{"id":136173,"date":"2018-05-17T13:06:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T13:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=136173"},"modified":"2020-07-22T00:52:42","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T04:52:42","slug":"un-forum-on-the-question-of-palestine-day-1-press-release-gapal14017","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-forum-on-the-question-of-palestine-day-1-press-release-gapal14017\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Forum on the Question of Palestine \u2013 Day 1 Press Release (GA\/PAL\/14017)"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORUM ON QUESTION OF PALESTINE,<\/span>\u00a0AM & PM MEETINGS
\n<\/span>GA\/PAL\/1407<\/strong>
\n17 MAY 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

fran\u00e7ais<\/a><\/p>\n

video (Session 1)<\/a><\/p>\n

video (Session 2)<\/a><\/p>\n

Middle East Conflict “Purely Man-made”, Prominent Activist-Scholar Stresses as United Nation Forum on Question of Palestine Begins<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Deputy Secretary-General Pledges Continued Support on Road to Peace; Palestinian Rights Committee Chair Urges Diplomatic Mobilization<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Seventy years after a General Assembly resolution first sought to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish States \u2014 an anniversary that sparked both joyous commemorations and lethal violence earlier this week \u2014 Palestinian and Israeli scholars, legal experts and Government officials today opened a high-level forum aimed at harnessing the region\u2019s difficult historical lessons and forging a new path forward towards peace.<\/p>\n

At the outset of the two-day Â鶹APP Forum on the Question of Palestine, participants observed a minute of silence to honour the 62 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces on 14\u00a0May, during protests at the Gaza perimeter fence.\u00a0 Noting the Forum\u2019s theme \u2014 \u201c70 Years after 1948 \u2014 Lessons to Achieve a Sustainable Peace\u201d \u2014 speakers pledged to use the event as an opportunity to view that tragedy, as well as the longstanding Israeli occupation and the resulting humanitarian and economic crises, through the often-overlooked lens of history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a purely man-made conflict,\u201d said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian scholar and long-serving member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).\u00a0 In opening remarks, she described events that had led to the expulsion of Palestinians from their land 70 years ago this week, saying that the subsequent system of bias and power politics had enabled Israel to continue to strike at the rule of law, generating a culture of hate and oppression.\u00a0 She went on to outline several important lessons learned in recent decades, emphasizing that the peace process could not be seen as an end in itself.\u00a0 Indeed, any system in which the occupier was constantly rewarded \u201cjust for talking\u201d \u2014 and in which Palestine was only threatened and blackmailed \u2014 could not persist, she emphasized.<\/p>\n

Warning that no nation could expect exceptionalism or impunity for its actions, she underlined that President Donald Trump of the United States had \u201csmashed the negotiating table into splinters\u201d by moving his country\u2019s Embassy to Jerusalem \u2014 and declaring his recognition of the city as Israel\u2019s capital \u2014 on 14\u00a0May.\u00a0 The United States must recognize that some things were not for sale, she said.\u00a0 Recalling that, for decades, Palestinians had been negotiating with their own occupier under duress \u2014 something specifically prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention \u2014 she vowed to continue efforts to redefine Palestine\u2019s relationship with Israel, including at the International Criminal Court and by seeking full recognition in an array of intergovernmental bodies.<\/p>\n

Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the Â鶹APP, noted that 2018 also marked 70 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, she said, should guide the search for a lasting solution to the question of Palestine.\u00a0 The recent violence in Gaza was a reminder of the international community\u2019s failure to do so.\u00a0 \u201cInstead, the lives of generations of Palestinians and Israelis have been defined and confined by a conflict that has shaped their physical and human landscape under a heavy atmosphere of fear, mutual distrust and despair,\u201d she said.\u00a0 Unacceptable violence and incitement only exacerbated mistrust, she noted, pledging continued Â鶹APP support for both Israelis and Palestinians on the road to peace.<\/p>\n

