Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine.

1987/2. Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine

A

The Commission on Human Rights, Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations as well as the principles and provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Guided also by the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Bearing in mind the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and of The Hague Convention IV of 1907, as well as the principles of international humanitarian law, Taking into consideration General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, which defined as an act of aggression "the invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof", Recalling General Assembly resolutions ES-7/2 of 29 July 1980, 37/88 A to G of 10 December 1982, 37/123 A to F of 16 and 20 December 1982, 38/58 A to E of 13 December 1983, 38/79 A to H of 15 December 1983, 39/49 A to D of 11 December 1984, 39/95 A to H of 14 December 1984, 40/161 A to G of 16 December 1985 and 41/63 A to G of 2 December 1986 and all other relevant General Assembly resolutions on Israeli violations of the human rights of the population of occupied Arab territories, Recalling, in particular, Security Council resolutions 237 (1967) of 14 June 1967, 446 (1979) of 22 March 1979, 465 (1980) of 1 March 1980, 468 (1980) of 8 May 1980, 469 (1980) of 20 May 1980, 478 (1980) of 20 August 1980 and 484 (1980) of 19 December 1980 and all other relevant Security Council resolutions, Taking note of the reports and resolutions of the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Health Organization as well as the report of the seminar on violations of human rights in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel, held at Geneva from 29 November to 3 December 1982, and the reports of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, Recalling its previous resolutions in this connection, particularly resolutions 1982/1 A and B of 11 February 1982, 1983/1 A and B and 1983/2 of 15 February 1983, 1984/1 A and B and 1984/2 of 20 February 1984, 1985/1 A and B of 19 February 1985 and 1986/1 A and B of 20 February 1986 on the "Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine", Taking note with grave alarm of the content of the report of the Special Committee regarding Israel's pursuance of the "iron fist" policy in the occupied Palestinian territories,

1. Reaffirms the fact that occupation itself constitutes a fundamental violation of the human rights of the civilian population of the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine;

2. Denounces the continued refusal of Israel to allow the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories access to the occupied territories, and calls upon it to allow the Special Committee to visit the occupied territories in implementation of the relevant General Assembly resolutions;

3. Reiterates the deep concern expressed by the Special Committee in its reports submitted to the General Assembly that Israel's policy in the occupied territories is based on the so-called "Homeland" doctrine which envisages a monoreligious (Jewish) State that includes territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, and the affirmation by the Special Committee that this policy not only denies the right to self-determination of the population of the occupied territories but also constitutes the source of the continuing and systematic violation of human rights;

4. Reaffirms the fact that Israel's continuous grave breaches of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are war crimes and an affront to humanity;

5. Firmly rejects and reiterates its condemnation of Israel's decision to annex Jerusalem and to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and considers all these measures and their consequences null and void;

6. Strongly condemns the implementation of the "iron fist" policy against the population of the occupied territories;

7. Strongly condemns Israel's attempts to subject the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israeli laws;

8. Strongly condemns Israeli policies and practices, administrative and legislative measures to promote and expand the establishment of settler colonies in the occupied territories, as well as the following practices:

(a) Annexation of parts of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem;

(b) Continuing establishment of new Israeli settlements and expansion of existing settlements on private and public Arab lands, and transfer of an alien population thereto;

(c) Arming of settlers in the occupied territories to commit acts of violence against Arab civilians, and perpetration of acts of violence by these armed settlers against individuals from Palestinian camps and institutions, causing injury and death and wide-scale damage to Arab property, and all terrorist acts undertaken against the Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied territories by zionist gangs under the supervision of the occupation authorities;

(d) Striking at Muslim and Christian religious and holy places and repeated attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque aimed at seizing and destroying it, and hindering religious freedom and practices;

(e) Evacuation, deportation, expulsion, displacement and transfer of Arab inhabitants of the occupied territories, denial of their right to return to their homeland and transfer and settlement of alien populations brought from other parts of the world in the place of the original Palestinian owners of land;

(f) Confiscation and expropriation of Arab property in the occupied territories from Palestinian owners and demolition and destruction of Arab houses;

(g) Mass arrests, collective punishments, administrative detention, torture of persons under detention, ill-treatment of the Arab population and inhuman conditions in prisons as well as attacks and use of tear-gas against prisoners in the prisons of Kfar Youna, Janeed, Narha, Hebron, Ashkelon and Fara'a, in September and October 1986;

(h) Pillaging of archaeological and cultural property and systematic Israeli repression of cultural and educational institutions, especially universities, schools and institutes, in the occupied Palestinian territories, their closure or the restriction and obstruction of their academic activities through subjection of the selection of courses, textbooks and educational programmes, admission of students and appointment of faculty members to the control and supervision of the military occupation authorities;

(i) Attacks against Palestinian students in universities and institutes, such as that which occurred in Bir Zeit University, where a number of them were killed or wounded when they were fired upon inside the university campus on 4 December 1986;

(j) Expropriation and exploitation of the natural wealth, water and other resources which belong to the inhabitants of the occupied territories;

(k) The dismantling of municipal services by dismissal of the elected mayors as well as the municipal councils and prevention of the flow of Arab aid funds to the population of the occupied territories;

