Two United Nations bodies meeting here have issued resolutions condemning Israel for its treatment of Palestinians in the administered territories and its handling of the Palestinian uprising.
On Wednesday, the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights adopted a resolution condemning Israel on the “situation in the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied by Israel.”
The subcommission resolution states that “the Israeli occupation itself constituted a gross violation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, and a crime prejudicial to the peace and security of humanity under international law.”
The declaration details a litany of abuses allegedly perpetrated by the “Israeli occupation authorities” resulting in maimings and death, in “grave violations of international law.”
The resolution was adopted by a roll-call vote, with only the United States opposing. There were 16 votes in favor and seven abstentions.
The resolution affirms “the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation by all means, in accordance with the United Nations resolutions.” It asserts that the Palestinian uprising is one of such means.
The human rights subcommission called for the convening of an international peace conference on the question of Palestine and the Middle East.
NGOS URGE PEACE CONFERENCE
On Thursday, some 200 representatives of non-governmental organizations, holding their fifth annual meeting at United Nations headquarters here, adopted a final declaration calling for United Nations observer teams in the West Bank and Gaza. The NGOs also urged an international Middle East peace conference, “without delay.”
The NGO body condemned the “systematic destruction of the political and socio-economic structure of Palestinian society” and “the attempt by the occupation forces to eliminate Palestinian society for the future.”
The declaration salutes the “brave people of the occupied territories for their courage, endurance and solidarity” throughout the Palestinian uprising, and notes how strongly they had focused the attention of the entire world on the “injustices suffered by all the Palestinian people.”
The NGOs called on all European governments “to state categorically that their bilateral relations with Israel will be affected by these breaches of the Geneva Convention.” The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 forbids deportations.
But the NGOs also expressed strong support for the “forces of peace in Israel which favor the principle of a Palestinian state.” They singled out for special accolades those who refused to serve in the military “in occupied Palestine and other occupied Arab territory.”
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