On 29 January 2008, after more than a week of deliberations following Israel's seige over the Gaza Strip, the UN Security Council suspended its debate on the humanitarian situation in the Strip.
The Council failed to issue a non-binding presidential statement condemning the evident collective punishment imposed by Israel on civilians without discrimination, as its members could not reach an agreement on a text that satisfies their political views.
The Council held a new session with a number of permanent delegates that lasted into the late hour's of yesterday evening.
This session was held in order to discuss amendments on the draft statement submitted by Arab countries on the evolving situation in the Gaza Strip.
Delegations of several countries, along with the Under Secretary General of the United Nations for Political Affairs, presented statements detailing the stranglehold imposed on the civilians of the Gaza Strip under the hands of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
The Under Secretary's statement asserted that Israel's justification for perpetuating the crisis, which is the continued firing of missiles from the Strip into Israel, fails to excuse the collective penalties imposed on all resident of the Gaza Strip.
International law prohibits collective punishment under any circumstances.
The representative of the United States of America rejected the amended version of the draft statement, made by Saudi Arabia and Libya, calling it unbalanced.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly disapproves of the Security Council's decision, as it gives priority to political considerations over the protection of human rights.
This represents the Council's failure to perform its legal and ethical obligations to the suffering of one-and-a-half million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Israel violates the most basic human rights of Gazans and disregards the obligatory protection afforded by the rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the principles of the United Nations.
Al Mezan believes that the Council's failure represents a continuation of the silence that governs the international community's attitude toward human rights violations committed by the IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
This is in light of the Security Council already ignoring and even refusing to consider the advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning Israel's construction of the Separation Wall in the West Bank.
The Court confirmed that the situation in the OPT is one of occupation, conflicting with IHL, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and International Human Rights Law (IHRL).
Al Mezan also stresses that this failure undermines the legitimacy of the United Nations and its declared purposes in preserving international peace and security and promoting universal human rights.
The protection and promotion of human rights, especially the human rights and humanitarian situation of civilians, has been dealt with as a political game for more than half a century.
This is an attitude that ignores the essence of the UN's human rights mission, values and principles.
Al Mezan believes that the Security Council's failure to intervene in the systematic violation of human rights, and in the prevention of the United Nations Relief Work Agency (UNRWA) and other organizations from assisting civilians, is considered as an extension of the inability of the international community to protect the population in the OPT.
Therefore, Al Mezan appeals to the international community not to ignore the root causes that led to the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip.
In particular, the international community is called on to bring to an end to Israel's occupation and the violence inherent in Israel's attempt to secure and maintain it.
Al Mezan calls upon all international and national human rights organizations to double their efforts in order to exert pressure on their governments.
States must take positions that would enhance the protection and respect for human rights in the OPT, as the sole basis for securing peace and justice in this region.
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