PRESS RELEASE
Sourani delivers speech to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
Ref: 44/99
Date: 15th April, 1999
Yesterday, Wednesday April 14, Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR, delivered a speech before the Third General Assembly of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network held in Stuttgart, Germany. Sourani’s speech covered the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the following areas:
- Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights
Sourani detailed the systematic Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, the expansion of settlements and the building of new ones, and the construction of by-pass roads which jeopardize the territorial integrity of the West Bank. Israeli violations include the implementation of the policy of closure which has grave consequences on the economic and social rights of the Palestinian people. Israeli violations also include the detention of about 2,400 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons. Approximately 100 of these prisoners are being subjected to administrative detention and held without charge or trial. Sourani also emphasized and criticized Israel’s continued use of torture against Palestinian detainees. This practice of torture, he stated, receives legal cover from the Israeli High Court of Justice. Finally, Sourani criticized Israel and the U.S. administration for the pressure they exert on the Palestinian Authority to violate human rights. He was especially critical of their support for the massive waves of arrests carried out by the Palestinian Authority against the political opposition, their backing of the formation of State Security Courts, and their willingness to urge disregard for Palestinian civil court decisions.
- Human rights violations by the Palestinian Authority
Sourani insisted that democracy, rule of law, and human rights are basic requirements for the Palestinian people. He also asserted that Palestinian civil society had struggled extensively for the independence of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the civil judiciary and for safeguarding and ensuring respect for their decisions. Civil society, according to Sourani, had struggled against the massive waves of arrests directed at the political opposition while demanding the abandonment of the State Security Courts.
- The right to self-determination
Sourani stated that the Palestinian people are entitled to unilaterally assert the right to self-determination and that the interim period should end on May 4 as scheduled in the Interim Agreements.
- The Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Sourani reviewed the relevant UN General Assembly resolutions regarding the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Territories and mentioned the forthcoming July 15 conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention which are meeting to discuss implementation of the Convention. Sourani asserted that Israel should de jure apply the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Territories. He also reviewed the position paper adopted by the participants in the Geneva meeting held on April 6-7. The meeting was initiated by PCHR as part of its international campaign to implement the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Territories and was attended by Palestinian, Arab, and international organizations, as well as by individual activists and experts.
At the Stuttgart conference, the position paper of the Geneva meeting also received support and was adopted by the participants. In this way, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network joined the international campaign to implement the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The participants also adopted a decision calling for the European countries to freeze their partnership agreement with Israel in response to Israeli human rights violations. Furthermore, a working group was established to follow-up human rights developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
For More Information Contact:
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Tel/Fax: (+) 9727 2824776/2823725
E-mail: [email protected]
Web page: www.pchrgaza.org
