Geneva.- The UN Human Rights Office expressed its alarm this Wednesday over Israeli announcements to increase settlements in the West Bank, as well as its threats to turn that territory into “another Gaza”.
“We are alarmed by the Israeli Government’s announcement that it will further increase the number of settlements and outposts, as well as the open calls by its leaders for revenge and collective punishment against Palestinian communities, accompanied by threats to turn the West Bank into another Gaza,” warned office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani in a statement.
Call to the international community
“Two years after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was illegal and should end as soon as possible, settler violence and the increasing annexation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank are only getting worse,” he added.
He also recalled that in the last week eight Palestinians, including a child, as well as two members of the Israeli armed forces have died in the occupied West Bank due to violence.
“Israeli settlers and security forces, often acting in concert, have attacked local communities, assaulted families, destroyed and confiscated property, and burned mosques,” lamented Shamdasani.
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The spokesperson for the office led by High Commissioner Volker Türk urged other States to “act with urgency and in a united manner to put an end to the ongoing deaths and the despoilment of the Palestinian people,” as well as to “end the Israeli occupation.”
