Palestine Conflict: Israel announces non-cooperation with UN

Tel Aviv: Israel has announced that it will not cooperate with the United Nations (UN) and the international community in investigating the alleged abuse of Palestinians.

According to a global news agency, Israel has accused the UN Human Rights Commission and its head of being “unfairly biased” towards the Jewish state and announced its decision to not cooperate with the international body in investigating the alleged abuse of Palestinians. 

In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC), Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Israel announced its decision that has further strained relations between Israel and the Geneva-based UN Human Rights body. The letter, signed by Israel’s envoy to the UN, Ambassador Meriav Eilon Shahar said, “It is clear to my country that there is no reason to believe that Israel will be treated fairly, and without discrimination by the Human Rights Council or its Commission of Inquiry.”

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The council set up a three-member commission of inquiry in May last year, eleven days after the war between Hamas militants and Israel in the Gaza Strip. It is pertinent to note that more than 260 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in the clashes, while fourteen Israelis lost their lives. At the time, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that Israeli actions, including airstrikes in urban areas, could fall into the category of war crimes. 

Since then, several international organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), have labeled Israeli attacks as war crimes. Both Bachelet and HRW have also said that indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas on Israeli cities also violates international rules of war.

Israel has blamed Hamas for killing civilians, saying the group used residential areas for shelter during military operations and fired several rockets at Israel from densely populated areas.

Palestinian demonstrators hurls stones at Israeli forces amid tear gas during clashes, as they protest Israeli Jewish settlements, in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

However, the Council’s Commission of Inquiry’s responsibilities include investigating human rights abuses against Palestinians, in addition to the Gaza war. The commission is also mandated to monitor alleged human rights abuses in Israel, Gaza, and the occupied West Bank. This is the first commission to have such a ‘current’ mandate. Israel has long accused the United Nations and in particular the Human Rights Council, of discriminating against Israel. Israel is the only country in the world whose human rights record is discussed at every council meeting.

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In addition, Israel has expressed concern about the formation of the council, saying it includes countries with poor human rights records or has open hostility toward Israel. The 47-member council includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan, Venezuela, and several Arab countries.

Israel has repeatedly rejected international demands for an investigation into its conduct during the war and its mistreatment of Palestinians. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has launched an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes. According to reports, Israel says it is hostile and part of an international campaign to declare it an “illegal state.”

Smoke and flames rise during Israeli air strikes amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, in Gaza May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Meriav Eilon Shahar wrote in the letter: “This Commission of Inquiry is definitely another tragic chapter in Israel’s efforts, to portray Israel as a ‘satanic state.'” The letter, referring personally to the head of the UNHRC, said that a former South African judge, Dr. Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, had condemned the “shameful” act of declaring Israel a racist nation and the Palestinians’ opposition to Israel. The leadership supported the international boycott movement.

The Israeli ambassador was reportedly responding to a letter from Pillay on December 29, addressed to the Israeli government which called on Israel to “reconsider its position on non-cooperation” after the commission was set up.

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The commission is required to visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a request for that visit was made in the last week of March, Pillay wrote. Under which six to eight staff of the commission tried to travel. Meanwhile, the Israeli ambassador said in the letter that the commission would not be able to obtain such access to or support from the Israeli government.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. In an interview in 2017, for example, she spoke of racism, saying, “It’s racially divisive, and it’s happening in Israel.” Pillay further said, “The Israeli government is angry at the comparison between racially-biased South Africa and Israel”. 

Pillay has never publicly responded to allegations of anti-Israel bias that have surfaced since her appointment. The commission, however, has responded in an email to the AP on Thursday, saying its members did not have the authority to make public statements or to make their conversations public. In order to maintain the credibility of their work.

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