Michael Lynk, an independent UN human rights analyst, has convicted the “unlawful and heartless” actions of Israeli authorities in recurrently demolishing homes belonging to the Palestinian Bedouin community of Humsa Al-Baqai’a, in the occupied West Bank.
The UN’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Palestine, warned Israel to “immediately halt its property demolitions” there, return to full acquiescence with international humanitarian and human rights obligations, and “provide protection for, rather than displacement of, the protected population.”
He admonished the international community “to take meaningful accountability measures to ensure that Israel complies with its legal obligations.”
Observing that “criticism without consequences has rarely reversed illegal Israeli conduct in the past,” he added that “accountability has to rise to the top of the international community’s agenda.
Only by imposing an escalating cost on Israel’s occupation will there be the prospect that these injustices will end.”
Special analysts are autonomous experts who perform in individual capacities, and on a voluntary basis, at the UN’s Human Rights Council. They are not members of the UN staff and are not paid for their work.
Israeli forces destroyed properties in the Palestinian Bedouin community of Humsa Al-Baqai’a in the Jordan Valley on July 7. The destroyed buildings included makeshift homes and farming facilities provided by the international community, including the EU, which has helped residents reconstruct after previous demolitions.