Fod\u00e9 Seck (Senegal), Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People \u2014 the panel hosting the Forum \u2014 said it was difficult to escape the conclusion that Al-Nakba \u2014 the Arabic word meaning \u201cthe catastrophe\u201d and used in reference to the 15\u00a0May\u00a01948 expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland \u2014 lay at the very heart of the conflict.\u00a0 All over the world, revisiting the painful past and asking difficult questions of all parties had been a prerequisite for peace and an inclusive future, he emphasized, warning that if Al-Nakba was not adequately acknowledged and addressed, the search for peace in the Middle East would remain elusive.\u00a0 He called upon the participants to help mobilize diplomatic efforts towards credible peace talks.<\/p>\n

The Forum held two interactive segments featuring high-level panellists from across academia, Governments and civil society.\u00a0 During the first, under the theme \u201cWhat Happened in 1948 \u2014 Why Does It Matter?\u201d, speakers outlined the events leading up to the adoption of General Assembly resolution\u00a0181, which authorized the partition of Palestine.\u00a0 Panellists debated the merits of the two-State formula, with some underlining its critical role in elevating Palestine on the global stage.\u00a0 Others argued in favour of a strategy that went beyond territorial borders to emphasize reconciliation and equal rights instead.\u00a0 Representatives of States and civil society groups commented on the links between Palestine\u2019s history and its present-day reality, while posing questions to the panellists.<\/p>\n

This afternoon, a second panel discussion focused on the theme \u201cDisplacement as a Continuum: the Ongoing Nakba\u201d.\u00a0 Panellists examined the internal displacement of Palestinians and the denial of their ability to return, as citizens, to their homes and villages.\u00a0 A discussion emerged about the term \u201cpermanent occupation\u201d, with some participants stressing that no such concept existed under international law and voicing support for the International Court of Justice\u2019s consideration of the issue.\u00a0 Others noted that Israel\u2019s racist practices were becoming enshrined in law, which made it much more difficult for human rights lawyers and activists to challenge them.<\/p>\n

The Forum will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Friday, 18 May, to hold two additional panel discussions and conclude its work.<\/p>\n

Opening Remarks<\/u><\/p>\n

FOD\u00c9 SECK (Senegal), Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, opened the meeting by asking participants to rise and observe a moment of silence to honour the more than 60\u00a0Palestinians killed and the hundreds wounded in the Gaza Strip protests earlier this week.\u00a0 Recalling that the Committee had convened in 2017 to mark 50 years of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, he said the question of Palestine had nevertheless not begun in 1967.\u00a0 Seventy years had now passed since the 1948 war and its aftermath, and there had been no tangible progress towards a peaceful solution.\u00a0 \u201cIn the collective memory of the Palestinians and the wider Arab world, that aftermath, Al-Nakba \u2014 the \u201ccatastrophie\u201d in Arabic \u2014 evokes memories from a national disaster involving loss, dispossession, destroyed villages and the displacement of hundreds of thousands,\u201d he said.\u00a0 That catastrophe had been followed by decades spent in exile and had brought more war, displacement and suffering.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it was difficult to escape the conclusion that Al-Nakba lay at the very heart of the question of Palestine, he continued.\u00a0 If not adequately acknowledged and addressed, the search for peace in the Middle East would remain elusive.\u00a0 As recognized by the Security Council, a comprehensive approach to sustaining peace must address the root causes of the conflict and acknowledge the links connecting development, peace and security, and human rights.\u00a0 Pledging to continue to advocate for the Palestinian people, including their rights of return to their homes, he drew attention to the critical role played by the Â鶹APP Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in supporting them in the interim.\u00a0 While the Agency was today supporting some 5\u00a0million Palestinians, it now faced formidable funding challenges, he noted, underlining the utmost importance of Member States providing adequate financial support so that UNRWA could continue its crucial work.\u00a0 All over the world, revisiting the painful past and asking difficult questions of all parties had been a prerequisite for peace and an inclusive future.\u00a0 In that spirit, he asked the participants in the Forum to help in mobilizing diplomatic efforts to launch credible negotiations that would lead to a just peace.<\/p>\n

