Ref: 48/2013

On Wednesday, 26 June 2013, Mr. Raji
Sourani, Director of PCHR, met with Ms. Heidi Hautala, Finnish Minister of
International Cooperation, and an accompanied delegation comprised of: Ms.
Prirko-Liisa Kyostila, Director of the Department for Development Policy; the
Head of the Representative Office of Finland to the Palestinian Authority; and assisting
staff.  The meeting was attended also by
Ms. Yasmeen al-Khudari, a Palestinian blogger, and Ms. Hiba al-Zayan, an
analyst of UN Empowerment and Gender Equality. 

Sourani first thanked the Finnish
Minister for her visit to the Gaza Strip, her interest in the human rights
situation in Palestine and the constant and clear positions of the Finnish
government towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  He then reviewed the human rights situation
in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, condemning the institutionalization
of the illegal closure imposed on the Gaza Strip for several years as a form of
collective punishment, and its impact on the human, social and economic
conditions of about 2 million Palestinians. 

Sourani also addressed the lack of accountability
against suspected Israeli war criminal for war crimes and crimes against
humanity they commit, stressing that none of the Israeli security, military or
political officials has been held accountable, so the international community
is required to activate the principle of universal jurisdiction and the
International Criminal Court to ensure that Israel and its leaders are held
accountable. 

He further reviewed the human rights
situation in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, considering that the Israeli
policies there constitute a new more brutal and bloodier apartheid, and ethnic
cleansing against Palestinians in Jerusalem. 
He also considered settlement Israeli activities in the West Bank
serious, calling on Europe to take a practical political position towards this
crime. 

Sourani also talked about women’s rights
in the Gaza Strip, and the suffering of women and the youth at many
levels. 

In the end, Sourani discussed the
internal situation and addressed practices of the two governments in Gaza and
Ramallah, highlighting the disastrous impact of the Palestinian political
split.