6 January 2017
MAP's Acting Policy and Campaigns Manager, Bob Jones, writes on the recent UN Security Council Resolution on the issue of Israeli Settlements:
“Reaffirming its relevant resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), and 1850 (2008)”
The first few lines of Resolution 2334 (2016), passed by the United Nations Security Council at the very end of last year demonstrate a harrowing 50 years for Palestinians. 50 years under military occupation, the ever-tightening noose of settlement construction, restricted access to healthcare and services and a stagnated peace process.
The fanfare that greeted this final action of 2016 by the Security Council is a testament to the global erosion of international law in recent years, and specifically in the context of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. In fact, resolution 2334 reiterates consensus positions which have been consistently held by the international community since the Geneva Conventions of 1949; that the transfer of populations into or out of occupied territory constitutes a war crime and that violence against civilians, including acts of terror, incitement and destruction of property should always be condemned.
The reaffirmation in the resolution, that the UN Security Council “will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations” and that settlements have “no legal validity” and are a “flagrant violation of international law”, underlines that the lands of Palestinians should not be unilaterally taken from them by force by an occupying power. However, without the political will to enforce these principles, the resolution will provide no instant respite for Palestinians or guarantee of their rights.
But what does the resolution mean for the health and dignity of Palestinians in 2017?
Every day, Palestinians living in areas surrounded by settlements face the coercive environment and oppressive administration that is required to keep settlements in place, including daily, or rather nightly, raids of people’s homes, harassment of families or their children on the way to school, and obstructions to medical treatment by the delay or denial of ambulances passing through checkpoints. All of these factors and more have a cumulative impact on the short and longer-term access of Palestinians to healthcare and dignity.
Yet another UN resolution denouncing the daily reality for Palestinians does not by itself improve those circumstances, however it does demonstrate support to the many organisations, including MAP, who are working every day to provide services and support to Palestinians who are trying to live full and healthy lives under occupation.
Reaffirming that the settlement policy and the surrounding policies of coercion, intimidation and restricted movement are in violation of these shared international principles and laws reminds us that Palestinians are not alone in demanding basic rights and protections. Dignity and healthcare are not privileges to be granted by a benevolent occupying military, they are intrinsic rights that unite us, and remind us that when one of us is denied these basic rights, we all have an obligation to speak out.