The UN Human Rights Council held yesterday a general debate on the Universal Periodic Review and on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.
The Council also heard the presentation of a report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the allocation of water resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and an oral update by the High Commissioner on the implementation of resolution S-30/1.
In the general debate on the Universal Periodic Review, Christian Salazar Volkmann, Director of the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, introduced the report on the allocation of water resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 43/32.
Volkmann said the report presents a rights-based analysis of the allocation of water resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and recommends measures to ensure implementation of equitable access to safe drinking water in accordance with international law. The report found that water was unavailable in a sufficient and continuous manner in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with nearly 660,000 Palestinians having limited access to water.
The report also found that water was inequitably distributed between Palestinians and Israelis. In addition, the report says, Israeli authorities treated the nearly 450,000 Israeli settlers and 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) under two distinct bodies of law. This resulted in unequal treatment on a range of issues, including access to water.
Palestine, speaking as a country concerned, thanked the High Commissioner for her report and update, asking the High Commissioner to update the list of firms in line with the resolution. The Palestine report stressed the importance of being able to enjoy the right to water but Israel’s theft of water deprives Palestinians of the right to water. “Ninety-seven per cent of the water available in Gaza could no longer be used. The share of water available to Israeli settlers was not the same as what was available for Palestinians. Sabotage work had been carried out by Israelis since the hostilities in May,” the report says.
“Israel continued to Judaize Jerusalem and expel the Palestinian population. Palestinians, including children and women, had been killed and Palestinian territories and resources had been confiscated, and provocations by settlers had taken place. All of these were increasing,” the report continues.
“The 13-year blockade of Gaza had prevented reconstructions efforts and was an obstacle to distributing vaccines. All of these practices were a systematic apartheid type policy… The world had to realize the extent of the suffering of the Palestinians.”
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency