Assembly says Israeli breaches of Geneva Convention constitute 'war crimes.' (United Nations General Assembly)

The General Assembly on 3 December declared that Israel's "grave breaches" of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War were "war crimes and an affront to humanity".

The Assembly also condemned "the continued and persistent violation" by Israel of the 1949 Geneva Convention and other applicable international instruments, and it strongly condemned 19 specific examples of Israeli policies and practices in the occupied territories, including what it termed Israel's "iron-fist policy" against the inhabitants of the occupied territories since 4 August 1985, ill-treatment and torture of children and minors under detention and/or imprisonment, and interference with the freedom of the press.

The Assembly demanded that Israel desist forthwith from those policies and practices.

Six other resolutions were adopted under the agenda item entitled "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories". The texts were recommended for adoption by the Special Political Committee.

Resolution 41/63 D on the 1949 Convention was adopted by 114 votes to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 36 abstentions.

In other provisions of the resolution, the Assembly:

* Strongly condemned the arming of Israeli settlers in the occupied territories to commit acts of violence against Arab civilians and the perpetration of acts of violence by those armed settlers against individuals, causing injury and death and widescale damage to Arab property;

* Called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to take immediate steps for the return of all displaced Arab and Palestinian inhabitants to their homes or former places of residence in the occupied territories;

* Requested the Security Council to ensure Israel's respect for and compliance with all the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention in the occupied territories, and to initiate measures to halt Israeli policies an practices in those territories; and

* Called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to allow the reopening of the Roman Catholic Medical Facility Hospice in Jerusalem to provide needed health and medical services to the city's Arab population.

By other resolutions approved, the Assembly:

* Called upon Israel to release all Arabs arbitrarily detained and imprisoned as a result of their struggle for self-determination and for the liberation of their territories, and demanded that Israel rescind its action against the detainees and imprisoned Palestinians and release them immediately (The vote on resolution 41/36 A was 108-2 (Israel, United States) -34.);

* Demanded that Israel, the occupying Power, desist forthwith from taking any action which would result in changing the legal status, geographical nature or demographic composition of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem; and determined that all such measures and actions taken by Israel in those territories had no legal validity (The vote on resolution 41/63 C was 145-1 (Israel) -5 (Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, St. Lucia, United States.);

* Demanded that Israel, the occupying Power, rescind the illegal measures taken by the Israel military occupation authorities in expelling the Mayor of Halhul, the Sharia Judge of Hebron and other Palestinian leaders expelled in 1985 and 1986, and that it facilitate the immediate return of the expelled Palestinians; and strongly condemned Israel, the occupying Power, "for its persistent refusal to comply with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly" (The vote on resolution 41/63 E was 131-1 (Israel) -21.);

* Strongly condemned Israel, the occupying Power, for its refusal to comply with the relevant Assembly and Security Council resolutions, particularly Council resolution 497 (1981), in which it had decided that Israel's decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights was null and void and without international legal effect and had demanded that Israel rescind it; and condemned Israel's persistence in changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, as well as Israel's attempts and measures to impose forcibly Israeli citizenship and Israeli identity cards on the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights (The vote on resolution 41/63 F was 142-1 (Israel) -11.);

* Condemned the systematic Israeli campaign of repression against and closing of universities and other educational institutions in the occupied territories, and restricting and impeding the academic activities of Palestinian universities in contravention of the 1949 Geneva Convention; and condemned Israeli policies and practices against Palestinian students and faculties in educational institutions in the occupied territories, especially the policy of "opening fire on defenceless students, causing man ties" (The vote on resolution 41/63 G was 119-2 (Israel, United States) -32.);

* Reaffirmed that the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War was applicable to the occupied territories, including Jerusalem; strongly demanded that Israel comply with the provisions of that Convention in those territories; and urgently called upon all States parties to that Convention to exert all efforts to ensure respect for and compliance with its provisions in those territories (The vote on resolution 41/63 B was 145-1 (Israel) -6 (Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, United States.).

Report: The main report on occupied territories was that of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories (A/41/680), containing information for the period from 30 August 1985 to 31 August 1986. It was based on oral testimony given at hearings held in New York, Geneva, and Amman by persons with first-hand experience of the human rights situation in the occupied territories, as well as written information gathered from various sources.

In a letter transmitting the report, the Chairman of the Special Committee, Nissanka Wijewardane (Sri Lanka), stated that his Committee was deeply concerned by the fate of civilians evicted from their native land. The inhabitants of Emmaus, Beit-Nuba and Yalou had been reduced to the state of wandering refugees since their villages had been razed by the occupying authorities in 1967. His Committee was also concerned at the escalation of violence caused by the implementation by Israel of a revived "iron fist" policy. That policy had been illustrated by a number of harsh measures affecting the human rights of Palestinians of the occupied territories, such as an increasing number of arrests and trials leading to the detention of many civilians imprisoned for political or security offences, as well as the imposition of measures of administrative detention.

The record of the day-to-day life of the civilian population, he went on, clearly revealed serious infringements of fundamental rights and freedoms. Civilians were being submitted to various forms of harassment, including collective measures of punishment such as the demolition of houses, hostile behaviour from settlers expanding their authority, restrictions on freedom of movement, and limitations on the right to freedom of education, marked in particular by the arbitrary expulsion of a number of teachers and university professors.

A number of statements had been made by Israeli officials on the issue of returning municipalities of the occupied territories to local leaders. Despite declarations often made on that issue and some steps purported to be taken to implement them, the Special Committee found it difficult to assess the underlying motives of such declarations. The situation continued to engender a considerable number of detentions for political or security offences, perpetuating the problems of prison conditions and the plight of detainees of all ages and serving to maintain a constant flow of grave allegations in regard to their treatment.

In its conclusions, the Special Committee stated that Israel's policy continued to be based upon the principle that the territories occupied by it in 1967 constituted a part of the State of Israel. That was at the source of the policy of annexation and establishment of settlements in occupied territories, which constituted a flagrant violation of Israel's international obligations as a State party to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

The overall picture revealed a further deterioration of the situation of civilians as regarded enjoyment of their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. As the annexation policy continued without respite, measures of repression and acts of harassment imposed an increasingly heavy burden on civilians. On the other hand, the arbitrary expulsion of Palestinians was swelling the ranks of the hundreds of thousands who were still outside the occupied territories and were denied the right to return to their homeland.

F.T. Liu, peace-keeping

expert, leaves UN

Assistant Secretary-General F.T. Liu of the United Nations Department of Special Political Affairs, left the United Nations at the end of 1986 after 37 years of service. A national of China, he was recruited for the Organization in 1948 by the late Ralph Bunche, and over the years helped organize and direct important peace-keeping operations, particularly in the Middle East, and also in the Congo, Jammu and Kashmir, Yemen and Cyprus. He coordinated the publication of The Blue Helmets, a comprehensive book on United Nations peace-keeping activities. He had retired from the United Nations n 1981 but was called back to service later that same year until his second retirement in December.

Security Council reaffirms that 1949 Geneva

Convention applies to Israeli-occupied territories 

The Security Council on 8 December reaffirmed that the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War was applicable to the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem, and strongly deplored the opening of fire by the Israeli army resulting in the death and the wounding of defenceless students.

In adopting resolution 592 (1986) by a vote of 14 in favour to none against, with 1 abstention (United States), the Council also called upon Israel to abide immediately and scrupulously by the 1949 Geneva Convention, and to release any person or persons detained as a result of "recent events" at Bir Zeit University in violation of that Convention.

All concerned parties were called on to exercise maximum restriant, to avoid violent acts, and to contribute towards the establishment of peace. The Secretary-General was asked to report to the Council on the implementation of the resolution not later than 20 December 1986.

The Council met on 5 December at the request of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries to consider "the situation in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, including Jerusalem". Three more meetings on the subject were held on 8 December.

Debate

Isack Mudenge (Zimbabwe), on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement said that a day earlier the occupying forces had shot and killed two unarmed Palestinian students from Bir Zeit University and had wounded many more, two of whom were in critical condition. In addition, the students, who had only been holding a sit-down strike, were tear-gassed and harassed.

The town of Bir Zeit had been declared a military zone, out of bounds to the press. An occupation force of nearly 500 troops was roaming the streets of the towns of Bir Zeit and Ramallah. Palestinian blood was being shed needlessly. At a time when maximum restraint and care were demanded - so as to avoid unnecessary spread of violence and death - the Israeli response had been to provoke more violence and inflict more death and suffering upon Palestinians.

