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6 March 2026<\/p>\n
GENEVA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Irreparable harm is being inflicted on Jerusalem, as violence engulfs the region, and genocide continues in Gaza and spills into the West Bank, UN experts* warned today.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the cover of an existential war against the Palestinians, Israel is accelerating measures that alter Jerusalem\u2019s demographic composition, religious character and legal status, destroying the remnants of the pluralistic fabric that Jerusalem has represented for centuries, for Muslims, Christians and Jews, \u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is being done to this world symbol of spiritual coexistence and shared heritage is irreversible.\u201d<\/p>\n In occupied East Jerusalem, extrajudicial killings, large-scale demolitions and forced displacement have escalated. Checkpoints and closures are severing the city from its Palestinian hinterland, isolating communities from their social, cultural, economic and religious life and undermining their rights to self-determination and development. Punitive policing and systematic interference with freedom of worship are designed to coerce Palestinians to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are not security measures,\u201d the experts said. \u201cThey are components of a systematic project of demographic engineering and domination to entrench exclusive Jewish control.\u201d<\/p>\n The scale is stark. Between 2021 and 2025, 144 Palestinians were reportedly killed in Jerusalem\u2019s Governorate. At least 11,555 were arrested, amid allegations of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment. Authorities issued 2,386 deportation decisions and carried out more than 1,732 demolitions and land-levelling operations, often coercing residents to demolish their own homes under threat of heavy fines or imprisonment. Thirty-three Bedouin communities, home to more than 7,000 Palestinians, are being pushed toward displacement through repeated demolitions and land seizures. The deprivation of access to natural resources have stripped away their subsistence, forcing many to leave.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s discriminatory legislation drives this process: barring Palestinians from reclaiming properties lost in 1947\u201349 while enabling Israeli Jews to do so, and advancing unlawful expropriation measures underpinning ongoing evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.<\/p>\n The experts said international humanitarian law and human rights law unequivocally prohibit confiscation of private property and the forcible transfer of a protected population. \u201cSuch acts constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may amount to war crimes. Yet decades of invoking this legal framework have failed to halt the violations \u2013 impunity granted to Israel has become an enabler.\u201d<\/p>\n Children\u2019s access to education has deteriorated following legislation obstructing the work of UNRWA and violation of its premises, including in East Jerusalem. Frequent militarised incursions, coupled with expanding settler presence, have resulted in harassment, arrests and sweeping restrictions on Palestinian access to holy sites. 73,871 settler incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound were reported in 2025 alone. Christian communities have faced assaults and restrictions, particularly during religious observances.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially during Ramadan, access limitations have gravely curtailed Palestinians\u2019 ability to participate in religious life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese acts must be understood in their totality: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, by whatever means, whatever the cost and whatever crimes it takes. This environment is coercing Palestinians to leave their homes and life in a city where their roots run deep,\u201d the experts warned.<\/p>\n The experts urged immediate international action, especially in the wake of the International Court of Justice\u00a0Advisory Opinion<\/a>\u00a0which declared Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful, and called on all States to refrain from recognising or aiding the occupation and to act collectively to end it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is unfolding mirrors colonial enterprises of past centuries, carried out in real time, undermining a fully developed international legal system,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is erased now \u2013 the richness of Jerusalem\u2019s communities, heritage and rights \u2013 will not be restored. Inaction is not neutrality; it is complicity,\u201d the experts warned.<\/p>\n To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n *The experts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n