Bayram Altug and Sena Guler
22 March 2019•Update: 23 March 2019
GENEVA/ANKARA
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a draft resolution on Friday to strengthen the UN presence in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.
The Council requested "the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to strengthen the field presence of the Office of the High Commissioner in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip."
It also requested the deployment of "personnel and expertise necessary to monitor and document the ongoing violations of international law" in the occupied lands.
The Council condemned "all violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law" and expressed concern over widespread destruction, death and human suffering in Palestine, including East Jerusalem.
It decried the use of excessive force by Israel against civilians including children, journalists health workers.
The council noted that it was "gravely concerned" by the findings of the independent international commission of inquiry, which warned of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by Israeli forces during the peaceful Great March of Return protests.
It stressed "the urgency of achieving without delay an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, and affirming that this is necessary in order to uphold human rights and international law."
All the findings of the UNHRC will be presented first orally, then as a at future Council sessions.
Since Palestinians began holding rallies along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone on March 30 last year, more than 250 demonstrators have been killed by Israeli army gunfire.
Demonstrators demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
On the last day of the 40th session at the UN Geneva Office, the Council discussed the resolution against Israel submitted by Bahrain, Bolivia, Cuba, Pakistan, Senegal, Venezuela, Zimbabwe Palestine.
The resolution was adopted with 23 in favor, eight against and 15 abstaining votes.
The votes against the resolution were given by Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechia, Fiji, Hungary Ukraine.