AMINA MOHAMMED, Deputy Secretary-General of the Â鶹APP, said that 2018 marked the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which should guide the search for a durable solution to the question of Palestine.\u00a0 Underscoring the need for such a solution, she pointed out that the recent violence in the Gaza Strip was a reminder of the international community\u2019s failure to find a just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestinian refugees.\u00a0 \u201cInstead, the lives of generations of Palestinians and Israelis have been defined and confined by a conflict that has shaped their physical and human landscape under a heavy atmosphere of fear, mutual distrust and despair,\u201d she noted.\u00a0 The illegal establishment and expansion of settlements was contributing further to displacement and constituted a major obstacle to a two-State solution.\u00a0 Moreover, unacceptable violence and incitement exacerbated mistrust, she noted, adding that militant activity and the absence of Palestinian unity also constituted obstacles to a negotiated solution.\u00a0 \u201cThe Â鶹APP will continue to support Israelis and Palestinians on the road to peace by helping them to take the historic steps to achieve two States living side by side in peace, within secure and recognized borders and with Jerusalem as the capital of both,\u201d she stressed.\u00a0 She concluded by describing the perspectives of children affected by the conflict.<\/p>\n

Statements<\/u><\/p>\n

HANAN ASHRAWI, delivering the statement of the\u00a0State of Palestine<\/u>, said the Committee had long provided the Palestinian people with the rare commodity of hope.\u00a0 \u201cWe are suffering an ongoing system of injustice,\u201d she noted, stressing that 70 years was far too long for the injustices of expulsion and oppression to exist.\u00a0 Systematic ethnic cleansing was being carried out in a variety of ways, she said, emphasizing that one nation could not simply be replaced with another with no consequences.\u00a0 If the current repugnant anomaly of impunity and disdain for the law was allowed to continue, it risked destroying the international system that the Â鶹APP had built, she warned.<\/p>\n

Citing the ongoing system of bias and power politics that had enabled the occupying Power to continue to strike at the rule of law, generating a culture of hate and continued oppression, she said: \u00a0\u201cSometimes I feel really angry at having to recite numbers\u201d of those killed or imprisoned.\u00a0 \u201cWe all know the intensity, the degree and pervasiveness of the suffering.\u201d\u00a0 She called instead for a \u201cdifferent chronicle for Palestine\u201d, representing the triumph of will over adversity, which must be accomplished multilaterally.<\/p>\n

Past decades had revealed both successes and flaws, she said, outlining several lessons learned.\u00a0 The peace process was a means to an end, not an end in itself, and today the process had lost its value.\u00a0 A system in which the occupier was constantly rewarded \u201cjust for talking\u201d \u2014 and in which Palestine was only threatened and blackmailed, or charged with being a terrorist threat \u2014 could not persist.\u00a0 The United States constantly exerted pressure, including its threat to \u201ctake names\u201d, she said, emphasizing that it was time that country realized that some things were not for sale.\u00a0 Countries must vote their consciences and no nation could expect exceptionalism or impunity for their actions.\u00a0 Countless resolutions on the question of Palestine had been adopted at the Â鶹APP, but none had been implemented, and some 43 vetoes had been cast to protect Israel from accountability, she recalled.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, any resistance to Israel was deemed to be anti-Semitism, and movements such as \u201cBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions\u201d \u2014 known as \u201cBDS\u201d \u2014 as well as non-violent protests in Gaza induced only claims of terrorism.\u00a0 Palestinians were punished when they attempted to seek recourse, she said, adding that they were blocked from taking their situation to such bodies as the International Criminal Court.\u00a0 While Palestinians enjoyed no security of their own, when they tried to defend themselves, concerns were immediately raised about Israel\u2019s security, she said, pointing out that just this week, that country\u2019s soldiers had killed scores of civilian protesters \u2014 including women and children \u2014 while claiming they had been forced to do so \u201cin self-defence\u201d.\u00a0 Meanwhile, obscene celebrations had been held against the backdrop of that massacre, she said, stressing: \u201cJerusalem is not the capital of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 No unilateral declaration to that effect would ever be valid, she added.\u00a0 Today, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements \u2014 which constituted a war crime and threatened the two-State formula \u2014 also continued unabated, she pointed out.<\/p>\n