Abdullah Salah (Jordan) said the bloody strife in the Holy City two weeks ago between defenceless Arab citizens and Israeli settlers was a manifestation of the tense situation throughout the occupied territories. Israel's continued occupation would not lead to peace. The Palestinian students had been demonstrating against occupation and against oppressive Israeli practices. Israel was attempting to disrupt the undermine academic life of Bir Zeit University, because it considered education to be one element in preserving the national identity of the Arab under occupation. Continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and its accompanying policies, were the reasons for the increased violence and tension in those areas.

Zehdi Labib Terzi, of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the army of occupation had erected some check-points outside the Bir Zeit University campus and a faculty member had been stopped for almost 90 minutes. He had insisted on his right to enter the campus. Some of his students had come to inquire about the situation. An argument had ensued, and it had culminated in bullets, resulting in the death of two people, and the wounding of a third, who was still in very critical condition. The faculty member had been arrested and was being held at an unknown destination. His safety and return should also be one of the Council's responsibilities.

Israeli occupation troops had broken into the hospitals and arrested students wounded in the incident. Israel planned to both evacuate and eliminate the Arab population of Palestine. "Prolonged occupation necessarily engenders resistance."

Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) said that on 4 December several hundred students had rioted outside the old campus of Bir Zeit University. Simultaneously, other students blocked off all traffic on several roads, including the central artery leading from the Judean mountains to the coastal plain. There were other orchestrated disruptions in the Ramallah region, timed to begin at the same moment. A small Israeli Defence Force (IDF) contingent, which had rushed to the scene, was greatly outnumbered by hundreds of rioters, who had attacked it with rocks, metal rods and flying objects.

The force had tried without success to disperse the much larger mob with tear gas, shots in the air and rubber bullets. The soldiers, in danger of being killed, had directed fire at the feet of the rioters. Regrettably, several had been injured, two fatally. The rioters had attempted forcibly to prevent ambulances and medical aid rushed in by the authorities from reaching the wounded, who had been subsequently evacuated to the Ramallah hospital.

He said there had been no more benign military administration in history than that of Israel. In the universities, Israel had stressed academic freedom, but that freedom was not a licence to riot. It did not include the disruption of public order, the threats that had been issued or the violence. Over the years, the PLO had mounted an all-out effort to subvert the academic purpose of the universities, and to turn them into centres of incitement, extremism and terror.

But despite PLO efforts, peace had generally prevailed in Jerusalem. The PLO had sought to upset the delicate balance in Jerusalem by repeated terrorist attacks. Israel had acted at Bir Zeit to pacify a situation deliberately provoked by the PLO. That incident was part of a larger effort by the PLO - which had been rapidly losing ground everywhere - to restore its shattered position. "Yesterday's well-orchestrated incitement by the Fatah was intended, among its other purposes, to re-establish Fatah's dominance over its rival factions within the PLO."

In a 20 December report (S/18532), the Secretary-General said the Permanent Representative of Israel had informed him on 18 December that Israel regarded resolution 592 (1986) as "negative and one-sided".

Explanations of Vote

Israel, in explaining its vote on the seven texts approved by the Special Political Committee on 20 November, said they were unfair", "unjustified" and "harmful". It deemed them to be another political exercise in propaganda and warmongering, depicting Israel, a small peace-loving country, as a warthirsty country. Israel strongly protested the blurring of the real issues at stake and the double standards reflected in them. Israel, however, would continue to extend its hand in peace to all peoples, particularly the Palestinian Arabs.

The United States, which voted against or abstained on all but one of the texts, said resolutions which contained inflammatory rhetoric and unjustified allegations could only delay the day when the parties to the conflict would sit down for direct negotiations necessary for peace. They served only those who believed they benefited by the continued suffering of the Palestinian people. It favoured direct negotiations of the concerned parties on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).

The representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) thanked those who had voted in favour of the texts, a "clear message of support by the international community to the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle".

At a 24 November meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly for the Announcement of Voluntary Contributions to UNRWA, 33 countries and the European Economic Community (EEC) pledged a total of $144,868,800 to the Agency's 1987 programme. In 1985, nearly $60 million was pledged by 39 countries and the EEC on 11 November.

The 10 largest contributions in 1986 were: the United States ($67 million), the EEC ($23.28 million), Sweden ($10.1 million), Norway ($8.7 million), United Kingdom ($7.1 million), Canada ($6.34 million), Federal Republic of Germany ($5 million), Denmark ($4.5 million), Italy ($4.2 million) and Netherlands ($2.2 million). Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Venezuela and Yugoslavia said they would announce contributions at a latter time.