UN human rights body to probe Israel's settlement activities in West Bank

Human Rights Council votes to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate the effects of Israel's settlements on Palestinian rights.
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz, March 22,2012.

The United Nations' Human Rights Council voted on Thursday to appoint a panel charged with evaluating the effects of Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian human rights in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
According to the text of the decision, the UN will "dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."
The committee's mandate will be to submit a report on the topic to the council. The decision also called on Israel "not to obstruct the process of investigation and to cooperate fully with the mission."
Thirty-six states voted in favor of the decision, while ten states abstained, including the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Costa Rica, Italy and Spain. The United States was the only country to vote against it.
Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Aharon Leshno-Yaar criticized the decision. "Despite the fact that this is my fourth year in Geneva, I am still stunned by the hypocrisy of the Human Rights Council," he said in a speech.
"This council itself is adding fuel to the fire and fanning the flames which it should be trying to put out. Today will not be remembered as a great day for this council," he added.
Palestinian ambassador to the UN Ibrahim Khraishisaid Israel's occupation should be condemned as a violation of human rights.
"We don't want to isolate Israel, but when we see that Israel hasn't stopped taking over our lands, we must act. If this situation continues, how will we be able to apply a two-state solution? The occupying power is violating international law… one day there will even be limits on the air that we breathe," he added.
U.S. ambassador to the UN in Geneva said that the decision harmed efforts to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and would not help protect the human rights of Israelis and Palestinians. "We don't accept the legitimacy of construction in the settlements, but we are disturbed by this one-sided and biased decision," she said.
"Anyone who supports the creation of an independent Palestinian state must support efforts to renew negotiations and refrain from taking steps that harm this effort… This won't promote peace, it will only push the sides further away from one another," the ambassador added.
Syria's ambassador accused Israel of accelerating settlement construction, which he deemed a violation of the Geneva Conventions and an "act of piracy."
The decision was one of five decisions approved by the council on Thursday which were critical of Israel. Others dealt with Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights, the Palestinian's right to self-determination, the state of human rights in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the implementation of the Goldstone report's recommendations following Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009.