Stating that President Donald Trump had \u201csmashed the negotiating table into splinters\u201d, she pointed out that Palestinians had been negotiating ad nauseum for decades, even as a people living under occupation should not \u2014 under the Fourth Geneva Convention \u2014 be expected to negotiate with their occupier under duress.\u00a0 Palestinians would not ask Israel for their freedom, which was their right.\u00a0 The element of absolutist reality, wherein Israel must be accepted as a divinely ordained Jewish State, had now become a part of the political dynamics on the ground.\u00a0 \u201cThis is a purely man-made conflict,\u201d she stressed, calling for a resolution of the conflict, embedded in full respect for internarial law, based on multilateralism and reliant on concrete steps, a binding timeframe and clear objectives.\u00a0 Business-as-usual could no longer be accepted.\u00a0 \u201cWe are going to redefine our relationship with Israel,\u201d she said, recalling that the issue of settlement expansion had already been referred to the International Criminal Court, while underlining that Palestine would continue to seek recognition in various other intergovernmental bodies.\u00a0 Against the backdrop of rising populism, isolationism, nationalism and the arrogance of power \u2014 especially seen in the United States and the Israeli echo-chamber \u2014 people must remain vigilant against hypo-sectarianism and claims to exceptionalism, she cautioned.\u00a0 It was time to go beyond words and address the roots of the crisis.<\/p>\n

Panel I<\/u><\/p>\n

The Forum then held a panel discussion on the theme \u201cWhat Happened in 1948 \u2014 Why Does It Matter?\u201d Moderated by Eugene Rogan, Professor of Middle Eastern History and Director, St. Anthony\u2019s College Middle East Centre, it featured the following panellists:\u00a0 Hanan Ashrawi, Member, Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee; Avraham Burg, former Interim President of Israel and former Speaker of the Knesset; Victor Kattan, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, and Associate Fellow, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore; and Ilan Papp\u00e9, Director, European Centre for Palestinian Studies, Exeter University, United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Mr. ROGAN said the panel would address the situation in 1948, the natural point of departure for any contextualized discussion of the question of Palestine today.\u00a0 He asked Mr. Papp\u00e9 to describe the events of 1948.<\/p>\n

Mr. PAPP\u00c9, recalled that, in 1947, the Â鶹APP had appointed a Special Committee on Palestine comprising 13 Member States with very little knowledge about Palestine, and perhaps a misunderstanding of the situation there.\u00a0 Before the General Assembly adopted resolution 181, thereby partitioning Palestine, the Jewish community had already begun expelling Palestinians from their homes and pursuing a campaign of ethnic cleansing, he said.\u00a0 In 1948, a controversial Israeli operation aimed at wiping out all Palestinian villages and towns had expelled thousands, and the destroyed towns had been covered over with forests or renamed in Hebrew.\u00a0 No effective peace process today could ignore what had happened in 1948, he said, emphasizing that instead, it must fully acknowledge the catastrophe, hold Israel accountable for its crimes against humanity, and accept the State of Palestine in any plans going forward.<\/p>\n

Mr. KATTAN said the Â鶹APP had become involved with the question of Palestine in 1947 following a request from the United Kingdom.\u00a0 The Organization had established the Special Committee on Palestine \u2014 with a broad mandate that included examining the situation of Jewish refugees in Europe \u2014 which had recommended the partition of Palestinian lands and envisioned two sovereign States: a Jewish one and an Arab one.\u00a0 A separate Palestine Commission had then been created to transition authority from the United Kingdom to those two nations.\u00a0 However, in January 1948, less than two months after the adoption of the partition plan, the United Kingdom had decided not to cooperate with the process, preventing those steps from proceeding.\u00a0 As a result, the Â鶹APP \u2014 which had only been involved in the issue for 13 months \u2014 had also \u201cgot cold feet\u201d in carrying out its own plans, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. BURG said his own point of view emerged from a \u201cvery privileged side\u201d that had enjoyed 70 years of freedom and prosperity at the expense of the Palestinian people.\u00a0 Rejecting the notion of Israel\u2019s divine, biblical establishment as well as the theory of \u201cpolitical Darwinism\u201d claiming that Israel had simply won the war, he said 1948 was part of an embarrassing Israeli oxymoron.\u00a0 On the one hand, Israel had tried to wipe out any history that had taken place before that year, and on the other, it was not ready to relinquish history that had taken place after 1967.\u00a0 Today, Israel\u2019s privilege was so intense that it was almost absolute.\u00a0 Melding the fragmented reality into a peaceful two-State solution would be very challenging, he said, declaring: \u201cEvery individual between the Jordan and the Mediterranean [\u2026] should have the same rights.\u201d\u00a0 The international community should stop counting States and begin counting rights and values, he added.<\/p>\n

