The 54-year Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, namely, Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a sign of the international community’s lack of accountability in front of grave and repeated breaches of international law, including serious human rights violations.
Since the occupation began in 1967, Israel has gradually developed a dual legal regime that favors Israelis and their settlers over Palestinians and keeps the two populations separate and unequal. Palestinians continue to be subjected to a colonial rule in which they are reliant on Israelis and have little or no influence over crucial parts of their daily existence, including as natural resources, borders, internal mobility and access, and so on. (Kasbari, 2021). Today, access to COVID-19 vaccines exemplifies this disparity as the majority of Israel population has been vaccinated while only a minority of Palestinians living under Israel rule have been vaccinated. Deprived of their rights as citizens of a sovereign state of their own, Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza are currently being denied the civil and political rights enjoyed by Israelis living in the same area (Lovatt, 2021).
In April 2021, Human Rights Watch released a 213-page report, “A Threshold Crossed,” finding that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. A great step in this direction has been the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmation in February 2021 that it has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity, including apartheid and persecution, committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2014 as the State of Palestine had previously ratified the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the 1998 Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court. Additionally, in March 2021, the ICC Office of Prosecutor announced the opening of a formal investigation into the situation in Palestine.
International community’s role:
The United Nations has pronounced several times about the question in Palestine and its concerns about human rights violations in this territory. In 1947, the topic of Palestine was first addressed before the United Nations General Assembly. The Assembly agreed in resolution 181 (II) to divide Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem under a special international regime. Following the 1948 conflict, the United Nations General Assembly formed the Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) to assist the parties in reaching a final settlement while confirming the rights of Palestine refugees to return and restitution in resolution 194 (III) of 1949. In the same year, the Assembly established UNRWA, a Palestine refugee agency which continues to operate today. The issue of Palestine was reintroduced on the Assembly’s agenda in 1974. The Palestinian people’s fundamental rights to self-determination, national independence, and sovereignty, as well as their right to return to their homes and property, were reaffirmed in UN Resolution 3236 (XXIX). Furthermore, the Committee for the Exercise of the Palestinian People’s Inalienable Rights was established by the Assembly in 1975. Currently, Palestine has a non-member observer state status in the United Nations since November 29, 2012.
Concerning the Security Council, the Council has addressed the Middle East issue and the Palestinian topic on numerous times since 1948. The Council has called for cease-fires when combat has erupted and military observers were also dispatched, as well as UN peacekeeping soldiers, to the region. By resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), the Council established the basic parameters for a negotiated peaceful settlement, known as the “land for peace” formula. The Council has expressed concern about the situation in the state of Palestine on numerous occasions, declared the Israeli government’s actions to change the status of Jerusalem null and void, called for an end to Israeli settlement activity that it determined to be illegal, reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and demanded the return of Palestinian deportees. The Council has frequently urged for a rapid resumption of negotiations within the present Middle East peace process in order to achieve an early final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. By resolution 1397 (2002), the Council confirmed the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, coexisting within secure and recognized borders, and by resolution 1515, it approved the Quartet’s (UN, Russia, US, and EU) Road Map (2003). The Council receives monthly briefings and holds open debates on the subject on a regular basis. President Mahmoud Abbas submitted Palestine’s application for UN membership in 2011, which is currently being considered by the Security Council. The most recent resolution of the Security Council on this question is the resolution 2334 (2016), whereby the Security Council demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities” and the Special Coordinator said he remained “deeply troubled” by continued Israeli settlement expansion. However, Israel, the occupying Power, took no action to comply with Council resolution 2334 (2016), including the immediate and complete cessation of all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Instead, the establishment and expansion of settlements, the construction of the separation wall and bypass roads, the confiscation of land, the demolition of houses, the confiscation of Palestinian-owned structures, the destruction of agricultural, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, evictions and threats of forcible transfer of Palestinian families, human rights violations and settler violence against Palestinians, continued to have a negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of the Palestinian population (Report from the Committee for the Exercise of the Palestinian People’s Inalienable Rights, 2020)
For its part, the Human Rights Council, an inter-governmental organ within the United Nations, shows its concerns about the situation in Palestine. The Council, among other things, appoints a Special Rapporteur on the state of human rights in Palestinian areas occupied since 1967, whose mission is to analyze the situation, report publicly on it, and collaborate with governments, civil society, and others. The UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza crisis in 2009, the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza flotilla in 2010, and the UN fact-finding mission on Israeli settlements in 2012 were all dispatched by the Council to investigate human rights breaches. Additionally, in March 2016, the Council voted to produce a database of all business enterprises conducting activities in or related to Israel’s settlements.
The current situation suffered in Palestine after the ceasefire was declared on 20 May 2021, after 11 days of rocket and air attacks across the border area between Gaza and southern Israel, leaving more than 240 reportedly dead, the majority on the Palestinian side, shows the absence of international accountability in the face of the systemic violations of Palestinian rights under human rights and humanitarian law. While the international community has produced countless resolutions and declarations condemning Israel’s perpetual occupation and annexation plans, such condemnations have rarely been matched by serious consequences. The inaction of the international community has permitted Israel, a dependent country for trade, investment and diplomatic cooperation, to sustain such a repressive and prolonged occupation in Palestine which would have not been possible without the active neglect of many in the industrialized world (Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, UN, 2019).
Suggestions
The situation in Gaza requires both economic and political solutions. Projects that can assist Gaza stabilize fast are desperately needed. However, any international effort that concentrates solely on humanitarian, financial, or economic concerns while ignoring political considerations would be unsustainable in the long run. Beyond the immediate need to ameliorate the situation in Gaza and prevent another war, the international community should push for Palestinian reunification and sovereignty-building (Lovatt, 2018).
To this end, the member countries of the United Nations must demonstrate that the maintenance and expansion of relations with Israel are incompatible with the refusal to grant the Palestinians their just rights. (Lovatt, 2021). The international community, in order to pressure Israel to accomplish with the UN resolutions, could make use of its commonly employed countermeasures such as diplomatic démarches and public statements, diplomatic sanctions, trade sanctions, the reduction or suspension of cooperation and aid, financial and economic sanctions, flight bans, arms embargoes and travel restrictions. Effective measures must be put in place to bring pressure to bear on Israel by showing that it lacks international support. Thus, both the United States and the European Union should include measures to exclude settlement products and restrict private economic transactions. In addition, the international community should support the ICC’s preliminary investigations and activate the UN database on companies linked to Israeli settlements.
Finally, the General Assembly should use its powers under UN Charter Article 96 (a) to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on Israel’s legal obligation to end the occupation and the international community’s legal obligations and powers to ensure accountability and end impunity.
The agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in Istanbul in September 2020, which involves moving towards elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Palestinian Authority presidency and the PLO’s Palestinian National Council, was a positive sign, although with little chance of resolving the substantive complaints about the government. This initiative has been shut down after the elections were cancelled, but the international community should help to give it new impetus, not only by providing technical assistance in the form of an election observation mission, but by creating a conducive and inclusive political atmosphere. To do so, the international community should try to act as a mediator and engage in a dialogue in good faith with any future government that emerges from free and inclusive elections.
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By Blanca Prat: The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
