NEW YORK – On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) held a sessionaimed at assessing the progress Israel made during its third UniversalPeriodic Review (UPR), a UN-backed process designed to assess the humanrights record of a state and make recommendations for improvement.
In the course of the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians, the UNhas repeatedly accused Israel of not respecting human rights as itcontinues to build settlements on the West Bank, however, the strongestcondemnation comes from South Africa, a country which used to have oneof the world’s worst human rights records itself.
During the session a delegate from South Africa, a country where the systemof discrimination based on supremacy of white people and suppression of theblack population called apartheid originated from, characterized Israel as”the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state,”since it denies the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people,”in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed.”
Other HRC members also expressed their deep concern over Israel’s violationof the UN resolution which rules that Israeli settlements on the West Bankand in East Jerusalem are illegal, as the country continues to expand theexisting settlements as well as building new areas.
Russia, Jordan, the UAE and Iran alongside other countries called on Israelto stop the annexation of Palestinian land and the construction of Israelisettlements there, whereas the Palestinian delegation during the sessionurged Israel to halt “its 50-year colonial occupation” and “compensatePalestinians for all of the losses incurred due to their presence.”
Israeli ambassador to the UN Aviva Raz Shechter said that Israel wouldsubmit to the review process though she pointed out the HRC’s bias and “theunfair treatment of Israel” in the council.
Territory in the West Bank was seized by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day Warin the course the long-lasting struggle between Israelis and Palestiniansfor the territory of what previously was the British Mandate of Palestine.The West Bank is mostly populated by Arabs and the United Nations considersthis territory to be illegally occupied by Israel.
Some sponsors of a peace process, among whom are Russia and the EU, haverepeatedly warned that Israeli settlement activity undermines any chancesfor a two-state solution, which involves the creation of an independentPalestinian state alongside Israel.