U.N. Rights Chief Hits Israel Over Settlements
By Robert Evans
GENEVA Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:03pm EDT
(Reuters) - The building of Israeli settlements and attacks by settlers on Palestinians are a major source of much abuse of rights in the occupied territories, the United Nations' top human rights official said on Monday.
Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay also expressed concern at a recent surge in violence in and around the Gaza Strip by both local groups and Israeli forces.
"Israeli settlement-related activities and settler violence are at the core of many of the violations of human rights in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem," she told the U.N.'s 47-nation Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The settlements not only had a significant impact on the right to Palestinian self-determination, but activities around them "also violate the entire spectrum of Palestinians' social, cultural, civil and political rights," she said.
more...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/24/us-israel-pillay-idUSBREA2N1JZ20140324?feedType=RSS