective protection of Palestinians.” Wibisono said.
Palestinian leadership has, in recent years, made moves on the international level in effort to end harmful policies that result from the Israeli military occupation, after decades of failed peace negotiations to bring about an independent Palestinian state.
