UN rights office calls for end to Israel’s ‘illegal presence’ in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

The Palestinian co-director of the documentary, Basel Adra, delivered remarks to the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Ambassador Riyad Mansour of the Observer State of Palestine and Israeli Human Rights lawyer Netta Amar Schiff – who joined via videolink – also took part.

No Other Land, directed by Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, sheds light on the lived reality of Palestinians under occupation in Masafer Yatta, a collection of 19 hamlets, in the occupied West Bank.

‘The same reality’

“I wanted the world to know that we exist in this land…But even after winning the Oscar we went back to the same reality,” said Mr. Adra at the beginning of his remarks.

Addressing the overall human rights situation, James Turpin, who heads the Prevention and Sustaining Peace Section at OHCHR, said that for 15 years his office “has monitored, recorded and warned about the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the widespread violations resulting from Israel’s 57-year military occupation.”

“The documentary film, No Other Land, brings to life, in a compelling and accessible way, what the UN has documented in countless reports,” added Mr. Turpin.

As of 2022, approximately 20 per cent of the West Bank had been designated as “firing zones” by Israeli authorities – or military areas closed to civilians – affecting over 5,000 Palestinians from 38 communities.

Settlement expansion continues

“There are now over 737,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank” and “steps are regularly taken to accelerate construction of additional housing units in new or existing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem”, Mr. Turpin said.

Israel’s policies and practices in the OPT “undermines the territorial integrity essential to the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and violates the prohibition against acquiring territory by force,” he added.

In October 2023, in Masafer Yatta, Basel Adra’s cousin was shot in the chest by an Israeli settler. The scene unfolded in front of an Israeli soldier, Mr. Adra told the committee.

“Israel systematically fails to prevent or punish settler attacks, with a reported policy of police non-enforcement in relation to settler violence, leaving Palestinians bereft of any hope of obtaining justice and accountability,” said Mr. Turpin.

Livelihoods lost

The OHCHR official added that settler violence “combined with arbitrary movement restrictions devastates Palestinian livelihoods,” highlighting also the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force against Palestinians, movement restrictions, and mass displacement.

“Israel’s illegal presence in the OPT must end, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)” said Mr. Turpin, referring to the July 2024 Advisory opinion from the ICJ.

“Almost every day there are settler attacks against Masafer Yatta,” added Basel Adra, co-director of No Other Land.