UN investigator: Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing with settlement expansion
U.S. academic Richard Falk spoke to UN Human Rights Council as it prepared resolution condemning settlement building in East Jerusalem and West Bank.
By Reuters Tags: Israel newsIsrael's expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem and eviction of Palestinians from their homes there is a form of ethnic cleansing, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.
United States academic Richard Falk was speaking to the UN Human Rights Council as it prepared to pass resolutions condemning settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The "continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with the forcible eviction of long-residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation" in the part of the city previously controlled by Jordan, he said.
This situation "can only be described in its cumulative impact as a form of ethnic cleansing," Falk declared.
Israel declines to deal with Falk or even allow him into the country, accusing him of being biased.
In a related discussion on Israeli policies towards the lands it seized in the 1967 war, Israeli and Palestinian delegates clashed over the recent killing of members of a Jewish settler family in the West Bank.
Israeli ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar called on Palestinian leaders to condemn the March 11 murders of three children, including a baby, and their parents "without caveats or hedging" in Arabic to their own people.
Almost as shocking as the killings, "in the days following the massacre many Palestinians took to the streets celebrating the deaths of this family," Leshno Yaar said.
But Palestinian envoy Ibrahim Kraishi said the killings had already been condemned by the Palestinian Authority as "an act of terrorism" that was not part of his people's culture. "Rather, it is the culture of the occupying power," he added.
In his speech, Falk said he would like the Human Rights Council to ask the International Court of Justice to look at Israeli behavior in the occupied territories.
This should focus on whether the prolonged occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem had elements of "colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing inconsistent with international humanitarian law," the investigator declared.
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A protester in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah on Feb. 18, 2011. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
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Is he working for Gadhafi?
1) Supporter of Ayatollah Khomeni’s 1979 revolution in Iran. Even Carter did not support that! 2) Appointee to two United Nations positions on the Palestinian territories. United Nations 3) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and others have condemned remarks Falk has made suggesting that there is an "apparent cover-up" by U.S. authorities over the September 11 attacks.
This Guy Fawkes, talks B.S. He tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament? I didn't know he was still alive and kicking. If it isn't him, he still talks crap.
And have been doing so for over 40 years this is not new news
He has reached the age that so many of his ilk here in the west have, to find no-one takes him seriously anymore. We are used to his constant rants-for-hire, like Noam Chompsky. They would say OJ Simpson was a persecuted welfare case if the right donation came along. But the people in Darfur or Iran cannot afford their fees, so they only speak about the wealthy arab- backed agendas, they can afford to pay. So embarrassingly predictable.
On February 16, 1979, two weeks after the return of Khomeini to Iran, Falk wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, “Trusting Khomeini". He concluded his article with, “the depiction of Khomeini as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false". In 2004 he maintained that the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks. In a June 2007 article "Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust", Falk compared Israel to Nazi Germanyt. Falk was the right investigator for those beacons of human rights in this UN council: Libya, Bahrain, China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cuba, Cameroon Djibouti and Kyrgystan.
There sure are alot of policies being made, accusations, and demands, over something which may in fact have been done for motives other than those which have been so prominently ASSUMED! Which by the way, significantly raises the potential for a cover-up by Israel should it find that the murderers were NOT Palestinian!
Not long are the days that this kind of actions wiil spread into Europ
Supporter of Ayatollah Khomeni’s 1979 revolution in Iran. Even Carter did not support that! Appointee to two United Nations positions on the Palestinian territories. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and others have condemned remarks Falk has made suggesting that there is an "apparent cover-up" by U.S. authorities over the September 11 attacks.
Israel is not engaged in 'ethnic cleansing.' It has a policy of Demographic Remediation whereby threatening Arabs are replaced with the Jews God gave Greater Israel. People who refer to the policy of replacing Arabs with Jews as 'ethnic cleansing' are Anti-Semites.
Ethnic cleansing? Illegal settlements replacing Palestinians with Jews only? Expropriations of Palestinians in occupied EJ at will to be replaced by Jews only? This is the will of the God of the Jewish people!! Unfortunately for Israelis not good enough for the other 6 Billion people that populate this planet. To them it’s simply called ethnic cleansing.
Can't wait until they start calling us self-hating Jews, or anti-Semites. They are so blind that they refuse to see that sometimes Jews do terrible things.
I would never stoop to calling you a self hating Jew..you know that already but I will say you are seriously slanted against Israel and refuse to ever place any blame on the palestinians for mistakes they have made over these past 60 years.
Hopefully people can see the signs here and relax a bit. There is an unnatural tension around right now and everyone is getting too grouchy. I think people are working too hard and need to laugh more. You gotta admit the technology available doesn't really suit eveyone being angry with each other.
