Palestine UN mission: compel Israel to stop detentions

The Palestine Observer Mission at the United Nations Wednesday called for measures to compel Israel to stop what it described as illegal administrative detention of Palestinians under its occupation. In a letter the mission sent to various UN bodies, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, it called on “the international community, including the Security Council, the General Assembly and other relevant United Nations bodies, to act urgently to compel Israel, the occupying Power, to cease its illegal practice of administrative detention, to cease its human rights violations and affronts to the human dignity of the Palestinians held in its prisons and detention centers, and to act forthwith to release all Palestinians it is unlawfully incarcerating.” It said it was particularly concerned for the lives of six administrative detainees who have been on hunger strike for periods exceeding two months. “This crisis requires immediate action by the international community in line with obligations under international law, including the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,” said the letter. The mission held Israel “fully responsible for the well-being, safety and lives of the thousands of Palestinians in its captivity, including the 2000 who are on hunger strike.” It said that “Israel cannot be allowed to remain immune from the provisions of international law governing foreign occupation,” stressing that “the international community is duty-bound to ensure that the occupying Power complies with all its legal obligations regarding its treatment of all Palestinian prisoners and detainees it is holding, including children.”