UN human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes. All settlement activity in occupied territory must cease “without preconditions” and Israel “must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers”, said the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Israel, it said, was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the transfer of civilian populations to occupied territory.

The settlements were “leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” it said. The UNHRC report broadly restated international consensus on the illegality of Israeli settlements. But its conclusions are likely to bolster the Palestinians following their admission last November to the UN as a non-member state, which potentially gives them recourse to the International Criminal Court.

Palestinian children play football with at the background the Israeli settlement of Ramot (near Jerusalem), in the West bank village of Beit Iksa, January 26, 2013. The same day, Israeli forces demolished for the second time what was called by activists the protest village of Bab Al Karamah, erected by villagers to protest the confiscation of lands for settlement expansion. Beit Iksa, is surrounded by settlements and is set to be entirely encircled by Israel’s Separation wall, cutting it off from Jerusalem. When completed, the Wall will annex 96 percent of Beit Iksa’s land (Photo: Activestills)

three-member UN panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians, and urged member states to ensure companies respected human rights. “Israel must cease settlement activities and provide adequate, prompt and effective remedy to the victims of violations of human rights,” Christine Chanet, a French judge who led the UN inquiry, told a news conference. The settlements contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory and could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations report said. “To transfer its own population into an occupied territory is prohibited because it is an obstacle to the exercise of the right to self-determination,” Chanet said.

In December, the PLO accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit what it said were further war crimes by expanding settlements after Palestine won de facto UN recognition of statehood, and said Israel must be held accountable.

The independent UN investigators interviewed more than 50 people who came to Jordan in November to testify about confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods including olive trees, and violence by Jewish settlers, according to the report. “The mission believes that the motivation behind this violence and the intimidation against the Palestinians as well as their properties is to drive the local populations away from their lands and allow the settlements to expand,” it said.

About 250 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold an estimated 520,000 settlers, according to the UN report. The settlements impede Palestinian access to water and farm lands.

The settlements were “leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” it said.

Chanet said: “To maintain such a system of segregation you need strict police and army control. It means a lot of checkpoints, violation of freedom of movement, no access to natural resources, demolition of houses and sometimes even destroying the trees.”

After the General Assembly upgraded the Palestinians status at the world body, Israel said it would build 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — areas Palestinians wanted for a future state, along with the Gaza Strip.

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                The full report (37 pages, English: