JERUSALEM — The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a confidential
report about East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, accuses Israel of a
“general disregard” for “its obligations under international humanitarian law —
and the law of occupation in particular.”
The committee, which does not accept Israel ’s annexation of East Jerusalem ,
says Israel is using its rights as an occupying power under international law
“in order to further its own interests or those of its own population to the etriment of the population of the occupied territory.”
With the construction of the separation barrier, the establishment of an outer
ring of Jewish settlements beyond the expanded municipal boundaries and the
creation of a dense road network linking the different Israeli neighborhoods and
settlements in and outside Jerusalem , the report says, Israel is “reshaping the
development of the Jerusalem metropolitan area” with “far-reaching humanitarian
consequences.” Those include the increasing isolation of Palestinians living in
Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and the increasing difficulty for some
Palestinians to easily reach Jerusalem ’s schools and hospitals.
Report precedes Israeli celebration of city seizure
The Red Cross committee, which is recognized as a guardian of humanitarian law
under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, does not publish its reports but provides
them in confidence to the parties involved and to a small number of countries.
This report was provided to The New York Times by someone outside the
organization who wanted the report’s conclusions publicized. The leak came just
days before Israel ’s celebration of Jerusalem Day this Wednesday, observing
the 40th anniversary of the unification of the city.
The committee is better known for its role in visiting prisoners all over the world
to try to ensure humanitarian conditions. It has been involved for decades
with the Israeli-Palestinian situation as part of its role in upholding the Geneva
Conventions, which cover the responsibilities of occupying countries. But its
reports rarely surface.
The report considers all land that Israel conquered in the 1967 war to be occupied
territory. It was the result of nine months of work by the committee and was
delivered in late February “to Israel and to a small number of foreign governments
we believe would be in the best position to help support our efforts for the
implementation of humanitarian law,” said Bernard Barrett, a spokesman for the
committee in Jerusalem.
Conditions have worsened for Palestinians in East Jerusalem , which has long had
inferior services.
Barrier wall part of ethnic-cleansing scheme
Security restrictions and the barrier that runs around and through parts of EastJerusalem were Israel ’s response to suicide bombings after 2000, but they
made it
much more difficult for Palestinians to move into and out of Jerusalem . It is virtually impossible for Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza to move to
Jerusalem if they were not born in the city; even visiting requires a permit that can
be hard to get. Natural population growth and building restrictions in Arab parts of
the city means that large families often share very small apartments.
Palestinians argue that the building restrictions are meant to suppress the growth
of the their community; the Israelis counter that zoning restrictions are imposed
throughout the city.
The Red Cross report notes that the separation barrier “was undertaken with an
undeniable security aim,” but adds, “The route of the West Bank barrier is also
following a demographic logic, enclosing the settlement blocs around the city
while excluding built-up Palestinian areas (thus creating isolated Palestinian
enclaves).”
Mustafa Barghouti, spokesman for the Palestinian unity government, welcomed the
report, calling it consistent with the rulings of the International Court of Justice,
which said in a nonbinding opinion in 2004 that Israel ’s security barrier was illegal
where it crossed the 1967 lines into occupied territory. “ Israel violates international
law with impunity, and couldn’t continue this blunt violation for 40 years if it did not
feel impunity toward the international community,” Mr. Barghouti said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/world/middleeast/15jerusalem.html?_
r=1&oref=slogin
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