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Press release
PCHR Director Meets with Spanish Consul General and International Investigation Group
Date: 14 March 2002
Ref: 37/2002
PCHR Director Raji Sourani met this week in Gaza with Mr. Manuel Salazar, Spanish Consul General for Jerusalem and briefed him about recent violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli occupying forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), including war crimes. Sourani asked that Spain, which currently holds the rotating 6-month presidency of the European Union, move beyond statements and adopt immediate and practical measures to prevent further Israeli violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Sourani reminded Salazar of Spain’s obligation under Article 1 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure Israel’s respect for the Convention. Sourani suggested a number of steps that Spain could take to fulfill this obligation, including:
Supporting and voting for resolutions condemning Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights in the OPT during the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Commission
Urging the EU to suspend the Euro-Israel Association Agreement on the basis of Article 2, which requires Israel to respect human rights
Enacting economic and diplomatic sanctions against Israel in order to secure its respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention
Sourani said that the time had long passed for concrete and effective steps to secure Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and noted that the position of European governments was far behind that of European civil society groups, who have repeatedly and clearly voiced their support for the protection of human rights in the OPT. Sourani also affirmed the right of Palestinians to resist Israel’s 35-year belligerent military occupation of the Gaza strip and West Bank (including east Jerusalem) and that the international community could not reasonably expect the Palestinian people to passively accept its victimization.
Sourani also met with a delegation from Amnesty International consisting of Liz Hodgkin and David Holley. The delegation, the 12th of its kind from Amnesty since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, came in light of a recent dramatic deterioration in the human rights and humanitarian situation marked by increased Israeli invasions of Palestinian refugee camps.
Sourani, Hodgkin, and Holley were joined by Mereille Mendes France of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) on a field tour of the Jabalya refugee camp, which had been invaded the previous evening by Israeli occupying forces. The delegation witnessed another incursion into the camp and met with victims and eyewitnesses of human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli occupying forces. On behalf of PCHR, Sourani expressed appreciation for the efforts of Amnesty International and IADL to promote the protection of human rights in the OPT.
