The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has recently adopted several resolutions relating to human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
 The most important of these was no.
A/HRC/19/L.
35, according to which the UNHRC will dispatch a fact-finding mission on Israeli settlement in the oPt, including East Jerusalem.
  In its resolution, the UNHRC condemned Israel’s repeated announcements of new construction of housing units for Israeli settlers in the West Bank and around East Jerusalem.
 It also strongly condemned Israel’s continued settlement-building and related activities.
 It called upon Israel, as the occupying power, to cease its policy of settlement and to prevent Israeli settlement in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan.
  In addition, the UNHRC called upon Israel to take new procedures to respect its legal obligations and to prevent acts of violence against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers.
 Under the resolution the UNHRC will send an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the effects of Israeli settlement on the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of Palestinians in the oPt, including East Jerusalem, with its mandate to conclude upon submission of a report to the Council.
  The resolution also called on Israel not to obstruct the investigatory process and to fully cooperate with the mission.
 It asked the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide all administrative, technical, and logistical assistance to enable the mission to fulfill its mandate promptly and efficiently.
  Thirty-six state members voted in favor; the United States opposed, and ten members abstained: Cameroon, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Moldova, Romania, and Spain.
  In UNHRC resolution no.
A/HRC/19/L.
34, which was adopted by a vote of 44 in favor, two abstentions, and the lone opposition of the United States, the Council emphasized that all the measures and actions that Israel has taken in the oPt, including East Jerusalem, are in violation of the relevant provisions of the Geneva Conventions and contrary to the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.
 The resolution called upon Israel to stop all acts violating the human rights of Palestinians, to cease building and dismantle the racist separation wall and compensate those Palestinians harmed by its construction in any way, and to cease all measures which aim to change the demographic composition of the oPt.
  Moreover, the Council called on Israel as the occupying power to cease its prolonged closures of Palestinian territory and its restrictions on commerce and movement, including the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, in order to allow for the sustained and regular movement of people and goods and for the acceleration of long-overdue reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.
 It also urged Member States to continue to provide emergency assistance to the Palestinian people to alleviate the financial crisis and the dire socioeconomic and humanitarian situation, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
  In a third resolution, no.
A/HRC/19/L.
33, bearing on the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, the UNHRC emphasized once again that this is an inalienable and unconditional right, which includes the right to live in freedom, justice, and dignity and to establish sovereignty in an independent and democratic state.
  A fourth resolution, no.
A/HRC/19/L.
36, regarding the follow-up to the report of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the aggression against Gaza (“Operation Cast Lead”) was adopted by a vote of 29 in favor, US against, and 17 abstentions.
  The Council called on the government of Switzerland to convene a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to ensure implementation of and respect for the Convention in the oPt.
 The Council also called on the General Assembly to discuss the legality of Israel’s use of certain munitions, to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Fact-Finding Mission with respect to accountability, and to submit, at its twentieth session, a progress report on the implementation of the UNHRC resolution.
  The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights welcomes the UNHRC resolutions, as they reaffirm the rights of Palestinian people and human rights generally and condemn Israel’s gross and systematic violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).
  Al Mezan views the resolution numbered A/HRC/19/L.
35 in particular as a positive development, as it calls for the adoption of practical procedures in line with international law to stop Israel’s grave and systematic abuses, including forced evictions of Palestinians while Jewish families are simultaneously encouraged to take up residence in emptied Palestinian houses and Jewish-only settlements in the territory occupied since 1967.
 This resolution also calls for investigation of the social, economic, cultural, and political consequences of the ongoing Israeli settlements and forced evictions, which aim to alter the demographic composition of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem in particular.
 These Israeli acts entrench a situation that is destroying any real possibility for the establishment of Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
  Al Mezan views this resolution as a step forward for justice and an encouraging development for human rights activists who have worked for many years to expose Israel’s crimes.
 Al Mezan denounces the US position with regard to Palestinians’ human rights.
 The US opposed these resolutions as it has opposed other such resolutions in the UNHRC, the UN Security Council, and the UN General Assembly.
 The US vote against the resolution demonstrates that it assents in Israel’s violations of international law and human rights.
 Al Mezan views the US position as a manifestation of its opposition to human rights.
  The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls on the international community to oblige Israel to respect IHL and IHRL, including the standards of the “International Bill of Human Rights” (the two major human rights treaties), and to cooperate with the fact-finding mission established under UNHRC Resolution A/HRC/19/L.
35.
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