Israel approves new homes in East Jerusalem settlement

[askeptic]

4. Israeli settlement expansion ‘root cause’ of growing violence in Occupied Palestinian Territories –

according to the UN. Wordgames by Israeli talking heads and those who are blind to Israel's role notwithstanding

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=51597#.V1h9qZErLDc

10 August 2015 – A United Nations human rights committee has completed its annual evaluation of the situation affecting millions of people living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and has cited Israel's policy of settlement expansion as a primary driver of the escalating violence in the area.

In a press release issued today to mark the end of its five-day fact-finding visit to Amman, Jordan, the UN Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories, said that a series of meetings with civil society groups and Palestinian officials had revealed that the “root cause” of the escalating violence in the Territories is “the continuing policy of settlement expansion and the climate of impunity relating to the activities of the settlers.”

Indeed, over the past weeks, tensions in the Territories between Israeli settlers and Palestinians have been further enflamed following a series of deadly incidents between the two groups. Most recently, in the village of Duma, an 18-month-old Palestinian baby died following the fire-bombing of the house by Israeli settlers. The father of the baby, who had sustained serious injuries in the attack, subsequently died on 8 August.

In addition to the violence, the Committee – represented by Amrith Rohan Perera, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York; Ramlan bin Ibrahim, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the UN in New York; and Aboubacar Sadikh Barry, Minister Counselor, Permanent Mission of Senegal to the UN in Geneva – was also briefed “extensively” on what it described as “increasing human rights violations” on women and children through the repeated use of night raids and police dogs by Israeli authorities. The UN experts were told that many women were subjected to “humiliating treatment in the presence of their families” during these operations.