Today, Friday, a United Nations human rights investigator said that Israeli settlements in the West Bank “amount to the level of a war crime,” calling on countries to make clear to “Israel” that its “occupation is illegal and cannot continue without a price.”
Michael Lynk, the United Nations rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, was addressing a session of the Human Rights Council of the International Organization in Geneva, according to "Reuters". "My conclusion is that the Israeli settlements amount to a war crime," Lynk said. He added, "I tell you that this outcome obligates the international community... to make clear to Israel that its illegal occupation and defiance of international law and international opinion cannot continue without a price." Earlier on Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep concern about the demolitions carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities on Palestinian properties in the northern Jordan Valley . "Such actions are contrary to international law and could undermine the chances of establishing a viable and geographically contiguous Palestinian state," Guterres said, in a statement read out by UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Guterres renewed his call for the occupation authorities to stop the demolitions and the seizure of Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate that there are about 650,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, who live in 164 settlements and 116 outposts.
