RAMALLAH, March 8, 2025 (WAFA) – Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, stated today that Israel is targeting the Palestinian people in a genocidal campaign across all the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. She emphasized that any attempt to separate Gaza from the West Bank remains a mere illusion.
In an interview with Palestine TV on Saturday, Albanese said, "The distinction between Gaza and the West Bank is fictitious. Israel has fragmented Palestinian land and people in such a way that it makes people believe Gaza and the West Bank are separate. But no, they are the same. Israel is targeting Palestinians as a people, and this is what defines the crime of genocide. The genocide that began in Gaza is now spreading to the West Bank, and the Palestinian people are facing the same risks."
Albanese added that while she does not believe Israel wants to kill every Palestinian, the aim is to annihilate the concept of Palestinian existence in the occupied territories, advancing the expansion of "Greater Israel." She cited Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich's comments offering Palestinians three options: leave, remain and be subjugated, or rebel and face death.
"The situation in the West Bank is different in terms of intensity and pace," she continued. "But the West Bank remains the prototype of genocidal action. What happened in Gaza after October 7, 2023, was ethnic cleansing, and Israel has been exploiting states of emergency to carry out such acts continuously. The Palestinians know this better than anyone else – they constantly face dispossession and displacement. This is not a conflict or a war; it is a settler-colonial act that must be stopped."
Regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Albanese stressed that Israel’s attacks on the agency are not about denying the Palestinian right of return but rather about targeting the largest UN body in the occupied Palestinian territories. She explained, "Israel wants to eliminate UNRWA because it stands as a symbol of international presence in Palestine, one that rejects Israel’s ethnic cleansing policies. The rights of Palestinian refugees, including the right of return and compensation, are protected under international law, not contingent on UNRWA’s existence."
Albanese went on to clarify that UNRWA cannot disappear because it is a UN body protected by international law. "Member states cannot eliminate it by changing laws or cutting funding, as Israel and other countries have attempted. The rights of Palestinian refugees will remain intact because those rights are codified in international law."
She also raised the issue of Israel’s violations against the UN, citing the destruction of 70% of UN premises in Gaza and the targeting of UNRWA schools, which had been sheltering refugees. "Israel has violated the UN Charter, and it must be held accountable for its actions. I have called for the suspension of Israel's credentials in the UN because of its disregard for international rules and laws. Israel has destroyed or damaged UN premises, targeted shelters, and accused the UN of terrorism."
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