BREAKING: PAUL REICHLER SPEAK ABOUT ISRAEL’S ILLEGAL OCCUPATION
“I will show that based on the applicable and the well established and undisputed facts Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian territory is manifestly and gravely unlawful and that international law requires that it’d be brought to an end completely and unconditionally.”
“A permanent occupation is a legal oxymoron,” he tells the court.
“What makes Israel’s occupation unlawful is precisely its permanent character,” he continues, listing the four demonstrating factors:
Israel’s de jure and de facto annexation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank
Israel’s claims of sovereignty over these areas, which it refers to by their biblical names, Judea and Samaria, and considers integral parts of the State of Israel.
Israel’s establishment of hundreds of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, with over 700,000 Israeli settlers, who have been promised by successive Israeli governments that they will never be uprooted.
The multitude of official statements and documents that openly declare Israel’s intention to incorporate all the occupied territory east of the Green Line into the state of Israel as a permanent part of a single Jewish State extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
“Armed groups of settlers, supported by Israel’s occupation forces and encouraged by government ministers, have violently expelled thousands of peaceful Palestinian civilians from their ancestral villages and lands”.
“The measures taken by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory lead to fundamental changes, particularly demographic changes, that can have a permanent character”
*Reichler addresses how the US shields Israel from legal accountability*
“The only state besides Fiji to defend Israel is the US”.
“This is not surprising; whatever offences against international law Israel commits, the US comes forward to shield it from accountability”.
“Here the US attempts to defend Israel not by arguing that the occupation is lawful but that it is neither lawful nor unlawful”.
“To reach this conclusion, the US argues that belligerent occupation is governed exclusively by international humanitarian law and not by the UN charter or general international law”.
“Its undisguised objective is the permanent acquisition of this territory and the exercise of sovereignty over it in defiance of the prohibition of acquisition of territory by force,”
“The evidence is not only indisputable, it is the of the highest probative value,” Reichler says, citing investigative reports of authoritative UN agencts, including by the secretary-general, resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as legislative and representative acts by the Israeli government and public statements by the most senior government officials “admitting that Israel’s objective is sovereignty over all the territory east of the Green Line and its incorporation into a single Jewish state from the river to the sea”.
“In this case, there is no reason not to take them at their word because their deeds have been entirely consistent.”
“For Israel, as its successive governments have made clear, there is no Palestine – it simply does not exist.”
“Mr President, the proverbial ball is now in your court.
“The General Assembly has asked you the critical questions, it is now your responsibility to answer them, silence is not an option.
“As the immortal Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote, in silence we become accomplices, but, he assured us, when we speak every word has the power to change the world.
“Mr President, members of the court, your words have such power.
“By upholding international law, which is all the state of Palestine asked you to do, your powerful words will change the world”.
“I will show that based on the applicable and the well established and undisputed facts Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian territory is manifestly and gravely unlawful and that international law requires that it’d be brought to an end completely and unconditionally.”
“A permanent occupation is a legal oxymoron,” he tells the court.
“What makes Israel’s occupation unlawful is precisely its permanent character,” he continues, listing the four demonstrating factors:
Israel’s de jure and de facto annexation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank
Israel’s claims of sovereignty over these areas, which it refers to by their biblical names, Judea and Samaria, and considers integral parts of the State of Israel.
Israel’s establishment of hundreds of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, with over 700,000 Israeli settlers, who have been promised by successive Israeli governments that they will never be uprooted.
The multitude of official statements and documents that openly declare Israel’s intention to incorporate all the occupied territory east of the Green Line into the state of Israel as a permanent part of a single Jewish State extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
“Armed groups of settlers, supported by Israel’s occupation forces and encouraged by government ministers, have violently expelled thousands of peaceful Palestinian civilians from their ancestral villages and lands”.
“The measures taken by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory lead to fundamental changes, particularly demographic changes, that can have a permanent character”
*Reichler addresses how the US shields Israel from legal accountability*
“The only state besides Fiji to defend Israel is the US”.
“This is not surprising; whatever offences against international law Israel commits, the US comes forward to shield it from accountability”.
“Here the US attempts to defend Israel not by arguing that the occupation is lawful but that it is neither lawful nor unlawful”.
“To reach this conclusion, the US argues that belligerent occupation is governed exclusively by international humanitarian law and not by the UN charter or general international law”.
“Its undisguised objective is the permanent acquisition of this territory and the exercise of sovereignty over it in defiance of the prohibition of acquisition of territory by force,”
“The evidence is not only indisputable, it is the of the highest probative value,” Reichler says, citing investigative reports of authoritative UN agencts, including by the secretary-general, resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as legislative and representative acts by the Israeli government and public statements by the most senior government officials “admitting that Israel’s objective is sovereignty over all the territory east of the Green Line and its incorporation into a single Jewish state from the river to the sea”.
“In this case, there is no reason not to take them at their word because their deeds have been entirely consistent.”
“For Israel, as its successive governments have made clear, there is no Palestine – it simply does not exist.”
“Mr President, the proverbial ball is now in your court.
“The General Assembly has asked you the critical questions, it is now your responsibility to answer them, silence is not an option.
“As the immortal Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote, in silence we become accomplices, but, he assured us, when we speak every word has the power to change the world.
“Mr President, members of the court, your words have such power.
“By upholding international law, which is all the state of Palestine asked you to do, your powerful words will change the world”.
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