Ms. ASHRAWI said Israel had consistently relied on misinformation and myths, including that of a \u201cland without a people for a people without a land\u201d.\u00a0 Attempts to render the Palestinian people invisible continued, while Israelis continued to claim exclusivity over historical tragedy because they felt the horrors of the Holocaust eclipsed the suffering of everyone else, she added.<\/p>\n

Mr. ROGAN, citing several instances of media censorship related to Israel and Palestine, asked Ms. Ashrawi to address such efforts to \u201csilence history\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms. ASHRAWI responding by describing attempts to render history silent as \u201cthe refuge of the ignorant\u201d.\u00a0 History was critical, which was why Israel was trying to silence it.\u00a0 Instead, it cited biblical religious history from 3,000 years ago, treating ancient texts as geopolitical blueprints for twenty-first century realities, she said.\u00a0 The fact that history was an ongoing process was being totally denied.<\/p>\n

In the ensuing dialogue, national delegates as well as representatives of civil society and others commented on various elements of Palestine\u2019s history and their links to its present-day reality.\u00a0 Some posed questions about the future of the two-State formula, while others asked the panellists to explore alternative psycho-political solutions that might bring the parties closer together.<\/p>\n

The representative of\u00a0Namibia<\/u>, drawing parallels between her country\u2019s history and that of Palestine, urged participants to comment on the issue\u2019s wider global context.\u00a0 Noting that the Holocaust was based on a blueprint carried out in Namibia \u2014 in which German troops had decimated two indigenous tribes \u2014 she said her country was currently engaged in talks with Germany on reparation talks for those actions, and asked the panellists how they viewed the path forward in Palestine against such a global backdrop.<\/p>\n

Ms. ASHRAWI responded by saying that constantly blaming the Palestinians for their current situation was one element blocking forward progress.\u00a0 Such false narratives formed a barrier to mutual understanding, she added, urging acknowledgement of Palestinian experience and pain.\u00a0 The parties should also rid themselves of distractions and avoidance, instead going back to the basics of multilateralism and creative thinking about how to dismantle the occupation.<\/p>\n

Mr. BURG, referring to reconciliation processes in Southern Africa, said that, in the Middle East, \u201cwe are in an almost stupid competition of traumas\u201d.\u00a0 It was not about whose pain was worse, he said, emphasizing that such narratives blocked any movement towards reconciliation or reparations.<\/p>\n

Mr. KATTAN recalled that Namibia had resisted apartheid, having brought the situation to the Â鶹APP at least five times.\u00a0 While the issue of reparations had not yet been raised in the context of Palestine, the United Kingdom might be involved in future talks on that question due to its early role in the partition process, he said.<\/p>\n

The representative of\u00a0Ecuador<\/u>\u00a0asked he panellists to elaborate on the distinction between \u201csharing\u201d and \u201cpartition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr. BURG said the first step towards sharing, rather than dividing, the contested land was to accept a \u201cdifferent ground level\u201d based on rights rather than national territories.\u00a0 That approach would go beyond assertions of religious laws and the tenuous reality of nation States, he said, instead allowing both Palestinians and Israelis to define themselves in any terms they chose.<\/p>\n

Ms. PAPP\u00c9 said the current reality was the stark existence of a single, all-powerful State.\u00a0 Concurring that it was time to examine innovative new ideas, he said that was especially true at a time when a huge percentage of Palestinians were under age of 18.\u00a0 They wanted not just a sovereign State but also more options for a better future, he added.<\/p>\n

Mr. KATTAN responded to several specific historical questions, including one about the United Kingdom\u2019s effective annulment of the 1917 Balfour Declaration \u2014 which had first announced its support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine \u2014 and about Israel\u2019s consistent rejection of the presence of third parties, such as a Â鶹APP peacekeeping operation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.<\/p>\n

Other participants raised questions about Israel\u2019s possession of nuclear weapons, and about the role of religious extremism, with one speaker asking the panellists whether it was the obligation of the Jewish leadership and people to oppose religious extremism and the propaganda it fuelled.<\/p>\n

