UN human rights chief dismisses Smotrich’s remarks on Huwara as “incitement to violence”

March 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has described the statements by the Israeli Finance Minister, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, who called for the annihilation of the city of Huwara, as “incitement to violence and hostility”.

Tension in Huwara boiled over this past weekend, when a group of Israeli settlers attacked the town in retaliation for an attack that killed two Israelis. The settler raid left at least one Palestinian dead and dozens of houses burned down.

Smotrich asserted that the town of Huwara “should be razed” after liking a tweet calling for the same thing, before adding that “the State of Israel should be razing it, not private individuals.”

Apart from this, Turk has indicated at a press conference -in which he has presented the latest report on the region- that “Israeli security forces have frequently used lethal force, regardless of the level of threat and, in occasions, even as an initial measure, instead of the last”.

Specifically, he specified that “Israel imposes more and more collective punishments on the Palestinians”, prohibited by International Law. Thus, he has said that 967 Palestinians are currently in administrative detention, a status in which people spend extended periods without charge or trial.

Turk has also indicated that 131 Palestinians have been killed by security forces over the past year “in a law enforcement context, that is, outside of any context of hostilities,” including 65 people who were not armed. and represents the highest number in 15 years.

“More than 270 Israeli settlements invade and fragment Palestine. The separation wall divides thousands of Palestinians from each other and their land. It constitutes a major obstacle to their freedom of movement, including impeding access to health care, schools and the employment, and imposes a stifling straitjacket on their lives,” he recalled.

In addition, it has indicated that “lethal force” is used “repeatedly” against Palestinian workers who try to cross the wall. On the other hand, he also recalled the blockade in Gaza, in force for 16 years.

“The people of Israel also suffer from this situation: insecurity, pain, loss and fear. They have the right to live in peace, in their State, just like the Palestinians, in a State that is finally recognized and viable,” he said.

For all these reasons, he has asked the parties to sign the agreement reached in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, in which intelligence officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the United States, Egypt and Jordan participated, topped off by the presence of the monarch of the Hashemite kingdom and host, Abdullah II.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed on a plan to study the reactivation of their previous cooperation agreements while refraining from adopting, during the next three to six months, unilateral measures that could aggravate tension in the region.