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------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 13:20:41 +0000 (GMT) From: Ghaith Alomari <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Subject: For Moderation: Israel and the UN Committee on Eco., Soc, and Cul. , Rts Palestine Housing Rights Movement Contact: al-Haq "Law in the Service of Man" [log in to unmask] PRESS RELEASE 7 December 1998 A UN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY DETERMINED THAT ISRAEL'S FUNDAMENTAL LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS CONTRADICT MINIMUM INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS For the first time in United Nations history, a human rights body has reviewed Israel's fundamental laws and institutions and determined them to contradict minimum international human rights standards. Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights in the occupied territories, more widely reported, were also severely criticized in the UN body's 4 December report. However, this UN report sheds new light on the continuity of State-sponsored violations against both Palestinians remaining as citizens inside Israel and under the control of Israel's military occupation government. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights met in November at Geneva to review Israel's compliance under one of the human rights Covenants based on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which turns 50 next week. With the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as its framework, this Committee is comprised of independent experts from 18 countries and is charged with reviewing each ratifying State Party's compliance with legal obligations under this human rights treaty. In its ground-breaking review, the Committee found Israel in violation of its human rights obligations on both sides of its 1948 borders (the "green line"). Since before the establishment of Israel, the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund have operated as public bodies to serve only Jews. While these agencies are linked to the State by law, the Israeli government turns over vast resources to them (including confiscated Palestinian property) for exclusive Jewish use. The Committee determined that such practice constitutes "an institutionalized form of discrimination" against the over 19% Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and "a breach of Israel's obligations under the Covenant." Other forms of legal discrimination also serve to manipulate demography in favor of a distinct group. While one "Basic Law" links exclusionary institutions to the State, another, the Law of Return, permits Jews anywhere to claim citizenship in Israel. The Committee "noted with concern" that, meanwhile, Israel makes it "almost impossible [for Palestinians] to return to the land of their birth." Regarding domestic Israeli policies, the Committee's discovered more specific forms of discrimination against Palestinian Arab citizens in housing and land, as well as basic services, education and labor rights. Of special focus were the mixed Arab-Jewish towns, such as Lod and Jaffa, whose Arab neighborhoods have "deteriorated into virtual slums" as a result of Government policies, and the "unrecognized villages," whose Arab citizens face demolition orders, lack of basic services and removal to concentrated "townships." The Committee also addressed the continuing problems of an estimated 200,000 "present absentees," who also are Palestinian citizens of Israel forced to leave their villages and towns during the 1948 war, and whose property the State of Israel has confiscated. Consistent with other UN treaty bodies, the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee affirmed that Israel is obliged to apply the Covenant in the occupied territories of Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip as well. According to this body, Israel's breach of those obligations include the exclusion of Palestinians from Jerusalem through systematic and discriminatory restrictions on travel, family reunification and residency. The Committee deplored also the continuing house demolitions that Israel practices against Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and expressed deep concern over Israel's policy of "population transfer," including implanting Jewish settlers in Jerusalem and other Israeli-occupied areas. The Committee noted that, despite Israel's obligations, its military government continues diverting water from the occupied areas and constricting Palestinian use of their national water resources. Israel's confiscation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank for settlements was noted in the Committee's observations, as was the expansion of that practice in connection with Israel's construction of by-pass roads that isolate Palestinian communities and villages. The Committee called upon Israel to cease construction of illegal settlements and by-pass roads. The Covenant's legal panel reviewed Israel's obligations with special focus on its continuous closure of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1993, observing "widespread violations" of Palestinians' economic, social and cultural rights. Such closures restrict the movement of people and goods, and prevent access to health care, notably in medical emergencies resulting in recent deaths at checkpoints. Poverty and lack of food due to closures, the Committee noted, have particularly affected children, pregnant women and the elderly. The Committee's concluding observations recommended that Israel act in order to comply with international human rights law. The document calls for the Government to present additional information on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights in the occupied territories, which Israel omitted from its mandatory report to the Committee under the Covenant. Such information, due in two years, also should cover East Jerusalem, the provision of services in the "unrecognized villages" inside Israel, and general progress toward correcting the cited violations of economic, social and cultural rights. In order to meet minimum standards set out in the Covenant, the treaty body called on Israel "to ensure the equality of treatment of all Israeli citizens." Therefore, the Committee urged Israel to review the status of its relationship to the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency and its subsidiaries, including the Jewish National Fund. To ensure nondiscrimination, the Committee strongly recommended Israel also review its re-entry policy vis-a-vis Palestinians in order to bring it "to a level comparable to the Law of Return as applied to Jews." In the context of Israel's closure policies, the Committee urged Israel to respect the right of self-determination, as provided in the Covenant, such that "in no way may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence." The Committee called upon the Government of Israel also to ensure safe passage among the territories under its control for a range of persons and functions presently denied. Immediate steps to respect and implement the covenanted rights to an adequate standard of living and housing were urged by the treaty body. It also urged an end to violations against Palestinians - both citizens of Israel and in the occupied territories - that include house demolitions, land and water confiscation and arbitrary evictions. Measures to equalize opportunities and access to education are still required under State obligations, according to the Committee's findings. And the review concluded also that State of Israel needs to do more to combat domestic violence against women, and to promote equal treatment of women in various fields. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' review of Israel relied on information provided by the Government, as well as a variety of nongovernmental sources. Attending the session were some 15 Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations. The three-day Committee review session involved an afternoon consultation with NGOs on the first day, followed by one and one-half days of dialogue with Israeli Government representatives. The full 7-page text of the Committee's finding will soon be available on the website of the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf). 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