Ms. ASHRAWI noted that religion was a convenient tool often used by secular leaders to buttress their political arguments.\u00a0 Nowhere in the world had religion been as badly abused for such purposes as in the Middle East, she said.<\/p>\n

The Permanent Observer of the\u00a0State of Palestine<\/u>\u00a0said the Â鶹APP \u2014 which had been involved in the situation from the beginning \u2014 must remain engaged in the Middle East peace process.\u00a0 Emphasizing that the balance of power on the ground was severely tipped against the Palestinians, he said that was not the case at the Â鶹APP.\u00a0 \u201cThis is one of the strongest cards we have,\u201d he said, rejecting attempts to unilaterally alter the character of negotiations from seeking a two-State solution to accepting a one-State reality.\u00a0 There would be no equality between Palestinians and Israelis until the occupation ended and a sovereign State of Palestine was created, he stressed, adding that anything short of that would fail to change the balance of power on the ground.<\/p>\n

Also participating in the discussion was the Foreign Minister of Indonesia and representatives of Senegal and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Panel II<\/u><\/p>\n

The afternoon session began with the viewing of a short clip from the documentary\u00a0Voices Across the Divide<\/em>.\u00a0 The Forum then held a panel discussion under the theme \u201cDisplacement as a Continuum: the Ongoing Nakba\u201d.\u00a0 Mae Elise Cannon, Executive Director, Churches for Middle East Peace, moderated the discussion, which featured three panellists: Seraje Assi, Visiting Fellow, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU); Suhad Bichara, Director, Land and Planning Rights Unit, Adalah-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights; and Itay Epshtain, Special Adviser, Norwegian Refugee Council.<\/p>\n

Ms. CANNON said the discussion would cover the aspects of Al-Nakba and the 1948 displacement that continued until the present day, adding that her ecumenical organization was working actively to promote a resolution of the Middle East conflict and sought to embrace a holistic view in that regard.\u00a0 The settlement strategy had never been abandoned after 1948 and Al-Nakba therefore remained a reality, she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. BICHARA said that after 1948, the Israeli authorities, having nationalized lands, had recently started selling them, thereby undermining the right of refugees to return. \u00a0Palestinians were becoming internally displaced and were denied the ability to go back to their homes and villages as citizens.\u00a0 In the southern part of Israel, Bedouin Palestinian citizens were constantly being forcibly displaced in order to \u201cjudaize\u201d the land, she said.\u00a0 As for the West Bank and East Jerusalem, dozens of annexation bills were currently under discussion in the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, which constituted a form of \u201cdemographic engineering\u201d.\u00a0 In 2017, she recalled, the legislature had passed the validation law in order retroactively to validate settlements built on privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank.\u00a0 International humanitarian law had been suspended in order to annex land for the exclusive use of Jewish people.\u00a0 On recent events in the Gaza Strip, she referred to a legal document submitted to Israel\u2019s Supreme Court in regard to the use of live ammunition and snipers against civil demonstrations.\u00a0 That document gave the authorities greater leeway to act against both combatants and non-combatants using an invented category within international humanitarian law, she stated.<\/p>\n

Mr. EPSHTAIN said Palestinians were at risk of violence and forcible transfer and therefore in need of protection.\u00a0 Internal displacement of Palestinians was caused by various triggers intrinsically related to the Israeli occupation.\u00a0 The international definition of an internally displaced person was applicable in that situation, he noted.\u00a0 As of January 2018, at least 230,000 people had been internally displaced, of whom 60\u00a0per\u00a0cent were Palestine refugees.\u00a0 Noting that destruction of property and other policies were leading to the forcible transfer of households and entire communities, he said that in Area C of the West Bank, more than 50,000 people were at heightened risk of forcible transfer and another 220,000 in East Jerusalem faced statelessness.\u00a0 At particular risk were pastoralists and Bedouin communities near places designated by Israel as closed military zones, as well as Palestinian residents of Israel-controlled parts of Hebron and East Jerusalem, he stated.<\/p>\n

