NEW YORK, November 14, 2025 (WAFA) - Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, said that images of mobs of masked Israeli settlers carrying out arson attacks in the occupied West Bank this week are abhorrent and reflect a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians.
During his weekly press briefing at the United Nations office in Geneva today, he said, “The surge in violence comes as Israeli authorities have ramped up home demolitions, the seizure of property, arrests, and movement restrictions, alongside the unabated building of settlements and outposts and the forcible displacement and transfer of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the military."
“Permanently displacing the Palestinian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, which is a war crime. The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies also amounts to a war crime,” he added.
He said, “We reiterate that the Israeli Government’s assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and its annexation of parts of it are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed. They also violate the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”
“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reiterates that attacks against Palestinians and their property must stop, and those responsible must be held to account. Israel must end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including by ceasing immediately all new settlement activities, and evacuating all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory. Palestinians’ right to self-determination must be realized.”
T.R.