It is not necessary to approve West Bank settlements and the uprooting of Arab residents of Jerusalem to disapprove of the intemperate language used by Prof. Falk. We do know what ethnic cleansing looks like. We saw the photographs taken at Srbrenica, and we know that nothing similar is going on in the West Bank or Jerusalem. It seems to me that it would be better, and more likely to lead to successful peace negotiations, if everyone, on both sides of the issue, would tone down their rhetoric and start to deal with facts and areas of disagreement, instead of wild, unjustified charges.
what ethnic cleansing looks like". Do you? The official policy of the state of Israel is to deny the Armenian Genocide. And the state of Israel and it's powerful lobbies work day and night to deny the Armenian Genocide . Please google " Israel Turkey and the politics of genocide
If everyone, on both sides of the issue, would tone down their rhetoric and start to deal with facts blah blah blah... You sound like a nanny. What's YOUR solution?
The solution is so obvious, it hardly needs repeating, as both sides have repeatedly agreed to it in principle -- two states for two people, based on the 1967 borders with negotiated adjustments and exchanges of territories.
I read it, and can't deny that there are indeed patterns that are abominable in the eviction of Palestinians and the settlement policies in the West Bank (Judea & Samaria). It hurts so much, but it must be said. However, the UN bashes Israel in an equally abominable way, namely applying all its ugly wordings to Israel, while it gave Gaddafi the head of its Human Rights Commission, just to name one abomination. No wonder 300.000 black Africans could be murdered by an Arab, pro-Iranian dictatorship in Darfour, while the UN remained ever bland and camplacient. Their lives didn't matter as the ones of civilians in Libya. Why? No wonder some speculate with oil being behind it -which isn't really the case-. Goldstone rendered basic impartiality so horrendously anti-Israel and pro-Hamas, that this otherwise necessary protest by Falk will probably fail to be heeded in Israel.
Pointing out other incidents of human rights violations amounts to nothing more than an attempt to justify. You either condemn it, or you don't!
through all the zionist propaganda that dominates most of the western media, we have the voice of Richard Falk speaking the truth and they hate him for it. Hopefully, he will succeed in his efforts to have the UN condemn Israel for its blatant ethnic cleansing.
Th..th...th..the UN will co..co...condemn Israel, that'l be a first!
and not the Palestinian barbarians who committed the atrocity, nor a problem with the PA- controlled media and public which condones it.
What happened in Itamar, may happened once every five years, if that. The Palestinians go through this every day at the hands of the IDF. The Palestinians see their children being killed almost every day, so yes the killing of the Itamar babies is Israel's fault not the Palestinian's fault. Israel is the reason that this happened. The occupation, the land thefts, the torture and the IDF constant bombing of their homes, farmlands, hospitals etc... The blood of the murder of the Itamar family is on Israelis hands not on the Palestinian's hands.
who took the others land is barbarian and who steal the others land and build settlements is barbarian
Every terror attack should be answerd by annexation of land. Starting with Judea and Samaria right away!
israeli politcs are all about being hard, resolute and indifferent to outside unfavourable opinion. so, the only way to confront the israeli government and its policies, is to harden one's stand and confront them with an equally hard resoluteness in showing them all the wrong courses they have taken and keep taking. israel must understand that palestinians have the right to be respected.
The human rights council had Gedaffi as a member or still has. No need for further comments concerning this agency.
Wow, the gall is incredible. It's nice of Kraishi to deny the decades of suicide bombings and civilian murders as not belonging to his people's culture, then turn around and blame the victims that it's their culture. He may not have hedged it in Arabic, but he said it openly! By the way, does Falk have anything to say about the treatment of Palestinians in Arab countries, or the Jews' expulsion from there? Didn't think so.
Do you think the Arabs in the west bank and gaza strip will allow any Jews to live there, and live there freely once it becomes a nation? That is apartheid. As we know, many Arabs live in Israel, hold Israeli passports, prosper and serve the public in Parliament, and most importantly, not savagely attacked in their own homes. The terrorists in the gaza strip and west bank are endangering the lives of others and should be blamed for the poor economic conditions and Israeli RETALIATIONS (not attacks). While I don't agree with the recent proposal the build, I don't agree with democracies that promote ethnic purity in their land - which is what the Arabs of the west bank and gaza strip want by have all Jews leave and not live there. Why is this not frowned upon by the ethnically diverse nations in the UN, of which, anyone who's ever actually been knows, Israel is one.
Many Israelis live in denial. "We? The Chosen People? Accused of behaving like barbarians? Impossible! Just anti-Semitic dribble!" Well, actually not....you look at the facts, and those accusations are totally legitimate. And stop justifying yourself by remembering this or that injustice from the past, it does not justify your behaviour in the present. Yes, Israel is racist, stealing land and imposing Apartheid on the Palestinians, that's a fact, whether you like it or not. Light onto Nations? More likely Stinker of Nations
First Helen Thomas and now Richard Falk. The tide is actually turning for the better. people are speaking their minds. Nobel prizes all round are in order :-)
in the george soros "Jewish Committee" who get paid based on the numbers of Jews he sends to the ovens. Wouldn't be surprised if he's on the haaretz payroll as well
The UN know how to pick their people well.