Mass displacement was becoming an increasing concern in Area C and East Jerusalem, he emphasized, noting that 5,500 structures had been destroyed since 2009, including 900 humanitarian assets, with 53,000 people adversely affected.\u00a0 Israel claimed that the forcible transfer and urbanization of Palestinians within Jerusalem would be to their benefit, but that was false, he said, citing results from a survey.\u00a0 Despite the adoption of Security Council resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016), Israel had expanded settlements, with 4,122 housing units approved for construction in Area C since 2017.\u00a0 Citing the \u201cTrump effect\u201d, he noted that the United States Administration\u2019s statements had emboldened Israel to expand its settlements expansion.\u00a0 Bills already before the Knesset sought further annexation of lands in the West Bank, with Palestinian communities subjected to forcible transfer, he added.<\/p>\n

Mr. ASSI noted that the situation in the Gaza Strip was a refugee crisis first and foremost.\u00a0 Recent protests in the enclave had hoped to call attention to the humanitarian calamity there. \u00a0In 1948, the enclave had been turned into a massive refugee camp virtually overnight, he recalled, adding that two thirds of its population had become refugees and it had resembled a tent city.\u00a0 \u201cGaza became a Noah\u2019s Ark for a Palestine that vanished in 1948.\u201d\u00a0 Israel had uprooted Palestine refugees and then humiliated them with endless military raids and offensives, full-scale wars, and an 11-year-long blockade with no end in sight.\u00a0 \u201cThere is one thing worse than displacement and that is not being able to leave,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Gaza had been rendered the world\u2019s largest open-air prison, and Â鶹APP reports described Gaza under siege as \u201cunliveable\u201d.\u00a0 The spectacle of refugee camps continued to haunt the Israeli Administration, explaining why it viewed the impoverished enclave as a security threat.\u00a0 In 2005, he recalled, Israel\u2019s military withdrawal from Gaza had been branded as having fulfilled its obligations but it continued to control the enclave from air, land and sea, he stressed.\u00a0 \u201cIsrael realized it was cheaper to run the prison from the outside than from the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the ensuing discussion, delegates, legal experts and civil society representatives commented on the nature and definition of the occupation, asking questions about potential solutions to the conflict.\u00a0 Many also asked about the role of the United States Government in the situation.<\/p>\n

Mr. PAPP\u00c9 asked whether the term \u201ccolonization\u201d would be more suitable in the Israeli-Palestinian than the phrase \u201cpermanent occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr. EPSHTAIN agreed that there was no such thing as a \u201cpermanent occupation\u201d, because under international humanitarian law, the situation had not been intended as a permanent state of affairs.\u00a0 One solution would be to devise a test for a substantive time-cap on the occupation, he said, citing a report in that regard.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s intent was to use the fa\u00e7ade of occupation to mask its real intent, which was the acquisition of Palestinian territory and denial of the right to self-determination.<\/p>\n

Ms. CANNON asked about that terminology in the context of the recent policy shift by the United States.<\/p>\n

Ms. BICHARA said that country\u2019s policy had resulted in unconditional support for annexation attempts by Israeli lawmakers and violations of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n

Mr. ASSI said Israel\u2019s prolonged occupation had become colonial in character.\u00a0 Its leadership was under the impression that its apartheid policy would prove durable.\u00a0 The Â鶹APP still considered the Gaza Strip occupied territory but, because the costs of the occupation were paid by others, the Israeli authorities did not have any incentive to change the situation, he said, stressing that the narrative must be shifted from a two-State paradigm to one demanding an immediate end to the occupation.\u00a0 That was not a political demand but constituted an obligation under international law.<\/p>\n

Mr. EPSHTAIN said the United States was bound by Security Council resolutions, noting that Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem had been denied through that country\u2019s recent actions.\u00a0 In addition, its defunding of UNRWA was about negating the status of Palestine refugees, he said, predicting that President Trump would recognize Israel\u2019s annexation of the West Bank, thereby contributing to the permanency of Israeli domination and control.<\/p>\n

Speakers then asked how the United States Government could be held accountable for racism, and about the part played by white supremacism in the Gaza atrocities.<\/p>\n

Ms. CANNON said United States policies on the State of Palestine were \u201catrocious\u201d, pointing out that many citizens of that country were ignorant of the situation.\u00a0 She called for just policies in that regard.<\/p>\n

