Israeli boycott of UNHRC on settlement won’t affect its performance

A Palestinian diplomat said on Saturday that Israel’s decision to boycott the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its decision to investigate Israeli settlement’s alleged violations of Palestinian rights “won ‘t affect the council’s performance.” Ibrahim Khreisha, the permanent Palestinian representative in the UNHRC, based in Switzerland told Xinhua in a telephone interview that despite Israel’s declaration that it will prevent members of the UNHRC inquiry committee to enter the Palestinian territories, it will soon start working. “The committee can make use of the current reports and surveys of the international organization in the UN, which is very active in the Palestinian territories, beside meeting with representatives of the civil Israeli and Palestinian societies and be briefed of their reports,” said Khreisha. He said that the Israeli decision to boycott the UN special committee “is another evidence showing that Israel is refusing to respect the international laws and stop the obvious violations of the Palestinians rights.” On Thursday, Israel announced that it won’t cooperate with the committee of the UNHRC concerning the settlers’ alleged violations of the Palestinians’ rights in the Palestinian territories. The committee was founded by the council in the same day, upon an official Palestinian request. Khreisha expected that the committee will start work soon after resolving some technical problems, basically financing its activities and the selection of its members, adding that “the decision to form the committee is a victory for the Palestinians.” “It is the first time ever that such a committee is formed by the UNHRC, which was an outcome of the reflection of Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories on the people’s social, political, civil, economic and cultural rights,” said Khreisha.