|
|
|
|
Sri Lanka calls on Human Rights Council to challenge Israel’s policy of Impunity The Human Rights Council held its sixth Special Session on “Human Rights Violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent ones in occupied Gaza and the West Bank town of Nablus”, on 23 - 24 January 2008. The Special Session adopted a resolution against Israel with thirty (30) votes in favour, and one (1) against. Fifteen (15) members of the Council abstained from voting. The Special Session was requested by Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, China, Djibouti, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Uruguay. Following is the full text of the statement made by the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, H.E. Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, who is also a Vice-President of the Human Rights Council: “Thank you Mr. President, Madam High Commissioner, Sri Lanka unambiguously recognizes the right of Israel to exist, and to do so behind secure boundaries. It recognizes the right of Israel to self-defence. However, Mr. President, what we have seen unfold before the eyes of the world is not the exercise of the legitimate right of self-defence. What we have seen is far in excess, is grossly disproportionate to the attacks, which we condemn, the attacks on unarmed Israeli civilians by certain resistance groups in Occupied Palestine. We do not believe that the legitimate right of resistance enjoyed by the Palestinian Movement should extend to targeting wittingly unarmed civilians in Israeli towns and cities. Mr. President, what is unfolding is, as has been referred to here, a policy of collective punishment. It is bitterly ironic that Israel, having practiced for decades a policy of invasion, of annexation, of occupation, should now add a policy of the ghettoization of the Palestinian people. The people of Israel know very well, given their own history, the horrors of such ghettoization. But what do we see today? We see a wall, which former US President Jimmy Carter has quite rightly described, as a wall of Apartheid. We see the breaking up of the contiguity of the Palestinian territory. We see a policy which has been callous towards women and children. We see scenes, which if they were to continue, could not but remind us of the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two. We see a policy practiced, which, Mr. President, is the kind of crime that we read of in the Old Testament, a situation which led the Lord to tell Moses to tell the Pharaoh, “Let my people go”. It is a repetition of the same compilation of crimes and occupation, and oppression. While saying this Mr. President, we must also be mindful that what we are seeing today in Gaza, was paved, was made possible, by those elements of the international community which remain silent, and were even complicit, when the policy of starving Gaza of financial supplies, of finance was enunciated after the elections which led to the legitimate Hamas government being installed. We may not agree with every armed act of Hamas. But it was an elected administration. And those who were silent when Hamas legislators were abducted by the State of Israel, those who were silent when the policy of financial blockade was started, are themselves morally responsible for what is happening today, for the horrors of today. We cannot equate, as some try to do, the occupier and the occupied; the annexationist and the annexed; the aggressor and the aggressed. We believe Mr. President, that this policy of impunity that Israel has enjoyed should be challenged by the Human Rights Council. If the Human Rights Council does not stand for an end to this impunity of state terrorism, the impunity of the policy of collective punishment, then what do we in the Human Rights Council stand for? Thank you Mr. President.” In the general debate, delegations deplored the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and called for an immediate end to Israel's disproportionate use of military force, as well as the lifting of the siege of Gaza. Speakers agreed that they had to address a clear message to Israel; the impunity which it enjoyed encouraged Israel to pursue its violations. A speaker said it was deeply frustrating that those incidents had occurred at a time when new political initiatives, both in the European Union and in the United States, were taking place to revive the stalled peace process. Many concurred that such actions undermined the process, while others felt it belied Israel's real aim to deliberately abort all Arab and international peace efforts. A number of speakers expressed concern about indiscriminate attacks that harmed civilians on both sides. A partial approach to the current situation, without a call for moderation to all parties involved in the hostilities, could jeopardize the legitimacy of the Council, as well as the efficacy of any decision taken on the issue, a speaker warned. All speakers, however, agreed in calling on Israel to guarantee free access of humanitarian services and supplies to Gaza. Speaking in the general debate were representatives of Syria (on behalf of the Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference), Egypt (on behalf of the African Group), Cuba (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union), Indonesia, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Zambia, China, Jordan, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Senegal, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Qatar, South Africa, Switzerland, Bolivia, Canada and Angola. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OPENS SPECIAL SESSION ON VIOLATIONS STEMMING FROM ISRAELI INCURSIONS IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/8FDBF12E3EF5DDC4C12573D9007606C7?opendocument
Webcast : http://www.un.org:80/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=016
The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
|
