UNITED NATIONS, Mar 04 (APP): The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk has voiced alarm at an Israeli regime minister’s “unfathomable” call for the obliteration of an entire Palestinian village.<\/p>\n
Turk made the remarks in Geneva on Friday, days after the Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the Palestinian village of Huwara “needs to be wiped out,” adding that he thought “Israel should do it.”<\/p>\n
Speaking before the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN rights chief denounced the remarks as “an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is a tragedy, a tragedy above all for the Palestinian people,\u201d Turk told the 47-member Council as he formally presented a report on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
Smotrich’s remarks came after hundreds of armed Israeli settlers attacked Huwara and nearby villages and torched dozens of houses and cars, according to media reports. They had been angered at the killing of two Israeli brothers by a Palestinian gunman in Huwara.<\/p>\n
One Palestinian was killed during the settler rampage and at least 390 others were injured, with Palestinian media reporting stabbings and attacks with metal rods and rocks.<\/p>\n
The Israeli regime’s forces and settlers have escalated their attacks against the Palestinians since late December 2022, when Benjamin Netanyahu staged a comeback as prime minister at the head of a cabinet of hard-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.<\/p>\n
Since the start of the year, at least 68 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the violence, including five, who were killed by Israeli settlers’ gunfire, 13 children, four elderly people, and one prisoner.<\/p>\n
Turk warned the Council that the “increasing violence is condemning innocent people,” calling on “decision-makers to step back from the precipice to which increasing extremism and violence have led”.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in his remarks, the UN rights chief made a direct call for the Israeli regime to end its occupation of and settlement activities across the Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy report finds that over the reporting period, lethal force has been frequently employed by the Israeli security forces (ISF) regardless of the level of threat and at times even as an initial measure rather than as last resort,\u201d Turk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy office has also documented several cases of apparent extrajudicial targeted killings by members of\u201d Israeli forces, he said. \u201cThe report finds that 131 Palestinians were killed by ISF personnel over the past year in a context of law enforcement that is outside any context of hostilities. This includes 65 people who we understand were not armed nor engaged in any attacks or clashes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe occupation is eating away at the health of both societies on every level, from childhood to old age and in every part of life. For this violence to end, the occupation must end,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
“In the near future, there must be an end to settlements in the occupied land. And within a foreseeable horizon…,” Turk insisted.<\/p>\n
The UN rights chief said decades of the Israeli occupation of Palestine have led to \u201cwidening dispossession \u2026 and recurring and severe violations of their [Palestinians\u2019] rights, including the right to life\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody could wish to live this way or imagine that forcing people into conditions of such desperation can lead to an enduring solution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 04 (APP): The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk has voiced alarm at an Israeli regime minister’s “unfathomable” call for the obliteration of an entire Palestinian village. Turk made the remarks in Geneva on Friday, days after the Israeli Finance […]<\/p>\n
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