Not that this will stop a hate-fest here.
Just what is Bias? A viewpoint not accepted, non- conforming to your own bias? Anyone that condemns Israeli behavior, regardless of the truth of their condemnation, is persona non grata in Israel. It's a disease and/or insanity that has spread to the United States. Does Israel desire a just peace or one that mandates absolute support of a Jewish state?
Richard Falk, the 911 "truther" and the Human RIghts Council, composed of the most despotic regimes in the world. Shames on Haaretz for giving them time.
You can call it what you like, ethnic cleansing or whatever, one thing is for sure , the settlements are ILLEGAL according to international law.
Settlements are NOT ILLEGAL according to international law. That resolution was veto'd Walt. The best term to give the settlements is "illegitamate".
The murder of the Fogel family cannot be a pretext for continuing he apartheid regime, and the ethnic cleansing, The pretexts are every day becoming more evident.
... paid by the arab majority to do so.
Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Bharain in turmoil and this is what this buffoon comes up with. The hatred for Israel by the UN knows no bounds. Israel should tell the UN to take a hike.
not just the UN. Israel is the only nation in the world that can do no wrong and if you question their premise you will be attacked as every form of evil. Israel is guilty of ethnic cleansing and it must be condemned. Let them take the hike from the territories into which they are moving the occcupying population. in a foreign population. Time will tell who will be the
Liar.
Mahmoud Awad, in his twenties, was taken to the hospital with knife wounds to the chest from attack suspected of being motivated by Jewish ultra-nationalism.
He is basically saying that any negative act perpetrated by the Palestinians is the fault of the Israelis. Palestinians did not murder the baby, the "Israeli Occupation" did. Talk about not taking ANY responsibility!
Your remarks EL show you have no idea of what you are talking about. We have never gassed people nor taken them into woods in the thousands and shot them, so you are the one who should be ashamed not Israel
I seem to recall the Jews were ethnically cleansed. What happened in Hebron in 1929? ethnic cleansing of Jews from their land. This man is a nutter.
the uprising is the only way to get israel to cooperate nd stop athentic cleansing !!the itamar family was a terreble crime nd so is the dailly incursions nd killings of palestinians woman/children ...the wave is on the way, peacfull protest is under discussion as we speak to get about 2 million palestinians peacfully protest nd see how many israel can kill as its dictator friends in libya nd yemen r doing !!the time of the people is coming as a tsunami nd its gonna hit israeli shore sooner or later !!67 borders or world isolation nd degrading of the jewish people !!
"dailly incursions nd killings of palestinians woman/children" what pills have you been taking?!
Apartheid, ethnic cleansing, colonialism? Richard Falk is pushing a certain agenda. He is not fair, not honest, not accurate. Shame on him. There is a conflict, there is complexity. There should be negotiations and compromises. There is no need for the overblown, sensationalist and pathetic exaggerations of this Richard Falk. He sounds like a fanatic, he walks like a fanatic, he looks like a fanatic. Well, then he probably is a fanatic.
Israeli media gives this idiot way too much attention. He is trying to secure his future in the impending world islamic caliphate.
how is everyone so sure a palestinian has killed this colonizer family??? and there is not one palestinian i know who has celebrated it, so whats this ambassador tlking about? does he know that it is prejudice to assume it's a palestinian automatically...and it's true, the P.A has already condemned it.... now i wonder what is israel scared of to not let richard falk in???are they that scared of the truth?
You say you don't know one Palestinian celebrating over these murders? First, there are millions of Pals. Second, you can source plenty of videos of Palestinians celebrating and glorifying violence towards Israelis, Jews and Americans. This is just the latest in a history of celebrated murders. Not hard to find these videos online, including celebrations of the Fogel family slaughter.
My Moslem Arab friends have called the killing of babies the work of animals. However, the next day they were mouthing the lies spread by Abbas that the killer was not Arab. Personally, I am not afraid of the truth. Condemnation by Abbas and propagation of a lie the same day is simply deception.
Ble3 look at the FOX news showing Palestinians giving out sweets on hearing the Fogel family was murdered as they did when Iraq bonbed us and whenever they hear or see Isrelis being killed they dance on their roofs. As to Falk he can go and take a jump into the sea as he is not very important.
How else can you create a better excuse to steal more land while ethnic cleansing Palestinians in the process>
Because the Arabs' population keeps increasing all over. Must be a "coincidence". We should take lessons from our Muslim Arab neighbors on how to ethnically cleanse properly, efficiently, and effectively.
O do you really mean the "end solution"!?
O do you really mean the "end solution"!?
Israel believes in power and arms only so any negptiations and resolutions are a waste of time