9. Calls upon Israel to take immediate steps for the return of the displaced Arab inhabitants to their homes and property in Palestine and other Arab territories occupied since June 1967;

10. Calls upon the Israeli authorities to implement forthwith Security Council resolution 484 (1980) of 19 December 1980 and previous resolutions calling for the immediate return of the elected mayors to their municipalities so that they can resume the functions for which they were elected;

11. Urges Israel to refrain from policies and practices which violate human rights in the occupied territories;

12. Reiterates its call to all States, in particular the States parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, in accordance with article 1 of that Convention, and to international organizations and specialized agencies, not to recognize any changes carried out by Israel in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and to avoid taking any action or extending any aid which might be used by Israel in its pursuit of the policies of annexation and colonization or any other policies and practices referred to in the present resolution;

13. Requests the General Assembly, through the Economic and Social Council, to recommend to the Security Council the adoption against Israel of the measures referred to in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations for its persistent violation of the human rights of the population of the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories;

14. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all Governments, the competent United Nations organs, the specialized agencies, the regional intergovernmental organizations and the international humanitarian organizations and to give it the widest possible publicity, and to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-fourth session;

15. Further requests the Secretary-General to provide the Commission with all United Nations reports appearing between sessions of the Commission and dealing with the situation of the population of those occupied territories;

16. Decides to place on the provisional agenda of the forty-fourth session, as a matter of high priority, the item entitled "Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine".

27th meeting
19 February 1987
[Adopted by a roll-call vote of 28 to 8, with
6 abstentions. See chap. IV.]

B

The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling its resolutions 1982/1 B of 11 February 1982, 1983/1 B of 15 February 1983, 1984/1 B of 20 February 1984, 1985/1 B of 19 February 1985 and 1986/1 A and B of 20 February 1986, Recalling General Assembly resolutions 2674 (XXV) and 2675 (XXV) of 9 December 1970, 3092 A (XXVIII) of 7 December 1973, 32/91 A of 13 December 1977, 33/113 A of 18 December 1978, 34/90 B of 12 December 1979, 35/122 A of 11 December 1980, 36/147 A of 16 December 1981, 37/88 A of 10 December 1982, 38/79 B of 15 December 1983, 39/95 D of 14 December 1984, 40/161 A to G of 16 December 1985, 41/43 A to D of 2 December 1986 and 41/63 A to G of 3 December 1986, Recalling Security Council resolutions 465 (1980) of 1 March 1980, 468 (1980) of 8 May 1980, 469 (1980) of 20 May 1980, 471 (1980) of 5 June 1980, 476 (1980) of 30 June 1980, 478 (1980) of 20 August 1980 and 484 (1980) of 19 December 1980, Recalling resolution III on the application of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, adopted by the Twenty-fourth International Conference of the Red Cross held at Manila in November 1981, and reaffirmed by its Twenty-fifth International Conference held in Geneva in October 1986, Bearing in mind that the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 must be fully applied in all circumstances to all persons protected by those instruments, without any adverse distinction based on the nature or origin of the armed conflict or on the causes espoused by or attributed to the conflict, Recognizing that the persistent refusal of Israel to apply the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War creates a situation fraught with danger, and considering that it persists in violating human rights, Taking into account that States parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War undertake, in accordance with article 1 thereof, not only to respect but also to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances,

1. Reaffirms that the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, is applicable to all Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem;

2. Strongly condemns Israel's systematic refusal to apply that Convention in all its provisions to the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied since 1967 and their inhabitants, despite its adherence to that Convention, and its refusal to recognize the applicability of that Convention to those territories;

3. Strongly condemns Israel for its policies of ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons;

4. Urges Israel to grant prisoner-of-war status, in accordance with the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, of 12 August 1949, to all Palestinian fighters captured by Israel, and to treat them accordingly;

5. Calls upon Israel to abide by and respect the obligations arising from the Charter of the United Nations and other principles of international law, in Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem; requests Israel to release all Arabs detained or imprisoned as a result of their struggle for self-determination and the liberation of their territories and to accord them, pending their release, the protection envisaged in the relevant provisions of the international instruments concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, in particular the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, and The Hague Convention IV of 1907; and demands that Israel cease forthwith all acts of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian and Arab detainees and prisoners;

6. Urges once more all States parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to make every effort to ensure respect for and compliance with the provisions of that Convention in all the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem;

7. Strongly condemns Israel for its policy of deporting Palestinian citizens from their homeland, as occurred recently with regard to Mr. Akram Haniyeh, editor of the Jerusalem newspaper Al Shaab, and calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to refrain forthwith from the deportation of Palestinians and to rescind the deportation decisions to enable those who were deported to return to their homeland and property;

8. Urges Israel to co-operate with the International Committee of the Red Cross and to allow it to visit all Palestinian and Arab detainees in Israeli prisons;

9. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all Governments, the competent United Nations organs, the specialized agencies, the regional intergovernmental organizations, the international humanitarian organizations and non-governmental organizations, and to submit a report on progress in its implementation to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-fourth session;

10. Decides to consider this subject at its forty-fourth session as a matter of high priority.

27th meeting
19 February 1987
[Adopted by a roll-call vote of 29 to 1, with
12 abstentions. See chap. IV.]