Israel’s priority is “colonial expansion,” the committee on Israeli practices in occupied territories said.
The world may be witnessing the expulsion of “another Naqbah,” or Palestinians, a UN Special Commission warns.
The committee sounded an alarm on Friday, denounced Israel as “ethnic cleansing” and said it was causing Palestinians “unthinkable suffering.”
The comments come after Israel announced plans earlier this week to expel hundreds of thousands of hungry Palestinians from northern Gaza and lock them up in six camps.
For Palestinians, forced displacement evokes memories of “nakbah” or catastrophe.
The UN committee, tasked with investigating Israeli practices affecting Palestinian rights, said “Israel continues to inflict unimaginable suffering on those living under its occupation, but is rapidly expanding the confiscation of the land as part of its colony’s ambitions.”
“What we are witnessing may be another Nakba,” the committee added after signing its annual mission to Amman.
“The goal of wider colonial expansion is clearly a priority for the Israeli government,” the report states.
“Security operations will be used as smokescreens for rapid land grabs, mass evacuation, confiscation, demolition, forced eviction and ethnic cleansing to replace Palestinian communities with Jewish settlers.”
“Inhumane, degradation treatment”
The committee also noted Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians.
“Testimony clearly shows that torture and other cruelty, inhuman or degraded treatment and punishment, including sexual violence, are systematic practices of Israeli military and security forces, and are prevalent in Israeli prisons and military detention camps.”
“This method is read as a playbook of how to humiliate, scavenge, and try to attack fear.”
The commission’s mission came as Israel’s total lockdown of aid to Gaza continued over weeks.
“It’s hard to imagine a world where governments implement such a drop-down policy to starve the population.
“But this is the reality of illness for the people of Gaza.”
A UN Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of Palestinians and other Arabs in the occupied territories was established in December 1968 by the United Nations General Assembly.
During the formation of Israel in 1948, approximately 760,000 Palestinians either fled or were kicked out of what became known as “Nabba.”
The approximately 160,000 Palestinian descendants who were able to remain in what became Israel currently account for around 20% of the population.
The committee is currently comprised of ambassadors of the United Nations in New York for Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Senegal.
Source link
