Statement of the Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions
Countries are required to implement their obligations in facing the Israeli occupation’s violations of international law
The Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions affirms its principle, unwavering position in support if the legitimate rights of the Arab Palestinian people. The foremost of these rights is their right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent and fully sovereign state along the borders of June 4th 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to the relevant United Nations resolutions. The Network believes that the inalienable Palestinian rights are not subject to the policies of states, their relations and bilateral agreements governed by mutual interests. In this context, the network rejects the normalization of relations of some Arab countries with the occupation state at the expense of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The network stresses at the same time the need for all states, especially the Arab countries, to take punitive measures against the grave breaches of international law that Israel commits in the occupied Arab territories, and that the support of the Palestinian people and their cause is through pressuring the occupying state to accept and implement the international legitimacy decisions. The network also renews its rejection of Israeli threats and plans to annex parts of the 1967-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the settlements and lands in their vicinity, the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area, as well as imposing the Israeli law on them. This is a new crime against the Palestinian people and a serious violation of the rules of international law, which affirmed the inadmissibility of the occupying forces annexing territories occupied by force, in any way. These rules also considered such measures, by unilaterally taken these forces, under any considerations, as null and have no legal effect pursuant to Article (43) of the Fourth Hague Regulations of 1907. Therefore, the Israeli occupation cannot have any effects on the Palestinians' right to sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories. The Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions affirms the use of all its capabilities at the regional and international levels in support of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and support for the steps and measures taken by the State of Palestine to confront the plans of the occupying power. The Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions calls on national human rights institutions and their regional and international networks to exert effective efforts in lobbying the governments and parliaments of their countries to keep the rights of the Palestinian Arab people on their list of priorities. The network also calls for these governments and parliaments not to be negatively affected by political relations or normalization relations, as well as to respect international decisions and agreements on the Palestinian issue. . The Network calls on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take a clear and explicit stance that emphasizes the originality of Palestinian rights and their non-retrogression. The network also calls for keeping these rights as the compass of Arab, Islamic and international action, as it is a cause of national liberation and emancipation from occupation based on international law, which must supersede any bilateral relations or any other relations governed by economic, political or other interests.
The End
• This statement is supported by all the national institutions that are members of the Arab Network, except with reservation of one member, the National Institution for Human Rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Date 11/24/2020
