Falk, an ethnic Jewish expert in international law and professor emeritus at Princeton University, told journalists that Israeli policies have “unacceptable characteristics of colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” In the present situation where talks between Israel and Palestinian authority remain in deadlock, the acceleration of Israeli settlement construction in the occupied territories is causing Palestinians to lose their faith that a state of their own could ever be created. “Every increment of enlarging the settlements, or every incident of house demolition is a way of worsening the situation confronting the Palestinian people and reducing what prospects they might have as the outcome of supposed peace negotiations,” the UN Special Rapporteur said... “To sustain indefinitely an oppressive occupation containing many punitive elements also seems designed to encourage residents to leave Palestine, which is consistent with the apparent annexationist, colonialist and ethnic-cleansing goals of Israel, especially in relation to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” the report said... In Jerusalem alone, over 11,000 Palestinians had lost their right to live in the city since 1996, only because Israel has been imposing residency laws in favor of Jews, making it possible to revoke Palestinian residence permits, Falk reported. “The 11,000 is just the tip of the iceberg because many more are faced with possible challenges to their residency rights,” he said. Along with the eviction of the Arab population from Jerusalem, Israel is actively constructing new settlements to change the ethnic composition of East Jerusalem, Falk said.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 01:26:07 +0000
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