(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory, has said in a 22-page statement that Palestinian rights are being violated by Israel's prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory and ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem. "Through prolonged occupation, with practices and policies which appear to constitute apartheid and segregation, ongoing expansion of settlements, and continual construction of the wall arguably amounting to de facto annexation of parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, the denial by Israel of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people is evident,", said Falk. "In East Jerusalem, the revocation of residency permits and forced evictions of Palestinian families, as well as targeted demolition of Palestinian homes, amount to a gradual and bureaucratic process of ethnic cleansing,'' he said , according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Falk will present his report next month to the UN Human Rights Council as its special rapporteur on the Palestinian territory, demands that the world court examine whether Israel is guilty of the international crimes of apartheid and ethnic cleansing and urges the UN to investigate corporations that profit from unlawful Israeli activities. "Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip appear to amount to apartheid due to its systematic oppression of the Palestinian people and de facto expropriation of their land", added Falk in the final report. Falk's report further recommends that UN member states should consider imposing a ban on imports of produce from Israeli settlements.
Falk is a former advisory board member of the World Federalist Institute and the American Movement for World Government. Yes, it's the same Richard Falk.