Off the wire
• Roundup: parliamentary electoral campaigns launched in Croatia  • Palestinian dead, Israeli moderatley wounded in West Bank attacks  • Africa Economy: World Bank says Sub-Saharan Africa makes strides in business reforms  • Eight farmers shot dead in Nigeria village attack  • 16 killed in clashes with IS militants in Iraq's Salahudin province  • Ukraine's business environment improves: World Bank  • 1st LD: Zanzibar electoral body nullifies election results  • Thai ministry lowers 2015 growth forecast to 2.8 pct  • Greece's national day parades send message of unity  • Madrid reflects on how to fight terrorism  
You are here: 　 Home

Human rights situation in Palestinian territories worst since 1948: Abbas

Xinhua, October 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

In a special meeting convened by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on Wednesday, President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas warned that "the status of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, as a result of the continued Israeli occupation and its practises, is the worst and most critical since 1948."

The statement comes amid the latest wave of violence which has seen 58 Palestinian fatalities and 2,100 injured, while 11 Israeli deaths and 127 wounded have been reported.

"Some of these people were stabbed, shot, and even beaten to death by members of the public, both Israeli and Palestinian," High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein explained.

"In the context of suspected attacks, several Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces, sometimes allegedly acting with disproportionate force, to the extent that extra-judicial killings are strongly suspected," he added.

According to Abbas, "Israel breaches systematically and regularly the rules and principle of international law and the international humanitarian law. It acts as a state above the law; undeterred, unpunished and unaccountable."

Amid this climate of unrest, he reiterated the need to put an end to "the Israeli occupation" and called for the independence of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the 1967 borders.

"We say to the international community and power actors: isn't it enough, ladies and gentlemen, 70 years of suffering, injustice, oppression and deprivation, and perpetuation of the longest occupation known to mankind in modern history?" Abbas questioned.

The Palestinian head highlighted the need to for the UN Security Council to establish a "special regime for the protection of the Palestinian people," while iterating the importance of working towards lasting peace on a two-state basis.

Security Council veto-holding nations such as France, the United Kingdom and the United States have yet to recognize Palestine however, with Israel also refusing to acknowledge the latter's statehood.

In light of protracted tensions, Al Hussein called on the Middle East peace process to "be reactivated with an unprecedented sense of purpose," concluding that Israel has to be assured of its security and that "the occupation of Palestine" must also end. Endit