If you don't like what they say simply condemn and ignore them. Israel has perfected the routine. Needless to say it fails, miserably, in addressing the issue at hand. This piece "Israel won't co-operate with UN mission on settlements" from The Age newspaper explains.
"Israel has described as ''hypocritical'' a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into the impact of its settlement construction on the human rights of Palestinians.
About 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Palestinians say the continued expansion of settlements, considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, denies them a viable state, making a ''two-state solution'' all but impossible to achieve. Israel says the status of settlements should be decided in peace negotiations.
The 47-member council decided late on Thursday to: ''dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission … 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.''
It called on Israel to co-operate fully with the mission and not obstruct the process - a request Israel has already said it will deny. A government official quoted in The Jerusalem Post said Israel ''would not co-operate with a kangaroo court''.
Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the UN body as ''detached from reality'', saying it was a ''hypocritical council with an automatic majority against Israel''.
But a Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee member, Hanan Ashrawi, welcomed the move, saying: ''Israel cannot continue to violate flagrantly and wilfully its obligations under international and humanitarian law without consequence.''
In most areas in which settlements are constructed, Palestinians are prohibited from building new homes or structures or renovating existing buildings, and many are prevented from using roads and accessing electricity, water and other utilities. They are subjected to hundreds of checkpoints, forcing them to abandon the most direct route to their homes and travel long distances.
The planning restrictions forced Palestinians to build without building permits and live under the constant threat of eviction and demolition, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its February report.
In the first two months of 2012, the Israeli authorities demolished 120 Palestinian-owned structures, including 36 homes. This displaced 229 people - about 60 per cent of these were children - and adversely affected 450 others, it found.
Meanwhile, violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers continued to be reported throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, OCHA said. ''Attacks by settlers against Palestinians and their property take various forms, including attacks with live ammunition and baseball bats, the cutting of trees, stone throwing and the vandalising and torching of mosques, in addition to other various types of assault.''
Last year, almost 10,000 trees, mainly olive trees, were damaged or uprooted by Israeli settlers, severely affecting the livelihood of hundreds of Palestinian families, OCHA found.
In two reports to Brussels from EU heads of mission, officials found settler violence against Palestinians had more than tripled in three years to total hundreds of incidents, The Guardian reported.
The starting date for the international UN fact-finding mission is yet to be confirmed."
"Israel has described as ''hypocritical'' a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into the impact of its settlement construction on the human rights of Palestinians.
About 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Palestinians say the continued expansion of settlements, considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, denies them a viable state, making a ''two-state solution'' all but impossible to achieve. Israel says the status of settlements should be decided in peace negotiations.
The 47-member council decided late on Thursday to: ''dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission … 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.''
It called on Israel to co-operate fully with the mission and not obstruct the process - a request Israel has already said it will deny. A government official quoted in The Jerusalem Post said Israel ''would not co-operate with a kangaroo court''.
Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the UN body as ''detached from reality'', saying it was a ''hypocritical council with an automatic majority against Israel''.
But a Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee member, Hanan Ashrawi, welcomed the move, saying: ''Israel cannot continue to violate flagrantly and wilfully its obligations under international and humanitarian law without consequence.''
In most areas in which settlements are constructed, Palestinians are prohibited from building new homes or structures or renovating existing buildings, and many are prevented from using roads and accessing electricity, water and other utilities. They are subjected to hundreds of checkpoints, forcing them to abandon the most direct route to their homes and travel long distances.
The planning restrictions forced Palestinians to build without building permits and live under the constant threat of eviction and demolition, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its February report.
In the first two months of 2012, the Israeli authorities demolished 120 Palestinian-owned structures, including 36 homes. This displaced 229 people - about 60 per cent of these were children - and adversely affected 450 others, it found.
Meanwhile, violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers continued to be reported throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, OCHA said. ''Attacks by settlers against Palestinians and their property take various forms, including attacks with live ammunition and baseball bats, the cutting of trees, stone throwing and the vandalising and torching of mosques, in addition to other various types of assault.''
Last year, almost 10,000 trees, mainly olive trees, were damaged or uprooted by Israeli settlers, severely affecting the livelihood of hundreds of Palestinian families, OCHA found.
In two reports to Brussels from EU heads of mission, officials found settler violence against Palestinians had more than tripled in three years to total hundreds of incidents, The Guardian reported.
The starting date for the international UN fact-finding mission is yet to be confirmed."
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