Published 08:53 IST, June 17th 2020
UN human rights experts condemn Israel's plan to annex parts of West Bank
As many as 50 UN human rights experts have condemned Israel's plan and have called it a 'vision of 21st-century apartheid'.
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While the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set July 1 as the date to begin advancing his plan to extend sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank, as many as 50 UN human rights experts have condemned Israel's plan and have called it a 'vision of 21st-century apartheid'. According to the experts, the move violates international law of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions.
The UN human rights experts further added that while Israeli occupation was already a "source of profound human rights violations against the Palestinian people", the move would only "intensify" after the annexation. They further noted that Israel had annexed occupied land in East Jerusalem in 1980 and the Syrian Golan Heights in 1981. According to them, the UN Security Council had condemned the actions, but "no measures were taken". The experts have warned this time to be different.
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Meanwhile, thousands of people are demonstrating against Israeli PM and his move. According to international media reports, the protesters wore face masks and kept their distance from each other in order to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions. Further, they gathered under the banner ‘No annexation, no to the occupation, yes to peace and democracy’, while some even waved Palestinian flags. Reportedly, the protests were organized by leftwing groups and did not appear to be the start of a popular mass movement as around half of Israelis support annexation.
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Trump's peace plan green lights move
US President Donald Trump's peace plan has effectively greenlighted the move. Earlier, Trump unveiled a Middle-East peace plan that includes Israel keeping its settlements and the Palestinians establishing a state under stringent conditions. While Netanyahu cited Trump’s Middle-East plan for Israel-Palestinian Peace as underpinning de facto annexation, both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the plan.
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Israel PM's plan
According to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he wants to apply "Israeli sovereignty" to the parts of West Bank which has over Jewish settlements, as well as to the Jordan Valley. Over 600,000 Jews are living in around 140 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. According to reports, some exclusion will apply to the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and to the Palestinians in other parts of the West Bank.
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Updated 08:53 IST, June 17th 2020