Settlements amount to a war crime
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office says in a report published Friday that the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem amount to a war crime.
The report covers the one-year period from Nov. 1, 2022, to Oct. 31, 2023, when it says roughly 24,300 housing units in existing settlements in the West Bank were “advanced” — the highest number in a year since monitoring began in 2017. It deplored an increase in the building of new settlement homes in recent months.
“The West Bank is already in crisis. Yet, settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state,” U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said. He presented the report to the Human Rights Council on Friday.
Reports this week that Israel plans to build nearly 3,500 settler homes in three areas “fly in the face of international law,” he said.
Mark Smith resigns over UK’s arms sales to Israel
A British Foreign Office official has resigned in protest at the continued arms sales to Israel by the UK.
Mark Smith, a counterterrorism official based in the British embassy in Dublin, said he can no longer “in good conscience continue to work with a government which is complicit in war crimes”. In the statement, issued through media organisation Neon, Mr Smith said: “To export arms to any nation, the UK must be satisfied that the recipient nation has in place robust procedures to avoid civilian casualties and to minimise harm to civilian life. It is impossible to argue that Israel is doing that.” He added: “Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza in October 2023, I have had grave concerns about the conduct of the war and the UK’s compliance not only with international law but with the UK’s own domestic arms sales legislation. I am also opposed to the UK’s tacit support of Israel’s occupation of Palestine”.
