A Position Paper by

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

February 2005[1]

Introduction

The Israeli occupation, which began almost forty years ago, has continued despite some efforts of the international community to restore, or indeed impose, some sort of balance of power settlement on the conflict. Throughout the thirty-eight years of occupation the Palestinian civilian population, while suffering from grave breaches of international humanitarian law and extensive violations of human rights norms, has requested the implementation of three aspects of international law: