In her message on the occasion of Human Rights Day, December 10, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said that her visit to Israel and the occupied territories was an extraordinary experience that raised her concerns for the rights of the Palestinian people, and the future of peace in the region.
“The strongest and most troubling impression I came away with from my recent visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories was of two people, linked by history and geography, but currently separated by a wide
and growing gap in their perceptions of each other,” she said.
“What I heard was essentially two different narratives with one side preoccupied - understandably - by security concerns and the other suffering the daily humiliation of the petty discriminations and powerlessness of occupation now aggravated by excessive use of force against them,”
In the letter, of which Albwaba.com received an email copy, Robinson said that she has recommended the introduction of “some form” of international monitoring presence in the Palestinian territories to help break the daily cycle of violence “with funerals on both sides”, and encourage the resumption of dialogue.
Late last month, the commissioner urged Israel to curb its military action against Palestinians and to accept an international monitoring presence in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Robinson assailed Israel's military tactics against Palestinian civilians and expressed her deep concern about the serious deterioration of the situation in the West Bank, and the terrible cost it has taken in terms of human lives.
Robinson, a former president of Ireland, criticized Israel's armed forces for firing live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and rockets against civilian targets. She said "a wide range of observers, including United Nations representatives" have concluded that Israel's military response to Palestinian unrest in recent weeks has been "excessive and inappropriate."
In the message, she said that she is “convinced that the way to a peaceful, stable future for the Middle East is that all involved conform to the requirements of
international human rights and humanitarian law. But that raises the
essence of the challenge in every region of the world: to embed a
culture of human rights through human rights education and training, to
support capacity building directed to rule of law and justice systems, to
ensure implementation at national level of the international human rights
norms and standards.
“The Millennium Summit Declaration called for ‘a just and
lasting peace all over the world’ in accordance with the objectives and
principles of the UN Charter. I strongly believe that instilling respect for
human rights is the surest foundation for achieving that goal,” she concluded -- Albawaba.com
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