The U.N. Human Rights Commission has condemned Israel for allegedly violating human rights in southern Lebanon.
A resolution calling on Israel to desist from such practices and to withdraw unconditionally from Lebanese territory was adopted last Friday by a vote of 49-1, with one abstention.
The United States voted against the resolution and Uruguay abstained. Israel does not belong to the 53-nation panel, but has observer status on it.
The Human Rights Commission, meeting here since January, had given Israel one of its rare victories only a few days earlier. It decided by consensus last week not to submit the issue of Israeli settlements in disputed territory to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
But the commission then accused Israel of “the continued violation of human rights in southern Lebanon, manifested in particular by the arbitrary detention of the civilian population, the destruction of their homes, the confiscation of their property, their expulsion from occupied areas, the bombardment of villages and civilian areas and other practices violating human rights.”
Raphael Walden, the Israeli observer at the Human Rights Commission, said the draft resolution was identical to one submitted last year, adding that it was encouraging to note waning support for that type of resolution.
The panel called on Israel to “implement Security Council Resolutions 425 (of 1978) and 509 (of 1982) which require the immediate, total and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all Lebanese territory and respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Lebanon.”
It also called on the Israeli government to “comply with the Geneva Convention of 1949, specifically, the Fourth Geneva Convention, relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war.”
In addition, Israel was called upon to “facilitate the humanitarian mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations in that region.”
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