Ref: 15/2012

On Saturday, 11 February 2012,
lawyer Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
(PCHR), met with the Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied
Palestinian territories, in Cairo.

The meeting that came before Falk’s
scheduled visit to the Gaza Strip today addressed the ongoing Israeli-imposed
closure.  Sourani stressed the necessity
to lift the illegal and inhumane closure, because it has resulted in disastrous
impacts on all aspects of life.  He
explained that Israel has continued to impose the closure on the Gaza Strip and
Palestinian civilians although the pretext of Shalit’s file diminished.

In the same context, Sourani
highlighted the importance of the freedom of movement of persons and goods
between the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and between the occupied Palestinian
Territory (oPt) and the outside world. 
He clarified that the freedom of movement is a vital issue and denying
this right constitutes a form of collective punishment against civilians.

The meeting further addressed the
issue of the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails.  Sourani reviewed the degrading conditions
under which prisoners are detained.  He
emphasized that the issue of prisoners, which is a Palestinian priority, is an
issue of conscience.  It enjoys national
consensus and its importance increases due to the practices of the Israeli
prisons service against the Palestinian prisoners, including torture, solitary
confinement, denial of visitations and arbitrary detention.  He also referred to the case of Khader
‘Adnan, which is an example of steadfastness.

The meeting also tackled the
developments related to UN Fact-Finding Mission on Gaza Conflict (Goldstone
Report) in conjunction with the third anniversary of the latest Israeli
offensive on Gaza.  Sourani pointed out
that Israeli war criminals have not been held accountable or prosecuted so far
and the victims have been denied access to remedy or justice.  Sourani stressed that the international
community must fulfill its legal, moral and human obligation to prosecute war
criminals.

Sourani eventually praised Falk and
his obvious positions biased to the international law and international
humanitarian law.  Moreover, Falk is one
of the most prominent defenders of Palestinian human rights.

It should be noted that yesterday,
Falk started his field visit to Egypt, Jordan and oPt to collect information
concerning a wide range of human rights issues related to the Israeli occupation
of the oPt.  At the end of his 11-day
visit, he will prepare a report to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council
in its session in March 2012.  It is
worth saying that Falk has been prevented from entering oPt via Israeli
airports since December 2008, as the Israeli authorities had returned him from Ben
Gurion Airport to his homeland.