MIFTAH’S PERSPECTIVE ON THE REPORT:
 

Rarely does one encounter a public official, let alone an international civil servant, who brings humanity and genuine concern to the exercise of his/her duties. The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, in her report to the UN General Assembly on human rights conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories does just that.
 

In the language of her written report and in the discourse of her oral presentation, Mary Robinson is candid, forthright, and honest. In summing up the conclusions reached as a result of her visit to the occupied Palestinian territories and to Israel, Mary Robinson paints a bleak picture of the tragic suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli military forces and settlers. Unlike other officials, though, she goes straight to the heart of the matter and addresses the real cause of such pervasive human rights violations as being the Israeli occupation itself.
 

In that context, she refers to the impact of the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, to Israel’s use of “excessive force” and its “lethal” impact, and to Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and freedoms, including freedom of movement. Significantly, she reiterates the de jure applicability of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, and calls on the High Contracting Parties to assume their responsibility under the Convention. In practical terms, Ms Robinson calls for legal accountability for all those who engaged in the use of lethal force, and for international monitors to be placed in the occupied Palestinian territories while pursuing the UN human rights Geneva resolution on the dispatching of special rapporteurs to the region.
 

The Commissioner’s report is also framed by a call for dialogue, rectification of perceptions, and negotiations as the only means for the resolution of the conflict.
 

We may take issue with some of Ms Robinson’s remarks—particularly those that address only Israeli settlements in “heavily populated Palestinian areas” and the “construction of new settlements” without actually pointing out the illegality of ALL Israeli settlements and their contravention of the laws and conventions whose applicability she advocates. We may also discern some diplomatic efforts at diluting her condemnation of Israeli violence by attempting to address both sides (hence creating the impression of a false symmetry between occupier and occupied).
 

On the whole, this report and its conclusions are significant in their diagnostic as well as corrective impact. What is urgently required at this point is the immediate implementation of its plan of action in order to give it reality and genuine impact on the horrific conditions on the ground.
 

To read full 40-page report, go to Miftah web site: http://www.miftah.org/Other/Report.html