Ref: 36/2009
Today
morning, 25 March 2010, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) received
in its head office Professor Ryoji Tateyama, from the Department of
International Relations at the Japan National Defense Academy.
Professor
Tateyama met with Jaber Weshah, Deputy Director of PCHR, and Hamdi Shaoura,
Deputy Director of PCHR for Program Affairs, who reviewed developments of human
rights conditions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and their effects on
Palestinian civilians’ living conditions. The two PCHR’s representatives pointed out that human rights violations
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are the most extensively documented
violations in the world. They explained
that the problem does not lie in the availability of information about human
rights violations and crimes committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF);
rather, it lies in the availability of the international political will
necessary for intervening in order to put an end to the occupation and stop its
violations and crimes.
PCHR
reiterated that the current situation is appropriate for the occupying State as
it can commit violations before the eyes of the international community that
refrains from holding it accountable and taking necessary action in order to
stop such violations and ensure that their alleged perpetrators are not granted
impunity.
In
particular, Weshah and Shaqura talked about the ongoing siege imposed on the
Gaza Strip, explaining that Palestinian civilians in Gaza are denied their
right to get the most basic requirements of living. They are also denied their right to
reconstruct their property that was destroyed by IOF during their latest
offensive on the Gaza Strip, although more than one year has passed since this
offensive and in spite of the total calm by the Palestinian side.
Furthermore,
the PCHR’s representatives reviewed Israeli violations and crimes in the West
Bank, including land confiscation, construction of the Annexation Wall,
creation of a Jewish majority in Jerusalem, … etc. PCHR stressed that it is necessary that the
international community fulfills its responsibility towards the Palestinian
Cause and that it is time to compel Israel to terminate its occupation of the
OPT and to achieve the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian
people.
PCHR’s
representatives concluded by calling upon Japan to play a more effective role
in the region and stressed the importance of economic and financial aid
provided by Japan to the Palestinian people. PCHR demanded that this aid be coupled with a political will and an
effective intervention in order to stop Israeli crimes, otherwise this aid
would be useless.
It
should be noted that IOF denied three other persons access to Gaza. These
persons were part of an academic delegation from Japan, including Tateyama.