UN rights expert concerned over violence across Occupied Palestinian Territory News
UN rights expert concerned over violence across Occupied Palestinian Territory

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur Makarim Wibisono [official profile] expressed [press release] “grave concern” Friday over the intensification of violence across Occupied Palestinian Territory. In his statement he urged Israel to “exercise restraint and to recognise that all, including Palestinians, have equal right to respect for their human rights and their dignity.” Palestinian deaths have been on the rise, as have complaints that Israeli officials have been using excessive force against Palestinians. Wibisono continued to urge Israeli officials to recognize that all life deserves to be protected and to diffuse volatile situations “in accordance with international law.”

Relations between Israel and Palestine continue to be a significant international legal issue. In April an independent UN board of inquiry announced that it uncovered evidence that at least 44 Palestinians were killed by “Israeli actions” [JURIST report] while sheltering at UN locations during last year’s Gaza war. In March the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released its 2014 Annual Humanitarian Overview, noting that Palestinian civilians continue to face daily threats [JURIST report] to their physical safety and liberty, with 2014 holding the highest civilian death toll in the conflict since the annexation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. Also in March the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights told the UN Human Rights Council that human rights violations “fuel and shape the conflict” [JURIST report] in the occupied Palestinian territories.

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