Arab Network Magazine 2021-E-Version

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Palestinians to drive national
reconciliation and said, "Reconciliation
and national unity have
become a dire need in this critical
stage.” He also called for advocating
in every possible way, publicly,
diplomatically, and in media, to
induce the United Nations
towards imposing an economic
boycott on Israel. He further said
“This matter may take time. However,
the international public opinion
is shifting and there will be an
initiative by a few influential
figures to induce the United
Nations to formulate a statement
to prepare the world to practice
pressure on United Nations."
For his part, Mr. Mohamed
Al-Nsour, Head of the Middle East
and North Africa Division of the
Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR)
stressed on the standing position
of the OHCHR against the annexation
scheme from the first day of
announcement, as has been
declared in the statement of High
Commissioner Michelle Bachelet.
The position expressed the illegality
of the annexation decision; not
only under international law and
international humanitarian law,
but rather, comes inconsistent
with Security Council resolutions
and the United Nations Charter,
which explicitly include the
impermissibility of acquiring the
territory of others by force. He
pointed out that this statement
was a breaking point in resolving
the legal controversy that
revolved with the beginning of
the announcement of the annexation
scheme, especially in light of
the talk about the progression of
annexation in different proportions
which does not entail the
legality of the annexation decision
in any way.
Commenting on Mr. Mohamed
Fayek’s proposal to pressure the
United Nations, Al-Nsour said
"The Commission has no need to
be pressurized from anyone when
it comes to the rights of the Palestinian
people and their right to
self-determination." Al-Nsour
continued, “As for the issue of the
economic boycott of Israel, it
requires a decision by other UN
bodies higher than that of the
High Commissioner and the
Human Rights Council." Al-Nsour
further said "Also, an important
joint statement was issued by 67
special rapporteurs and working
groups of the United Nations,
who together represent all the
international human rights mechanisms,
being the first time that
all the special mandate-holders of
the United Nations system gather
to issue a joint statement." He
added, "This statement included
important topics; the first is to
emphasize that the annexation
scheme is a violation of international
law, international humanitarian
law and human rights, and
a embodies inequality in the legal
systems that people of the West
Bank fall under." Al-Nsour called
for a need to reflect on this issue
with a view on post-the annexation
and how to act from a legal
standpoint. He urged the national
human rights institutions to look
upon the importance of thinking
about how to support national
efforts to restore interest in the
Palestinian question and rethinking
the legal principles of the
rights of the Palestinian people.
He went on, "National human
rights institutions have a crucial
role in pressing to keep the matter
among the national, regional and
international priorities, and not to
leave it at reactive responses." He
further stressed the concern of
the High Commissioner for
Human Rights to support this
move and said, "At the Commission,
we will not waver in
responding to any call to discuss
the rights of the Palestinian
people and enable them to obtain
those rights, and in taking any
preventive measures to subvert
Israeli decisions to annex the
Palestinian territories." Al-Nsour
thanked ANNHRI for inviting him
to participate in this forum, which
he described as a critical sensitive
topic, not only to the Palestinian
people, but also to the peoples of
the region as a whole.
Continuing the annexation
plan is a declaration
of death and infanticide
for the two-state solution
For his part, Dr. Ammar Dweik,
Director-General of the Palestinian
Independent Commission for
Human Rights, reviewed a paper
on the scenario of occupying
annexation and its impact on the
rights of the Palestinian people
and the future steps. He illustrated
that the matter of annexation
has been a core topic at the table
of successive Israeli occupation
governments since 1967. He also
gave an explanation about the
definition of annexation in terms
of international law, pointing out
that international law distinguishes
between actual and formal
legal annexation, indicating that
actual annexation has been an
ongoing and progressive project
since the occupation of the West
Bank in 1967. He further said,
“International law describes the
annexation as a violation of the
right to self-determination of the
Palestinian people, as well as a
breach of many international
covenants and agreements such
as the Hague Convention 1907,
the Fourth Geneva Convention
1949, the decisions of the International
Charter, the Rome Statute
and the advisory opinion of the
International Court of Justice and
other international agreements."
Dweik discussed in his paper an
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