Every year, on December 10, Human Rights Day is celebrated. That same day, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a foundational document that laid the foundation of international human rights law. Marking the day routinely features global efforts for the promotion of human rights.

In the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), this anniversary comes at a time when the fundamental rights outlined in the UDHR—including civil and political rights as well as economic, social, and cultural rights—are seriously being eroded due to Israel’s continuous, gross, and systematic violations against Palestinians and settler-colonial and apartheid practices against the indigenous Palestinian people.

Since the start of 2022, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 200 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. In the occupied West Bank, 2022 is likely to become one of the deadliest years for Palestinians in recent years. The cold-blooded killing of 23-year-old Ammar Nayef Mufleh in Huwara, near the West Bank city of Nablus, on Friday 2 December is an example of intentional and extrajudicial killing that is illustrative of the policies deployed by the Israeli army against Palestinians in the OPT.

In the same context, Israeli forces continue to target Palestinian civilian objects in the OPT—including  both public and private property—through various means and methods such as aerial bombardment, house demolitions, raids and land grabs, incursions, and sabotage of property. In certain instances, homes were bombed while their inhabitants were inside, trees were uprooted, and industrial, commercial, and infrastructure facilities such as electricity and water grids, sewage treatment plants, and roads were damaged. Furthermore, Palestinians were forcefully displaced from their homes, which have later been replaced with illegal Israeli settlements.

Another cornerstone of the settler-colonial and apartheid regime imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people is the restriction of Palestinian freedom of movement with hundreds of stationary, mobile, or surprise “flying” checkpoints throughout the occupied West Bank as well as the unprecedented 15-year-old closure and blockade on the occupied Gaza Strip. These movement restrictions prevent Palestinian patients from accessing hospitals outside the Gaza Strip for urgent medical treatment. Moreover, many medical devices and equipment are banned from entering the Strip, thereby exacerbating the suffering of patients, and further jeopardizing their lives.

Israel also continues to make extensive use of administrative detention to hold hundreds of Palestinian prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. This policy is being carried out in blatant violation of international human rights laws, including the right to a fair trial and the prohibition against torture and ill-treatment.

Domestically, the Palestinian authorities continue to infringe on the rights to life and physical integrity, capital punishment is still in use, and elections are obstructed. There is no legislative authority and there are violations of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reiterates its call on the international community to take immediate action to uphold its obligations to put an end to Israeli violations and ensure that Palestinians enjoy the core values of the UDHR protecting human dignity and the rights to self-determination and freedom from colonialism, apartheid, and oppression. Al Mezan also calls on Palestinian authorities to respect and protect UDHR principles, guarantee the right of Palestinians to political participation, hold public office, and create a political system that maintains the balanced separation of the three authorities, by holding elections that renew the Palestinian National Authority’s institutions.