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FORCED-MIGRATION  1998

FORCED-MIGRATION 1998

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Subject:

(Fwd) For Moderation: Israel and the UN Committee on Eco., Soc

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Date:

Wed, 9 Dec 1998 11:03:44 +0000

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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).



The material contained in this communication comes to you from the 
Forced-migration Discussion List which is moderated by the Refugee 
Studies Programme (RSP), University of Oxford.  It does not necessarily
reflect the views of the RSP or the University.  If you re-print, copy,
archive or re-post this message please retain this disclaimer.  Quotations
or extracts should include attribution to the original sources.

Forced-migration Discussion list reports are archived on: 
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/forced-migration.




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