The UN expert on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories resigned on Monday, complaining that Israel had never granted him access to areas he was meant to monitor.
“The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, today submitted his resignation to the President of the Human Rights Council, effective as of 31 March 2016,” a UN statement said.
Wibisono, who took up the independent role in June 2014, “expressed deep regret that, throughout his mandate, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way,” Wibisono said in the statement.
The Indonesian diplomat said he had been assured before taking up the position that he would have access to the occupied Palestinian territories.
“I took up this mandate with the understanding that Israel would grant me access, as an impartial and objective observer,” he said.
However, he said repeated requests for access were unsuccessful.
“With no reply from Israel to my latest request, in October 2015, to have access by the end of 2015, it is with deep regret that I accept the premise upon which I took up the mandate, which is to have direct access to the victims in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, will not be fulfilled,” he said.
By contrast, the Palestinian government had “cooperated fully” with his mandate.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wibisono’s mandate was such that “he could not give an unbiased view.”
“The mandate of the rapporteur was written so that it could not do its work in an objective and fair manner, with all the attention directed on the Palestinian side, on the Palestinian narrative and ignoring abuses against Israeli civilians,” he added.
In a separate statement, the Israeli foreign ministry challenged the UN Human Rights Council’s conduct and the “content of its resolutions.”
In the statement, Wibisono expressed deep concern over the lack of protection for Palestinians who face an ongoing range of human rights violations.
“It is my sincere hope that whoever succeeds me will manage to resolve the current impasse, and so reassure the Palestinian people that after nearly half a century of occupation the world has not forgotten their plight and that universal human rights are indeed universal,” he said.
In related news, on Monday the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah struck an Israeli armored patrol with a roadside bomb at the border between Lebanon and Israel and Israel responded by shelling the area, with no immediate word on casualties.
Hezbollah said the attack was carried out by a unit named for Samir Kantar, a prominent Lebanese militant killed in Syria last month. Hezbollah has blamed Israel and vowed to avenge his death.
Hezbollah said it set off a large explosive device as the vehicles passed in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, destroying an Israeli Humvee and causing casualties among the soldiers inside.
The Israeli Army said vehicles in the area were hit with an improvised explosive device and that it responded with targeted artillery fire. It did not say whether there were any casualties.
Additional reporting by AP
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