ICSPR: Rights are not negotiable or subject to bargaining under any justification.

Ref: 151/2021

Date: 11 Dec 2021

Press release,

On the occasion of Human Rights Day

ICSPR: Rights are not negotiable or subject to bargaining under any justification.

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) salutes human rights activists, defenders, free people around the world, and advocates of humanity on the occasion of Human Rights Day, which matches the 10th of December, where the international community dedicated this day to commemorate Human Rights Day since the issuance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, this comes in order to highlight the progress made in the realization and promotion of respect for human rights, as well as the solidarity of peoples with the victims of violations, by fulfilling the moral duties entrusted to the international community towards the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which contributes to preventing human beings from being subjected to further violations.

This occasion witnessed the escalation of the Israeli violations practiced before all countries of the world, where the Palestinians face various forms of violations that contradict and violate the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as the Israeli occupation violates the right of the Palestinian human being to political and economic self-determination, the right to life, liberty and personal safety, freedom of movement, and random and daily arrest campaigns.

In addition to escalating settlement expansion and construction, the practice of forced displacement and the Judaization of the city of Jerusalem, and the control of Palestinian natural resources in light of the continued systematic and organized Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine, causing violating the civil, political, economic and social rights of the Palestinian people around the clock, and the practice of an unprecedented escalation of its crimes against Palestinian civilians, the most recent of which were the crimes committed during the latest Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip; In addition to the continued imposition of the siege and the policy of closure on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli violations were accompanied by the insistence of the Palestinian leadership to deprive the Palestinian people of exercising their right to choose their representatives through holding general elections and imposing collective punishments against the residents of the Gaza Strip, which began about 4 years ago by deducting more than 60% of the employees’ salaries, and cutting the salaries of thousands of others, and forcibly referring hundreds of employees to early retirement or financial retirement, delaying the payment of financial allocations to poor families, which led to an exacerbation of the tragic conditions of the residents of Gaza. Insisting to deny justice, refraining from executing judicial rulings, practicing arbitrary arrests, preventing peaceful gatherings, violating freedom of opinion and expression, and preventing the issuance of passports to some citizens on the background of political affiliation. The rise in indicators of security chaos that threatens civil and social peace, and the decline in economic and humanitarian conditions, the rise in poverty and unemployment, and the absence of serious national policies to address all national and humanitarian challenges, which makes the year 2021 the worst in terms of respect for human rights.

ICSPR considers that Human Rights Day constitutes a renewed opportunity to stand on the suffering of the Palestinians, and to draw the world’s attention to the ongoing and exacerbated tragedy as a result of the continued deprivation of their basic rights, and reminds the international community of the fact that there is an urgent need to protect Palestinian civilians and triumph for the victims of violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. ICSPR reminds all official bodies in Palestine of the need to work hard to respect human rights in Palestine, by agreeing on a comprehensive national program and strategy to rebuild the institutions of the political system. Accordingly:

• ICSPR calls on the international community, in particular, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to intervene in order to compel the Israeli occupation to fulfill the obligations imposed on it by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, although not mandatory, constitutes the moral force of the idea of ​​human rights.
• ICSPR affirms that the international community is more than ever required to assume its legal and moral responsibilities individually and collectively, and to take practical measures that lead to respecting and ensuring respect for the principles and provisions of international law, justice, custom and action to end the occupation, and to realize the inalienable legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the adoption of a binding international resolution that ends the occupation and provides international protection for the Palestinian people.
• ICSPR calls on the United Nations to work seriously for an international conference aimed at considering international mechanisms based on the implementation of the resolutions of international legitimacy that are fair to the Palestinian people, and not to sacrifice the rights of the Palestinian people and make them dependent on the path of negotiations.
• ICSPR calls on the Palestinian presidency and government to immediately and unconditionally abolish all decisions that carry collective sanctions against the Gaza Strip, and hold them responsible for the inhumane consequences of these sanctions, and to neutralize the rights of employees and citizens from any political considerations.
• ICSPR calls on duty bearers and the Palestinian leadership to work on restoring unity in a way that enables building all the institutions of the political system on the basis of partnership, rule of law, separation of powers, and strengthening the independence of the judiciary through holding presidential, legislative, National Council, local and union elections in a way that enhances respect for rights and freedoms.

ICSPR