Francesca Albanese has asserted the right of Palestinians to resist oppression.
This came as the UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory spoke remotely at a news conference for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
She noted because Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful, “it constitutes an aggression against the right of self-determination.”
“The Palestinians – like it or not – have the right to resist the oppression,” she added.
The caveat, she said, is that this resistance has to be done “within the realm and the limits of international law; therefore, civilians cannot be targeted, killed or taken hostage.”
Additionally, the UN rapporteur said that the international community has failed to prevent Israel’s genocide in Gaza and now Israel is threatening to repeat its actions in the occupied West Bank.
“We have failed to honour one of the major obligations imposed on member states by the Genocide Convention, which is to prevent genocide and to punish [it],” she said.
“I see the risk of failing, once again, in the West Bank because the attacks Israel has unleashed [are] not just against Palestinians in Gaza. It is against the Palestinians as a whole. There is a need to … protect the Palestinians from what might be in some weeks or months from now another form of genocide unfolding.”
Francesca Albanese
Separately, George Katrougalos, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of democratic and equitable international order, stressed that Israel be held to the same standards as all countries, and condemned its repeated attacks on critical UN officials or agencies.
“We cannot anymore stand this kind of double standards and hypocrisy,” he told reporters.
“I hope that it is not going to continue… I trust that the progressive and democratic citizens of Israel would not let their country become a pariah like South Africa had become during the times of apartheid.”
George Katrougalos
Meanwhile, Political Analyst Marwan Bishara noted that at the heart of settler attacks across the West Bank is a “religious, nationalist fever”.
“Most of it is irrational,” Bishara said.
His comments come after Israeli settlers attacked a school in the Muarrajat area, northwest of Jericho.
Bishara said that settlers who carry out attacks against Palestinians and their property are increasing in number.
“Especially the young ones … they’re very radical, very extreme. They think of it as a … crusade against the Palestinian people,” Bishara said.
He added that “religious fanatics” in the illegal settlements have been acting with impunity because they are in control of the Israeli government – “not the other way around.”
Hamas Official Calls For More ‘Resistance’ In Face Of Settler Attacks
Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi stated that an uptick in attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, the latest of which was an attack on the al-Ka’abneh Bedouins School in Jericho, calls for collective action and an increase in resistance by Palestinians.
Residents of illegal Israeli settlements are often armed and carry out attacks against Palestinians under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
Mardawi called the violence a “desperate attempt to instill fear in the hearts of Palestinian residents there and to push them out of the land.”
In a statement, he urged Palestinians in the West Bank to unite and confront these “vicious attacks,” adding that resistance is the “only guarantee to get rid of the occupation.”
There has been an increase in the volume and frequency of settler attacks against Palestinians and their personal property since October 7.
At least 704 people have since been killed and more than 5,700 others injured in Israeli raids and settler attacks across the West Bank since Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza began.
READ ALSO: Fuel and Oil Prices Drop Significantly Across Oil Marketing Companies
