UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine Resigns

By Stephen Lendman

Supporting international law guaranteed human rights for Palestinians is a thankless job.

Its incumbent is subjected to relentless Israeli harassment, vilification and obstruction. Its regime throughout its history has been a collective punishment machine, ruthlessly persecuting an entire population – largely isolated on its own, defenseless against its barbarism, fully supported by Western nations.

In 2014, Indonesian diplomat Makarim Wibisono replaced Richard Falk as UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Palestine. On Monday, his short tenure ended, resigning in frustration over Israel’s preventing him from doing his job. More on this below.

In his book titled “Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope,” Falk called its unresolved liberation “the last major anti-colonial struggle.” Embracing the vital BDS movement, he explained Israel won’t ever allow Palestinian self-determination, intending permanent subjugation under occupation harshness, expelling a long-suffering people from their land for exclusive Jewish development.

Occupation = annexation, ethnic cleansing Israel’s strategy of choice along with wars of aggression at its discretion and relentless persecution – slow-motion genocide by any standard, an entire population targeted for elimination or ruthless exploitation.

Resistance is the internationally recognized right of oppressed people to challenge foreign military occupation by “all means necessary” said Falk – calling Israel a “regime of state terror.”

Wibisono explained his “efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims under the Israeli occupation (were) frustrated every step of the way.”

A ruthless regime went all-out to obstruct his best efforts, preventing him from doing his job – denying him “access to the victims in the Occupied Palestinian Territory…”

In June, he called for lifting Gaza’s illegal blockade, saying its “people deserve help and realization of their human rights, not collective punishment.”

He blasted Israel’s shuttering of the Hebron-based Youth Against Settlements – by lawlessly declaring its location a closed military zone.

Israel’s ongoing reign of terror against millions of Palestinians reveals a regime dedicated to barbarism, tolerating no criticism of its ruthlessness – institutionalized racism, fascism on steroids for Palestinians, treating them the way Hitler persecuted Jews.

Commenting on Wibisono’s resignation, Richard Falk said Israel “blocked him from fulfilling his UN mandate” – calling his resignation a surprise “because he should have known from the outset that he was faced with” either doing his job properly or “gaining Israel’s cooperation.”

No in-between is possible. His dilemma showed “the difficulty confronting anyone charged with truthful reporting on the Palestinian ordeal under occupation…”

He was chosen over more qualified candidates, Falk explained – because he lacked relevant background knowledge, making it easier for Israel to manipulate him.

Falk warned him after his appointment of the impossibility of pleasing both sides – explaining during his tenure as rapporteur, he learned making a difference requires “willing(ness) to put up with the heat,” standing firm against relentless Israeli defamatory attacks, refusing to yield to its viciousness, including baseless anti-Semitism accusations.

Victories aren’t won by surrender or suppressing hard truths. Long-suffering Palestinians deserve committed universal support. Justice demands Israel pay for its high crimes – accountability at long last.

Stephen Lendman can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html. Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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