Violation of Human Rights in Occupied Territories | ||
Keywords | ||
Human Rights | ||
Violation of Human Rights in Occupied Territories
By Our Staff Writer
The Zionist regime by military and political occupation of the Palestinian regions has turned the occupied areas into a prison. During the past sixty years, the worst human tragedies have been committed by the occupiers in the Palestinian regions. The Zionist regime has thus far committed all kinds of violation of human rights of the Palestinians, including the massacre of men, women and children, fatal beating and wounding, expelling the people from their homes and homelands, and defiling the sanctities and de-sanctifying the holy shrines. In other words, the sixty years of the occupation is a complete archive of all prohibitions in relation to the human rights. The death of the pregnant women or the still birth of the babies is another example of the crimes of this usurping regime that claims to be a protector of human rights, committed to democracy and also claims to be philanthropist. From the viewpoint of international, the Zionist regime is responsible towards the inhabitants of the occupied lands in two respects. First, the confiscation of the Palestinian territories by the Zionist regime is considered an “occupation”. Second, the Zionist regime, regardless of any armed conflict, has certain obligations and commitments towards the Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied territories, no excuse can condone the discharge of those duties and hence the Zionist regime is not only accountable to the local inhabitants but also to the international community. The inhabitants of the occupied territories are entitled to human rights as any other human being is on the globe.
Rights of the Individuals in the Occupied Regions
Besides the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, there are some other laws in protection of human rights in the occupied territories. The Geneva Convention (IV) besides stipulating the duties of the occupier regarding provision of welfare, healthcare and medical immunities, prohibits the following measures: Intentional murder, torture, inhuman treatment, denial of residence, illegal deportation, illegal detention, deprivation of the right to regular and impartial trial, hostage taking, demolition or confiscation of properties without any military necessity, collective punishment, demolition of the occupied territories, transfer or deportation of some of the people of the occupying country to the occupied territories, demolition of private or public moveable or immoveable properties or those of the public firms. Moreover, one of the most important principles stipulated in the Geneva Convention (IV) is prohibition of annexation of the land by the occupying regime.
Direct and Indirect Violation of Human Rights
The UN Human Rights Council has expressed its concern about the exacerbation of human condition in Gaza due to its siege by the Zionist regime as well as the construction of the security wall and continuation of construction of Zionist settlements in the West Bank. The Zionist regime has engineered a horrifying tragedy against the Palestinian people and due to its opposition to the UN activities in the occupied Palestine it has prevented the entry of the representatives of the UN High Commission for Human Rights to this territory. The main cases of direct violation of human rights of the Palestinians by the Zionist regime are discussed below. Military Operations
Violation of international law concerning war is the most outstanding instance of violation of human rights by the Zionist regime. The Zionist regime violates the international law while the war crimes of the commanders of this regime cannot be sued in the International Court of Justice at The Hague because the Zionist regime is not a member of the court.
Detention and Imprisonment of Palestinians and their MPs and Ministers
The Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has announced that more than seven thousand Palestinians are imprisoned in the prisons of the Zionist regime while the health of 1,400 of them is critical, some of whom need immediate surgery. Due to intolerable conditions in the prisons of the Zionist regime and due to torture, the Palestinian prisoners are inflicted with incurable diseases or disabilities. Overall these measures of the Zionist regime are in contravention with the Articles 5 and 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which emphasize that No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Torture
The Zionist regime is the only UN member that has openly legitimized torture and different institutions of the Zionist regime apply it against the detained Palestinian citizens in an organized, planned manner. The decrees issued by the courts of the Zionist regime up to September 1999 on different occasions considered torture by Israeli Shabak legal. The Supreme Court of this regime after the said date in a decree announced four physical tortures illegal, that is, electric shock, crucifixion, and depriving the prisoners of sleep for a long time. But this law was never implemented and torture was never banned in the Israeli prisons.
