عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Israel Occupation Makes Palestinian Territories ‘Open-Air Prison’, Says UN Expert

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
TT
TT

Israel Occupation Makes Palestinian Territories ‘Open-Air Prison’, Says UN Expert

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)

A United Nations expert on Tuesday said Israel had transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an "open-air prison" through widespread detentions of Palestinians, an assertion swiftly dismissed by Israel.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, told reporters in Geneva that Israel had carried out widespread, systematic and arbitrary detention of Palestinians since the 1967 Middle East war.

"There is no other way to define the regime that Israel has imposed on the Palestinians - which is apartheid by default --other than an open-air prison," Albanese said at a briefing for journalists.

"By deeming all Palestinians as a potential security threat, Israel is blurring the line between its own security and the security of its annexation plan ... Palestinians are presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial very often, and brutalized in Israeli custody."

Israel's permanent mission to the UN in Geneva rejected Albanese's findings.

"Israel does not expect any fair, objective or professional treatment from this Special Rapporteur who was chosen due to her partial views against Israel," the mission said in a statement to Reuters. "Her mandate was created with the sole purpose of discriminating against Israel and Israelis".

In a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Albanese found that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians, including children as young as 12, had been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities.

The report said it was based on a six-month investigation and "consultations, testimonies, stakeholders' contributions, and a comprehensive review of primary and public sources."

Albanese, who said she did not visit the occupied Palestinian territories before submitting the report due to "Israel's continued refusal to facilitate her entry", also outlined what she called unlawful detention practices, saying they could amount to international crimes.

Israel's founding in 1948 scattered hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees through the wider region.

In the 1967 Middle East war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, and launched settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Albanese's comments come a week after Israeli forces hit the city of Jenin with drone strikes as part of one of the biggest incursions in the occupied West Bank in 20 years.

Israel said the objective of its operation was to uproot Iranian-backed Palestinian factions behind a surge in gun and bomb attacks, as well as preliminary efforts to make rockets.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

UNRWA Says ‘Growing Concerns’ Annexation behind Israeli West Bank Operation

An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
TT
TT

UNRWA Says ‘Growing Concerns’ Annexation behind Israeli West Bank Operation

An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)

A major offensive in the occupied West Bank which over several weeks has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians and ravaged refugee camps increasingly appears to be part of Israel's "vision of annexation", a UN official told AFP.

Israeli forces carry out regular raids targeting gunmen in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, but the ongoing operation since late January is already the longest in two decades, with dire effects on Palestinians.

"It's an unprecedented situation, both from a humanitarian and wider political perspective," said Roland Friedrich, director of West Bank affairs for UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees.

"We talk about 40,000 people that have been forcibly displaced from their homes" in the northern West Bank, mainly from three refugee camps where the operation had begun, said Friedrich.

"These camps are now largely empty," their residents unable to return and struggling to find shelter elsewhere, he said.

Inside the camps, the level of destruction to "electricity, sewage and water, but also private houses" was "very concerning", Friedrich added.

The Israeli operation, which the military says targets gunmen in the northern West Bank, was launched shortly after a truce took hold in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a separate Palestinian territory.

The operation initially focused on Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, where UNRWA operates, but has since expanded to more areas of the West Bank's north.

Friedrich warned that as the offensive drags on, there are increasing signs -- some backed by official Israeli statements -- that it could morph into permanent military presence in Palestinian cities.

"There are growing concerns that the reality being created on the ground aligns with the vision of annexation of the West Bank," he said.

- 'Political operation' -

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said troops would remain for many months in the evacuated camps to "prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism".

And Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who lives in one of dozens of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, has said that Israel would be "applying sovereignty" over parts of the territory in 2025.

According to Friedrich, "the statements we are hearing indicate that this is a political operation. It is clearly being said that people will not be allowed to return."

Last year the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying that Israel's prolonged presence in the West Bank was unlawful.

Away from home, the displaced Palestinian residents also grapple with a worsening financial burden.

"There is an increasing demand now, especially in Jenin, for public shelter, because people can't pay these amounts for rent anymore," said Friedrich.

"Everyone wants to go back to the camps."

The UN official provided examples he said pointed to plans for long-term Israeli presence inside Palestinian cities, which should be under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"In Tulkarem you have more and more reports about the army just walking around... asking shop owners to keep the shops open, going out and issuing traffic tickets to cars, so almost as if there is no Palestinian Authority," said Friedrich.

"It is very worrying, including for the future of the PA as such and the investments made by the international community into building Palestinian institutions."

The Ramallah-based PA was created in the 1990s as a temporary government that would pave the way to a future sovereign state.

- 'Radicalization' -

UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency for Palestinians, but a recent law bars the agency from working with the Israeli authorities, hindering its badly needed operations.

"It's much more complicated for us now because we can't speak directly to the military anymore," said Friedrich.

"But at the same time, we continue to do our work," he said, assessing needs and coordinating "the actual emergency response on the ground".

Israeli lawmakers had passed the legislation against UNRWA's work over accusations that it had provided cover for Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip -- claims the UN and many donor governments dispute.

The prolonged Israeli operation could have long-term consequences for residents, particularly children traumatized by the experience of displacement, Friedrich warned.

"If people can't go back to the camp and we can't reopen the schools... clearly, that will lead to more radicalization going forward."

He said the situation could compound a legitimacy crisis for the PA, often criticized by armed Palestinian factions for coordinating security matters with Israel.

Displaced Palestinians "feel that they are kicked out of their homes and that nobody is supporting them", said Friedrich.

A "stronger international response" was needed, he added, "both to provide humanitarian aid on the ground, and secondly, to ensure that the situation in the West Bank doesn't spin out of control".