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

1988/1. 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 all other relevant General Assembly resolutions adopted at regular and special sessions in respect of Israeli violations of the human rights of the population of occupied Arab territories, Recalling, in particular, relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolutions 605 (1987) of 22 December 1987, 607 (1988) of 5 January 1988 and 608 (1988) of 14 January 1988, Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on the fact-finding mission of his envoy, Mr. Marrack Goulding, to occupied Palestine (S/19443), and of relevant reports and resolutions of the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Health Organization as well as all reports of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, Recalling the press release issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva on 13 January 1988 on the expulsion of Palestinian citizens from their homeland, Recalling its previous resolutions on Israeli violations of human rights in occupied Palestine, Reaffirming its grave alarm at Israel's continued pursuance of the "iron fist" policy in the occupied Palestinian territories, and Israel's crimes of murder, injury, arrest and deportation against Palestinians, its policy of starvation of the camps and its acts involving the breaking of children's and young people's arms,

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. Reaffirms that Israel's continuous grave violations of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and of the Additional Protocols of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are war crimes and an affront to humanity;

3. Strongly condemns Israel's policy of physical violence in occupied Palestine, breaking the bones of children, women and men and causing women to miscarry as a result of severe beating;

4. Strongly condemns Israel's pursuance of the "iron fist" policy and its continued and systematic violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people, including opening fire on children, women and civilian men as well as killing, wounding, arresting and torturing thousands of Palestinians, and the attempts to kidnap Palestinian children by force and transfer them to unknown places, as happened in Dheisheh camp and Khawlah school in Al Bireh on 1 and 3 February 1988;

5. Firmly rejects and reiterates its condemnation of Israel's decision to annex Jerusalem and to change the architectural character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and considers all these measures and their consequences null and void, and further condemns the confiscation of land and property, the demolition of houses and efforts by Israel to subject the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israeli laws;

6. Condemns once again the establishment of Israeli settlements and the arming of settlers to kill Palestinians under the supervision of the occupation authorities in occupied Palestine;

7. Condemns once again aggression against Islamic and Christian religious holy places, including the repeated attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque with the aim of seizing and destroying it, the obstruction of religious freedoms and practices and the act of opening fire on worshippers, wounding dozens of them in Al Aqsa Mosque, for example, on 15 January 1988;

8. Condemns once again the evacuation, deportation, expulsion, displacement and transfer of the Palestinian population and the denial of their right to return to their homeland and the transfer and settlement of alien populations brought from other parts of the world in the place of the original Palestinian owners of the land;

9. Condemns once again mass arrests, collective punishment, administrative detention and the torture of detainees;

10. Condemns once again the pillaging of archaeological and cultural property and systematic Israeli repression of cultural and educational institutions, especially universities, schools and institutes, and the expropriation of the natural wealth, water and other resources which belong to the Palestinian citizens in the occupied territories;

11. Calls upon the Israeli authorities to implement forthwith Security Council resolutions 484 (1980) of 19 December 1980 and 608 (1988) of 14 January 1988 as well as previous resolutions of the Council calling for the immediate return of the elected mayors to their municipalities and the return to their homeland of all citizens deported by the occupation authorities;

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

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 on the extent of its implementation to The Commission on Human Rights at its forty-fifth 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 consider this subject at its forty-fifth session as a matter of high priority.

19th meeting
15 February 1988
[Adopted by a roll-call vote of 31 to 8, with
4 abstentions. See chap. IV.]

B

The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling Security Council resolutions 446 (1979) of 22 March 1979, 465 (1980) of 1 March 1980, 497 (1981) of 17 December 1981, 592 (1986) of 8 December 1986 and 605 (1987) of 22 December 1987, as well as all its previous resolutions on the application of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 to the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel and the refusal of Israel to abide by those Conventions, Recalling all relevant General Assembly resolutions, Recalling the decisions of the International Conference of the Red Cross in respect of the application of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, Recalling the statement of the International Committee of the Red Cross of 13 January 1988 in which it reiterated its protest against the continued violation by Israel of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of war, of 12 August 1949, Recalling its previous resolutions on this question, 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 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 once again 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. Once more strongly condemns Israel for its policies of ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons;

4. Once more 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 and, 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 the violations of article 49 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War which it has perpetrated by pursuing a policy of deportation and expulsion of Palestinian citizens, as occurred recently in the case of citizens Jibril Mahmoud Rajoub, Hussam Osman Mahmoud Khodr, Bashir Ahmed Khairy and Jamal Abdallah Jabbarah, 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-fifth session;

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

19th meeting
15 February 1988
[Adopted by a roll-call vote of 31 to 1, with
11 abstentions. See chap. IV.]RD:Subsession>B. Decisions