- News>
- World
UN report: Israeli wall illegal annexation of Palestinian land
Geneva, Oct 01: The controversial barrier being built by Israel through the West Bank amounts to the illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the international community, a UN report said today.
Geneva, Oct 01: The controversial barrier being built by Israel through the West Bank amounts to the illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the international community, a UN report said today.
The report by the UN special rapporteur for human
rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, John Dugard,
was immediately dismissed by Israel as politically biased.
Dugard warned that the wall erected in recent months would incorporate "substantial areas" of the West Bank into Israel.
"The evidence strongly suggests that Israel is determined to create facts on the ground amounting to de facto annexation," the report said.
"Annexation of this kind, known as conquest in international law, is prohibited by the charter of the United Nations and the fourth Geneva convention," it added.
"The time has come to condemn the wall as an unlawful act of annexation in the same way that Israel`s annexation of east Jerusalem and the Golan heights has been condemned as unlawful," Dugard said.
The capture and subsequent annexation of east Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan heights from Syria in the 1967 six day war were condemned in UN Security Council resolutions.
The United States has strongly objected to plans to incorporate Jewish settlements in the West Bank on the Israeli side of the wall.
Dugard warned that the wall erected in recent months would incorporate "substantial areas" of the West Bank into Israel.
"The evidence strongly suggests that Israel is determined to create facts on the ground amounting to de facto annexation," the report said.
"Annexation of this kind, known as conquest in international law, is prohibited by the charter of the United Nations and the fourth Geneva convention," it added.
"The time has come to condemn the wall as an unlawful act of annexation in the same way that Israel`s annexation of east Jerusalem and the Golan heights has been condemned as unlawful," Dugard said.
The capture and subsequent annexation of east Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan heights from Syria in the 1967 six day war were condemned in UN Security Council resolutions.
The United States has strongly objected to plans to incorporate Jewish settlements in the West Bank on the Israeli side of the wall.
Bureau Report