UN rights chief calls deepening Israeli control over Palestinian lands violation of self-determination

The UN human rights chief warned Wednesday that recent Israeli decisions to expand land expropriation in the occupied West Bank violate Palestinians' right to self-determination and risk deepening annexation.

Volker Turk said decisions approved by the Israeli security cabinet are "the latest in a series of measures to annex Palestinian lands in flagrant breach of the right to self-determination."

"This is yet another step by the Israeli authorities towards rendering a viable Palestinian state impossible, in violation of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination," he said in a statement.

Turk warned that if implemented, the measures would "accelerate the dispossession of Palestinians and their forcible transfer, and lead to the creation of more illegal Israeli settlements," while depriving Palestinians of natural resources and restricting other rights.

According to the rights office, a Feb. 8 package would expand Israeli civilian authority in areas A and B of the West Bank, where some powers fall under the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, and would allow Israeli authorities and individuals to acquire land.

"This will further cement Israel's control and integration of the occupied West Bank into Israel, consolidating unlawful annexation," said Turk.

The decisions also strip the Palestinian Authority of planning and building powers in parts of Hebron, including the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs, and establish Israeli administrative control over Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, according to the statement.

"These decisions must be overturned," he said. "The settlements must be evacuated. The occupation must end. Now."