On Monday, the Israeli government made a rare appearance before the United Nations Human Rights Committee, but its delegation refused to acknowledge responsibility for the conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, occupied by Israel for nearly half a century. We speak to a legal expert who has just spent six years trying to hold Israel to account for its actions in the Occupied Territories. Richard Falk recently completed his term as special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights for the United Nations Human Rights Council. His writings about the Israel-Palestine issue and his experience as U.N. rapporteur are compiled in the new book, “Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope.”
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Concerning the Legitimacy of Hope in the Palestinian Struggle in the interview with Richard Falk by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now,must be held accountable for its crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that they have occupied for nearly half a century. That includes the flagrant aggression of the air, land, and sea blockade of Gaza that amounts to an ongoing slow genocide. In addition, there are the periodic disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population that is a form of collective punishment, and this compounded by the refusal of the Israeli government to allow them to leave the country as refugees that clearly violates international law, more specifically international humanitarian law.
In the occupied West Bank, Israel must be held accountable for its illegal occupation and its illegal settlements, including their expansion, that are war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Furthermore, Israel must be held accountable for its illegal seizure of land and water, demolition and confiscation of homes, arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, and torture.
There are also the daily humiliating military checkpoints and anti-discriminatory laws along with the separation wall that make it an apartheid system.
Thus, Israel must be compelled to acknowledge its responsibilities for the conditions in both occupied territories.
This can be done by the Palestinians through non-violent resistant in both occupied territories in which they mobilize world opinion morally and legally. They can reinforce this by filing a case in the International Criminal Court against Israel. Moreover, they should continue to make use of the global BDS movement to strengthen their struggle for self-determination and independence. Doing all of this is the basis for their legitimacy of hope that Richard Falk has articulated so well. But this will require a long, determined, and sustained struggle.