The Alternative Information Center (AIC) (Palestine / Israel) : "Expert UN Panel Declares Israeli Blockade of Gaza Illegal" by Mikaela Levin

Expert UN Panel Declares Israeli Blockade of Gaza Illegal

Wednesday, 14 September 2011 13:28 Mikaela Levin for the Alternative Information Center (AIC)

Two weeks after a team of politicians especially chosen by the UN General Secretary declared legal the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and legitimate the deadly attack on the first Freedom Flotilla, another team, this time of independent experts that work for the United Nations, came to the exact opposite conclusion.

 

 

Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, together with four additional UN human rights experts, declared Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip to be illegal 

"In pronouncing itself on the legality of the naval blockade, the Palmer Report does not recognize the naval blockade as an integral part of Israel's closure policy toward Gaza which has a disproportionate impact on the human rights of civilians", explained the five special rapporteurs in a joint statement released this week for the UN Human Rights Council. The main conclusion of this new report is that the blockade –by air, sea and ground- represents “a flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law”.

While the Palmer Report was written entirely by politicians –the former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, the former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and two representatives from Israel and Turkey- the report published this week is the result of fieldwork by five UN special rapporteurs for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, for the right to food, to mental and physical health, against extreme poverty and for access to water and sanitation.

“The Palmer Report was aimed at political reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. It is unfortunate that in the report politics should trump the law”, regretted Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. According to his partner Olivier De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, around a third of Gaza´s arable land and 85 per cent of its fishing waters are totally or partially inaccessible to Palestinians due to the Israeli military blockade.

On top of that, the closure (sometimes partial, but sometimes total) of the commercial border crossings leaves at least two thirds of Gazan households without a basic secure access to food and medicines. “People are forced to make unacceptable trade-offs, often having to choose between food or medicine or water for their families”, warned De Schutter.

This team of experts is not the only voice that had gone against the conclusions of the Palmer ad hoc committee created by the UN General Secretary, Ban Ki Moon, after the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara, which left nine Turkish citizens dead, several international and Palestinians injured and dozens of detainees. A previous fact finding mission, also created by the UN Human Rights Council, stated a year ago that the blockade violates international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross also came to that conclusion and denounced the Israeli government of violating the Geneva Conventions.

Yet this accusation, as with the other international critics, does not have any influence in the UN Security Council, the organ with power to impose sanctions against Israel. There, in the Security Council, the United States holds on to its unconditional support for Israel’s blockade and the other Israeli occupation policies over the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory.




http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3819