UN rights chief slams Israeli infringement of Palestinian rights

The United Nations rights chief has censured Israel’s illegal activities in the occupied territories and its blockade on the Gaza Strip, accusing the Tel Aviv regime of depriving the Palestinians of their basic rights.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein made the criticism in an address at the UN Human Rights Council in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday.

“In the occupied Palestinian territory, after half a century of Israeli occupation, with the degradation of another people which it brings, the accumulation of despair is widespread. Pervasive discrimination deprives Palestinians of their basic rights,” Hussein said.
The UN official also stressed that he had “repeatedly” urged Israel to end its so-called administrative detention policy, which is a form of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows incarceration of Palestinians for up to six months.

Touching on the Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, he said that the regime has authorized over 5,500 new settler units since the beginning of this year despite a UN Security Council resolution condemning such moves.

In December 2016, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, condemning the Israeli settlements as a “flagrant violation of international law.”