Statement of Saudi Arabia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory

September 29, 2006
Original Source: http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/conferences/hrc2006/two/hrc060929pm-eng.rm?start=00:49:05&end=00:52:56

I would like to associate myself with the statement delivered by Pakistan on behalf of the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Countries and the statement made by his Excellency, the Ambassador of Bahrain, on behalf of the Arab Group. Sir, this distinguished Council, as part of its competence, has been following up a tragic question amongst the questions related to the violation of human rights: that is the Palestinian question in which the Palestinian people have been deprived of the right to self-determination and are still suffering as a result of the occupation of its lands.  The Palestinian people have been suffering the illegal practices prohibited by international law and international humanitarian law.  Sir, the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian Territories is deteriorating day after day, and very seriously, and we cannot estimate what the consequences would be because of the siege against the Palestinian villages and cities, and the isolation from one another.  The acts carried out by the Israeli army—acts of killing and the arrest of senior officials and arbitrary acts against the Palestinians like the destruction of their homes and the infrastructure and the imposition of siege upon them—all of this is in flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.  Sir, those practices are not something new. The former Commission on Human Rights, for a number of years, has had those practices reviewed before it, time after time; those practices of the Israeli occupation authorities and the Commission for Human Rights had adopted a number of resolutions that have not been implemented because of Israeli intransigence.  As we heard from the Special Rapporteur, Mr Dugard, in his review before the distinguished Council, and the information he has given us on his mandate and the reports on the acts of Israel and its continued practices without taking any due regard of all the resolutions that the Commission for Human Rights had adopted. All of this testifies to the nature of those practices by the Israeli authorities. Sir, the first decision of this Council S/1/RES1 calls upon Israel to put an end to all its military operations and to abide by the rules and the norms of International Humanitarian Law and International Law and to cease the imposition of collective punishments on Palestinian civilians. It also urges Israel to release members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as well as ministers and officials, as well as civilians.  And the Council has taken the decision to dispatch a fact-finding mission to the territories. Here, Sir, we are all sorry that that decision since it has been adopted until today has not been implemented because of the fact that the Israeli authorities do not allow the fact-finding mission to enter the occupied territories.  Sir, since we are at the stage where we are building this Council and instituting its foundations, so that it could discharge its duties in a manner different from the manner that had been followed by the Commission on Human Rights, which was unable to implement many of its resolutions. Because we are in this formative stage, it becomes necessary for us seriously to look together for the modalities and the mechanisms in order to implement our resolutions.