Mr. EPSHTAIN said that there was a communal interest in ensuring respect for international law.\u00a0 The Government of Israel had failed to do so, as had other States.\u00a0 The question was whether States were doing everything within their power to leverage the situation, he said, asking how Israel and the United States could be held accountable.<\/p>\n

A representative of the\u00a0State of Palestine<\/u>\u00a0said Mr. Assi\u2019s analysis of the Gaza situation was also applicable to other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, such as Nablus.\u00a0 \u201cInternational humanitarian law is the invention of the Europeans,\u201d he said.\u00a0 The concept of \u201cprolonged occupation\u201d had emerged from the good intentions of those trying to use the legal option against occupation.\u00a0 The objective of articulating a question about that issue to the International Court of Justice was to use that advisory opinion to combat the occupation.\u00a0 Ending the occupation could not be discussed without linking it to the independence of the State of Palestine and to the right of self-determination and statehood, he said, noting that, although some said that Â鶹APP resolutions drafted by his observer delegation in that regard were meaningless, they were nevertheless part of international law and therefore important.<\/p>\n

CARMELO INGUANEZ (Malta), Committee Vice-chair, noted that in the case of Palestine, the colonial Power had not come from another country; rather, a new State had been established on the land of another.\u00a0 Regarding the effects of racism, he said the choice was between a Jewish State and a democratic State.\u00a0 Israel had long discarded the idea of a two-State solution and was now \u201con the path to Jewishness, whatever it takes\u201d.<\/p>\n

One civil society participant emphasized that the occupation was not an ordinary one and was also not akin to South Africa\u2019s apartheid regime.\u00a0 Another noted that there were lessons to be learned from the anti-apartheid movement.\u00a0 Intersectional social movements across the United States were taking up the question of Palestine, he said, noting the consequences of that country\u2019s financial support for Israel\u2019s military.\u00a0 At the Â鶹APP, many Governments were afraid to challenge the United States, which might threaten trade privileges and aid.\u00a0 She recalled that the anti-apartheid struggle had been raised at the Â鶹APP long before the United States recognized it.<\/p>\n

Ms. BICHARA, recalling that Israel\u2019s Supreme Court had ruled there was no such thing as Israeli nationality, said that as a Palestinian, she was unable to practise democracy in her day-to-day life.\u00a0 \u201cI am still seen as a threat\u2026 My constitutional rights are suspended\u2026 this is not democracy,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n

Mr. EPSHTAIN said the withdrawal of foreign troops was insufficient to end occupation, which required the right to self-determination.\u00a0 Regarding the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, he said the occupation was abusive, and asked about ways and means to investigate and prosecute breaches of the Geneva Convention, thus expanding the arsenal of measures to end the occupation.<\/p>\n

Mr. ASSI said that, by establishing an embassy in Jerusalem, the United States had rewarded Israel for massacring Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Other participants asked about interreligious dialogue, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, violations of international humanitarian law, accountability regarding settlers and the manipulation of borders for land-grabbing purposes.<\/p>\n

Ms. BICHARA said Israel was reconstructing international humanitarian law, calling attention to several bills that which created frameworks that were in violation of international law.\u00a0 Racist practices were becoming enshrined in law, which made it much harder for human rights lawyers and activists to challenge them, especially within the Israeli legal system.\u00a0 There was no functioning opposition in Israel and it was therefore crucial that the international community create a deterrent, she stressed.<\/p>\n

Mr. EPSHTAIN said the initiative to establish the greater Jerusalem municipality was part of an overall negative trajectory.\u00a0 While underlining Israel\u2019s obligation to conduct the occupation in accordance with international law and bring it to an end, he said that fact did not relieve others of the responsibility to take action to ensure respect for international law.\u00a0 Member States should consider other measures in that regard, he added.<\/p>\n

Mr. ASSI said the recent scene of Israeli soldiers massacring Palestinian protestors was an indication that they did not see the latter as human.\u00a0 He observed that more than 80\u00a0per\u00a0cent of Gaza\u2019s residents were dependent on humanitarian assistance and called for creative new forms of sustainable development, noting that the enclave had become an economy of survival.<\/p>\n

Ms. CANNON said the situation was more critical than ever, emphasizing that the international community must be courageous in applying international law and holding Israel to account.<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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