NEW ISRAELI DECISIONS UNDERMINE PALESTINIANS’ RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION -- UN RIGHTS CHIEF

NEW YORK, Feb 12 (Bernama-WAM)  -- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that recent decisions issued by the Israeli Security Cabinet regarding the expansion of land confiscations in the occupied West Bank represent a further step in a course aimed at annexing Palestinian territory and constitute a clear violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported that Türk said these measures undermine the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state, stressing that they contradict the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.

The High Commissioner explained that such policies would entrench Israeli control and effectively integrate the occupied West Bank into Israel, reinforcing the reality of unlawful annexation.

He noted that these actions affect not only Palestinians’ rights to their land, but also extend to their cultural rights linked to sites of particular religious and historical significance.

Türk warned that the developments represent accelerated steps to permanently alter the demographic composition of the occupied Palestinian territory by displacing residents from their land and forcing them to leave.

He stressed that these policies contravene Israel’s obligations as an occupying power to maintain the existing legal order, and called for a reversal of these decisions.

-- BERNAMA-WAM