UN Secretary General's Summary to UN General Assembly, 24th November 2003

Annex II
Summary legal position of the Palestine Liberation Organization

From: UN Secretary General's Summary to theUN General Assembly, 24th November 2003
Source: http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/0e0abe0d890c7e8a85256dec006600c7?OpenDocument

1. The Palestine Liberation Organization legal opinion requested for this report cites several provisions and principles of international law as bearing on the question of the legality of the construction of the Barrier within the occupied Palestinian territory. Among them:

• Israel has a right to undertake certain limited measures in cases of strict military necessity and to protect its legitimate security interests. However, these measures must be taken in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law.
• The measure of constructing the wall within the occupied Palestinian territory and related measures taken by the Government of Israel constitute violations of international humanitarian law because those measures are not justified by military necessity and violate the principle of proportionality. The harm those measures have caused include:
  • Extensive destruction of Palestinian homes and other property and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity, contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention;
  • Infringements on the freedom of movement contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in violation of the obligations of the Government of Israel under the Fourth Geneva Convention;
  • Infringements on the rights to education, work, an adequate standard of living and health care contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and in violation of the obligations of the Government of Israel pursuant to the Fourth Geneva Convention;
  • Violations of the prohibition against arbitrary interference of home contrary to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the freedom to choose one's residence contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in violation of the protections provided in the Fourth Geneva Convention as a result of the permit system established in the Closed Area.

2. This violation of these Palestinian rights, including facilitating the entry into and residency of Israeli civilians in the Closed Area while restricting Palestinian access to and residency in that Area, are causing long-term, permanent harm, including the transfer of Palestinians, contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

• Because these Israeli measures are neither necessary nor proportionate, they give rise to criminal liability by the Government of Israel for violations of human rights and some prima facie grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
• The requirement of proportionality can more likely be met by building the Barrier within Israeli territory or even on the Green Line and by evacuating the Israeli civilian nationals currently residing in the Occupied West Bank contrary to international law.
• The construction of the Barrier is an attempt to annex the territory contrary to international law.
• The de facto annexation of land interferes with the territorial sovereignty and consequently with the right of the Palestinians to self-determination.

* Palestinians often call this system the Separation Wall and Israelis use the term Security Fence. For the purposes of the present report, the more general term "the Barrier" is used.

 

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