Ref: 48/2011
In a blatant challenge to the international community, and US
President Barack Obama’s statement relating to his vision for the resolution of
the Palestinian cause, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu held a
government meeting on Sunday, 30 May 2011, near the Tower of David in the Old
City of occupied East Jerusalem, where “a plan to strengthen the status of
Jerusalem” as a tourist city, and as a center for scientific, development and
industrial research was approved. The plan allocates US$ 100 million for this
purpose over the next five years.
This meeting came on the eve of the anniversary of the June 1967
war, and the occupation and annexation of Jerusalem to Israel in violation of
the international law. This action is
just one of many actions by the Israeli government to ensure Jewish domination
and a Jewish majority in the city. This motivation is evident because some of
the funded projects will ‘renovate’ historic sites in an effort to highlight a
Jewish history at the expense of any other historical narrative.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns
holding the meeting of the Israeli government in the Old City of occupied
Jerusalem, and also the planning and implementation of new projects that are
aimed to undermine the historical nature of the city in effort to achieve a Judaization of the city. These actions constitute
an insolent provocation for the whole international community. PCHR emphasizes that the failure of the
international community to confront the Israeli government’s policies in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and the permanent impunity granted by
successive US administrations, including the administration of President Obama,
to these polices undoubtedly encourage Israel to continue its policies at the
expense of international law and the realization of international justice for
the Palestinian people.
PCHR strongly condemns all Israeli settlement activities and other
arbitrary measures in occupied East Jerusalem, and:
1) Confirms
that East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian Territory that was
occupied by Israel on the 5th of June 1967;
2) Emphasizes
that all settlement activities in occupied East Jerusalem constitute a war
crime under international humanitarian law;
3) Stresses
that all measures taken by the Israeli occupation authorities following the
occupation of the city, the Israeli Knesset’s decision on 28 June 1967 to apply
Israeli law and jurisdiction over the occupied city, its decision on 30 July
1980 which stated “all united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” and the
decision to expand the boundaries of the city explicitly violate the
international law and United Nations resolutions;
4) All
decisions taken, plans, and policies implemented by the Israeli occupation
authorities in occupied East Jerusalem will not change the legal status of the
city;
5) Measures
taken by the Israeli occupation authorities in Jerusalem will serve to escalate
the volatile situation in the OPT.
Accordingly:
1) PCHR
calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention,
jointly or individually, to fulfill their legal and moral obligations to ensure
respect for the Convention by Israel in the OPT, according to Article 1 of the
Convention. PCHR believes that the conspiracy of silence practiced by
international community encourages Israel to act as a State above the law and
to perpetrate more violations of international human rights law and
humanitarian law, including measures to create a Jewish demographic majority in
occupied East Jerusalem.
2) PCHR
calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to compel the
Israeli government to stop all settlement activities in the OPT, including in
occupied East Jerusalem.
3) PCHR
calls upon the EU and/or Member States to activate Article 2 of the Euro-Israel
Association Agreement, which sets Israel’s respect for human rights as a
precondition for economic cooperation between the two sides. PCHR appeals to the EU Member States to stop
dealing with Israeli goods and commodities, especially those produced in
illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT.
