Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK, AOHR UK, sent letters to a number of countries and the Secretary-General of the United Nations in order to establish a mechanism to protect the Palestinian people from the escalating crimes launched by the occupation forces and settlers against Palestinian citizens in the occupied territories.
In its letters, AOHR UK emphashised that the focus on the Ukrainian-Russian war made the international community ignore the crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, including the storming of the occupation forces of Palestinian cities, besieging them, and killing and arresting Palestinians.
There is no difference between the disastrous results of the war in Ukraine, the destruction, killing and displacement of the innocent civilians, and the killing and arrest of the IOF, which uses all lethal weapons and latest security technology to target and kill Palestinians.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 177 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, including 49 during the Israeli aggression on Gaza last August, and 46 children were killed, including 17 in the Gaza Strip, and the rest in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
The IOF not only shed the blood of Palestinians, but also practiced the policy of collective punishment against them and besieged entire cities.
Nablus city, for example, has been besieged for 17 days until now, with no entry and exit from it.
Nablus, with a population of about half a million people, has been completely besieged from all sides with military checkpoints, thus preventing the sick people from exiting for treatment, allowing families to reunite, or students and workers from reaching their destinations.
Special forces also infiltrated the city at night to carry out arrests and kill activists. On October 25, 2022, at dawn, military forces carried out an operation in the Old City, resulting in the killing of five Palestinians, and injuring more than 20 people.
The continued commission of such serious crimes by the occupation would result in an inevitable crisis in all Palestinian cities, as the Palestinians can no longer tolerate the policy of collective punishment, killing and arrest.
In its letter, AOHR UK pointed out to the report of the United Nations committee formed on May 27, 2021, by the Human Rights Council to investigate the crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem after the Israeli aggression on Gaza in May 2021. The finding of the report published on September 14, 2022, stated clearly that the occupation is “a war crime”, and therefore the perpetrator of the war crime cannot claim that it was simply a self-defense, including their violations inside Palestinian cities, villages and camps.
Justice requires accountability and equality in treatment of anyone who uses military force to attack unarmed civilians and their sovereignty, therefore sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, must be used the same way on this occupation to force it to comply with the rules of international law.
AOHR UK listed down hundreds of resolutions and reports issued by the various United Nations bodies, including the Security Council, which consider the occupation illegal and condemn the crimes it commits on a daily basis, yet it did not provide a mechanism for accountability due to the hypocrisy of the United States of America and some countries that support Israel.
AOHR UK stressed that the double standards policy must come to an end, and states should take their moral and legal duties seriously to rid the Palestinian people of the scourge of occupation. It is a shame for the international community to stand silent in the face of these daily repeated attacks that threaten the existence of the Palestinian people.
