LOC13:21
10:21 GMT
GENEVA -- The Committee was further concerned to learn that around 70 dead bodies of Palestinians who were killed, since October 2015, in the context of alleged attacks on Israeli civilians or security forces were held by Israel for many weeks and months, denying the families a proper and dignified closure.
As of today, while many bodies have been returned to their families, it was further stated that the bodies of 18 Palestinians killed continue to be held by Israel.
Representations were made that Israeli authorities have prohibited autopsies, and that the dead bodies are kept in poor and inhumane conditions, stacked on top of each other. It was brought to the attention of the Committee that the bodies returned to the families are often disfigured, sometimes beyond recognition, denying the families the right to accord, with dignity, final religious rites.
The Committee was also briefed on the threats and intimidation faced by human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Israel.
According to the representations, these intimidations and threats have taken different forms, including restrictions/denial of freedom of movement, threatening phone calls and emails, and death threats in extreme cases.
Steps should be adopted to provide protection necessary for human rights defenders in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to carry out their work freely and without fear of attacks and harassment. In this regard, the need to fully investigate attacks and threats against human rights defenders, and to hold accountable those responsible, was stressed.
According to testimonies received by the Special Committee, Israeli authorities maintain a coercive environment as part of efforts to consolidate control of Area C in the West Bank. Representations made to the Committee expressed concerns over settler violence, and the demolition of Palestinian homes and structures.
Cases of destruction of donor funded structures in Area C were viewed as reprisal measures by Israel for steps adopted by the European Union to counter the sale of settlement products. The Committee members also heard testimony from a representative of a Bedouin community at risk of forcible transfer.
The Committee also heard about the negative impact of the occupation on children's education in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, among others, as a result of frequent raids by Israeli security forces inside school premises during classroom hours, the arrest and detention of teachers and students, and the intimidating presence of soldiers on roads in close vicinity to schools, and at multiple checkpoints along the way to school.
Furthermore, the Committee was briefed about the exploitation of natural resources, including oil and gas, from the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan by Israeli and international companies, at the expense of rights of Palestinians and Syrians.
The Special Committee noted certain measures such as extension of access to sea in Gaza to 9 nautical miles, and a slight increase in movement of persons and goods, which could potentially have some positive impact on the daily lives of Palestinians living in Gaza.
Another development noted by civil society representations was the unsuccessful implementation of the controversial force feeding bill adopted by the Knesset last year due to refusal to cooperate by Israeli doctors and the Israeli Medical Association.
It was underscored that despite these small improvements, the overall human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan was deteriorating.
The committee met with a range of civil society organisations, UN representatives and Palestinian officials during their annual fact-finding visit to Amman (2-5 May 2016).
During the visit, representations were made on a wide range of issues affecting the Palestinian and Syrian people in territories occupied by Israel.
The United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1968 to examine the human rights situation in the occupied Syrian Golan, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The Special Committee is composed of three Member States: Sri Lanka (Chair), Malaysia and Senegal. This year the Member States are represented by H.E. Mr. Amrith Rohan Perera, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York; H.E. Mr. Ramlan bin Ibrahim, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the UN in New York; and H.E. Mr. Mame Baba Cisse, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Senegal to the UN in Geneva. (end)
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