The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, confirmed yesterday, Saturday, that Israel’s colonization of the Palestinian territories it has occupied since 1967 is a war crime, calling for the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against those responsible for illegal settlement.
This came in a blog post by Albanese, on her account on the X platform, commenting on the news that a coalition of illegal settlement organizations, which enjoys generous support from the Israeli government, is organizing a practical preparatory conference for settlement in Gaza.
Colonization of occ. territory has been ISR’ state policy since 1967, implying transfer of ISR civilians in lands confiscated from Pals (war crime) & mass Pal forced displacement (poss. crime agst humanity).
May these ongoing crimes be met with arrest warrants soon.@karimkhan
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 16, 2023
She stressed that “the colonization of the occupied territories is the Israeli state’s policy since 1967, which means that the resettlement of Israeli civilians in confiscated Palestinian lands (a war crime) and the mass forced displacement of Palestinians (a crime against humanity).”
She expressed her hope that arrest warrants would be issued against the perpetrators of these ongoing crimes.