Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
May 03, 2010

Two orders by the Israeli military relating to movement in the occupied Palestinian territory may breach the fourth Geneva Convention and violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a U.N. human rights expert said on April 19. “The orders appear to enable Israel to detain, prosecute, imprison and/or deport any and all persons present in the West Bank,” said Richard Falk, U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory. Falk said his concern was based on Israel’s new definition of the term infiltrator. The term is defined as “a person who entered the Area unlawfully following the effective date, or a person who is present in the Area and does not lawfully hold a permit.” “Even if this open-ended definition is not used to imprison or deport vast numbers of people, it causes unacceptable distress,” Falk said, charging that “a wide range of violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law could be linked to actions carried out by the Government of Israel under these orders.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced.
President Donald Trump ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half mast in honor of Pope Francis. Mr. Trump, one of many U.S. political leaders remembering the late pope, called Francis “a good man.”
In his brief final testament, Pope Francis asked to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major and said he had offered his suffering for peace in the world.
Pope Francis died April 21 after suffering a stroke and heart attack, said the director of Vatican City State’s department of health services. The pope had also gone into a coma.