Palestinian rights groups call for stripping Israel of international immunity

The council of the Palestinian human rights organizations called on the international community to immediately halt the policy of giving Israel immunity against accountability for its persistent violation of the international law, which criminalizes its crimes against the occupied Palestinian people. This came in a joint statement released on Monday by the council, which consists of 12 Palestinian human rights organizations, on the occasion of the international human rights day that falls on December 10, 2013, PIC reported. The council said that the human rights day has coincided this year with Israel's persistence in violating the principles of the universal declaration of human rights, the rules of the international human rights law and the humanitarian law, which led to further deterioration of the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The council added that Israel continues to violate the Palestinians' right to self-determination and undermine the international will, which declared Palestine as a non-member state with observer status in the UN and recognized the Palestinians' right to establish their independent state. Its statement highlighted Israel's systematic violations against the Palestinian citizens and their property in their occupied territories and described it as another nakba (catastrophe) befalling the Palestinians. "Dealing with this painful reality requires that the Palestinians and all believers in the values and principles of the universal declaration of human rights to continue their struggle, to stand by the victims and keep defending human rights and 'human dignity,' which is inherent in all human beings," the council stressed. "This situation also places obligations on the international community to enforce the UN charter and the principles of human rights," it added. The council also demanded the high contracting parties to the fourth Geneva convention, which stipulates the protection of civilians in wartime, to swiftly ensure Israel's respect for the convention and work on ending its military occupation of Palestine.