NEW YORK, Friday, October 28, 2022 (WAFA) – Israel’s occupation of Palestine is indistinguishable from a “settler-colonial” situation, which must end as a pre-condition for Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine, said yesterday.
“For over 55 years, the Israeli military occupation has prevented the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, violating each component of that right and wilfully pursuing the ‘de-Palestinianisation’ of the occupied territory,” said Albanese in a report.
The report asserts the Israeli occupation violates Palestinian territorial sovereignty by seizing, annexing, fragmenting, and transferring its civilian population to the occupied territory.
The Israeli occupation further “endangers the cultural existence of the Palestinian people”, said the UN rights office press release summarizing the report, by erasing or appropriating symbols expressing Palestinian identity.
“This is, in essence, proof of the intent to colonise the occupied territory, and manifests Israel’s policies of domination through the “strategic fragmentation” of the occupied territory,” the expert said.
The report noted, “The international community’s political, humanitarian, and economic approach towards resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict, have failed without exception.”
“These approaches conflate root causes with symptoms and serve to normalise Israel’s illegal occupation instead of challenging it. This is immoral and renders the regulatory and remedial function of international law futile,” Albanese said.
The report calls for “a paradigm shift”, which entails moving away from the narrative of “conflict” between Israelis and Palestinians, and recognition of Israel’s “intentionally acquisitive, segregationist and repressive settler-colonial occupation.”
Albanese urged the international community to formally acknowledge and condemn the settler-colonial nature of the Israeli occupation.
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