Mental and Psychological Torture
A report of the Public Committee against Torture in Israel has condemned Shabak for its illegal acts and illegal treatment of the families of Palestinian detainees and has announced that the Zionist regime extracts confession from the detainees by exerting pressure on their families. According to the said report, the Zionist regime threatens the Palestinian detainees of raping their close relatives if they didn’t cooperate with the police. Tearing the copies of the holy Quran apart or confiscation of personal effects and photos of the close relative…are among other methods of psychological torture of the detained Palestinians.
Torture of the Children
The Palestinian detained children in the Zionist regime’s prisons are not immune against the aggression of this regime and are subject to different physical and psychological tortures, which leave grave impacts of their psyche and soul for a long time. The Zionist regime applies its special military laws on the children. It considers the above-sixteen children as mature and treats them just like the mature people. It is in contravention with the international law on children that does not consider the below-18 children as mature.
Besides direct violation of the human rights of the Palestinians in the form of occupation, massacre, confiscation of the properties of the Palestinians, torture, intimidation and humiliation, due to its aggressive policies and racial nature, the Zionist regime has also trampled upon other rights of the Palestinians, while the Charter of the United Nations considers respect to these rights obligatory for all human beings. Hence although the violation of some of these rights may not be directly a subject of this Charter, since they have the same consequences as the direct ones have, they are considered inextricable part of human rights. Some of these cases are discussed below.
Settlement Building
According to International law any construction by the Zionist regime in the occupied territories is illegal. In 1979 the Security Council and General Assembly announced that the settlement building by the Israelis in the Palestinian occupied territories is in violation of international law, Geneva Convention (IV) and the UN resolutions. The Zionist regime within the framework of the 2007 Annapolis Peace Agreement agreed to stop construction of the settlements, while the construction activities have never been stopped. According to international law any construction by this regime in the occupied territories is illegal. The UN Security Council and General Assembly in 1979 announced that the Israeli settlement building in the Palestinian occupied territories is in violation of international law, Geneva Convention (IV) and the UN resolutions. According to the existing figures, the number of Israeli settlements built in the West Bank in 2007 stood at 400. In fact during this period 144 settlements, 96 complexes within the settlements, 109 complexes outside the perimeters of the settlements, 48 military bases, and 43 other constructions have been registered. Moreover, according to the existing statistics, the following settlements have been constructed: About 26 settlements in the city of Quds 16 of which are built in the territories occupied in 1967. There are 24 settlements in the Ramallah and Al-Birah; three settlements in Tulkarm and five new settlements in Jenin. Thus the Palestinians do not have access to about 38.3 percent of the total area of the West Bank. The said settlements are built in an area of about 235,209 square meters.
Demolition of Houses
The Zionist regime has recently demolished 15 houses in different places in the Quds. Hatam Abdul Qadir an Advisor to Salam Fayadh the appointed prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority has said: The Zionist regime in fact tortures the Palestinians in groups by demolishing their houses in Bait ul Muqaddas. This is a clear violation of human rights and Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which indicates that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Demolition of Cultural Heritage of Palestine
Disrespect and affront against the religious sanctities of the Muslims in the Quds city and other Palestinian regions, excavations and demolition of the invaluable heritage of Islamic history and those of Arabs in Quds and the surrounding area of Bait ul Muqaddas are among other anti-human measures of the Zionist regime in the occupied Palestinian territories. In line with this policy a large number of shrines and tombs have been leveled to the ground by bulldozers of the Zionist regime and instead they are going to build parks and restaurants in their places for the Jewish citizens.
Right to Return Right to return to the homeland is among the inalienable fundamental rights of every human being which has been also mentioned in the UN resolutions. Resolution 194 of the UN General Assembly states that the refugees who intend to return to their homeland and resume their peaceful coexistence with their neighbors must be allowed to return immediately, while this right has not yet been granted to the Palestinians. This is against the Notes 1 and 2 of the Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The political system in Israel is not a democratic system but it is an apartheid system which has all traits of racism. This regimes follows a new discourse every time: when its racist nature entails it projects itself as a victim and when its aggressive policies entail it employs the discourse of force just like Mussolini the fascist leader of Italy. Overall the responsibility of the international community towards the oppressed Palestinian nation is very heavy; the Palestinian women, children and elderly look forward to seeing their proper action in reining in the Zionist regime. | ||
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