The International Commission (HASHD): Earth Day Anniversary; Genuine Occasion to Restore National Unity in the Face of Israeli Settlement Policies

Number :/2023
Date: March 29, 2023
Native language: Arabic

press Release

The International Commission (HASHD): Earth Day Anniversary; Genuine Occasion to Restore National Unity in the Face of Israeli Settlement Policies

Tomorrow will be Thursday, March 30, 2023, the 47th anniversary of On the occasion of the immortal Earth Day, on which Palestinians annually commemorate the events of 1976, when Palestinian masses from the Galilee to the Negev protested against Israeli policies, actions, and resolutions regarding the confiscation of thousands of dunums of privately owned or rumored land for Palestinians, and in light of the excessive use of force by the Israeli military and police, six citizens were martyred and dozens were injured.

This year’s anniversary of Earth Day marks the continuation and determination of the occupation government, the occupying forces, and the settlers to carry out the crimes of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people and their rights. These crimes are being carried out in a thoughtful manner, based on an approach reinforced by racism, extremism, murder, theft of land from the Palestinian human person, and denial of their right to political self-determination. According to statistics, the Israeli occupation government recently announced the legitimacy of returning to four settlements vacated in 2005.

To allow settlers to return, in addition to establishing nine new outposts in the occupied West Bank territory, namely: “Abigail”, “Beit Hogla”, “Hefat Har ‘el”, “Hefat Arnon”, “Yehuda Mutabi”, “Hashalom shelters”, “Assahil”, “Sadie Bouaz” and “Shahriyet”. According to the occupation government, it has begun a large-scale process to prepare for the continuation of the actions of other indiscriminate (77) settlement outposts. A settlement outpost on Palestinian citizens’ land, plans for the construction of tens of thousands of settlement units, in addition to the seizure of 15,200 dunums of Jerusalem land, while the number of demolitions and bulldozers reaching the Jerusalem Governorate is 306, and this threatens demolition orders for 22389 houses in Jerusalem, meaning that 124 thousand Jerusalemites are threatened with forced displacement.

During 2022, Israeli occupation forces seized 113,435 dunums of Palestinian land for settlement projects, approved 114 settlement schemes, and established 2,220 settlement units; they demolished 950 Palestinian homes and new installations; demolition orders were issued for 2290 dwellings and other facilities; and about 18,900 trees, mostly olive trees, were uprooted and washed away; In addition, the occupying forces continued their tight blockade of the Gaza Strip for the sixteenth consecutive year and continued their systematic violations of various aspects of life, which have led to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

These and other crimes are deliberately practiced based on a methodology reinforced by racism, extremism, organized state terrorism, murders, and theft of land from the Palestinian people. Israel’s occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly those of the West Bank and Jerusalem, has perpetuated colonial settlement and a policy of land appropriation and annexation. Deliberately demolishing houses in the city of Jerusalem, preventing the construction of and erecting the wall, establishing and expanding the construction of settlements and outposts, separating cities and villages in the West Bank from each other, The persistence of policies of racial discrimination against Palestinian citizens in the 48 areas and the confiscation of land, the enactment of racist legislation aimed at persecuting and legitimizing Arab citizens’ theft and confiscation of land, the formation of armed militias from settlers, especially in the Negev, and the continuation of the blockade of the Gaza Strip have clearly benefited from the state of international silence and double standards on the one hand and the other.

The International Commission to Support the Palestinian Rights (HASHD), which joins our Palestinian people in commemorating Earth Day, condemning the continued Israeli war occupation in Palestine, and reiterating its strong condemnation of the continuing and escalating Israeli crimes based on the annexation and seizure of occupied territories and the accompanying forced population transfer; Reiterating the international community’s reminder of the tragedy and suffering experienced by the Palestinian people since 1948 as a result of the crimes of Israeli occupation, which caused Palestinians to live in a state of asylum, fragmentation, and permanent violation of human rights,

Reaffirming the Palestinians’ right to confront and resist the Israeli occupation and its denial of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, the right to return of Palestine refugees, and the end of its occupation of Palestinian territory, and emphasizing that the grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people over the past years constitute war crimes against humanity that are not statutory, we demand the following:

1.    The International Commission (HASHD): expresses its grave concern at Israel’s executive, judicial, and legislative policies and practices, in particular those relating to the seizure of land in Jerusalem, the restoration of holy sites, and the continued establishment and expansion of settlements, to alter the demographic and geographical character of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
2.    The International Commission (HASHD): Strongly condemns the continued silence and complicity of the international community and the continued immunity and impunity enjoyed by Israeli leaders and soldiers, which contribute to the continued and worsening suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of their denial of their right to political and economic self-determination.
3.    The International Commission (HASHD) : stresses that this is the occasion and the current circumstances; it is a unique opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the unity of the Palestinian people in various places of Palestinian existence, so as to ensure that all institutions of the political system are rebuilt to play their role in protecting the rights of the Palestinian people.
4.    The International Commission (HASHD): Calls upon the international community to refrain from sacrificing the principles of international law and action and to work hard to implement United Nations resolutions on the question of Palestine as a gateway to halt the crimes of colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing, racial discrimination, and ending Israel’s war occupation of the Palestinian territories.
5.    The International Commission (HASHD): Calls upon the peoples of the world to strengthen their solidarity with the Palestinian people in order to enable them to exercise their legitimate rights in accordance with international law and the humanitarian objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other relevant international instruments and conventions.