The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatiates yesterday denounced statements by the United States State Department spokesman Ned Price in which he said his country would oppose the position of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) on the Israeli occupation.
“We have concerns with the council. We will vigorously oppose the council’s disproportionate attention on Israel, which includes the council’s only standing agenda item targeting a single country,” Price told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “very surprised” by Price’s statement that came after the US rejoined the HRC following the former administration’s withdrawal from it due to the HRC’s stand from Israel.
It said that the US “ignores the fact that the Human Rights Council in Geneva was forced to adopt a special item (Item 7) on its permanent agenda related to the human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, because Israel, the occupying and apartheid state and the US’s main ally, continued to violate Palestinian human rights on a daily basis and is the first and only state that insists on systematic and daily violation of Palestinian human rights for more than 54 years of totalitarian occupation of the land of the State of Palestine.”
The Foreign Ministry said it expects the US administration to stick by its principles and to be honest with its commitments and to include Palestine in its human rights positions and not to exclude Israel from condemnation as the top country in the world that maintains the worst criminal record against the Palestinian human being.
It expressed hope that the return of the US to the HRC would open its eyes to the crimes of the occupying state “and become convinced to keep this item (Agenda Item 7) as a permanent item on the agenda of the council as long as Israel continues to behave as an occupation power, insisting to commit more crimes against the Palestinian human being, his lands, holy places, properties, homes and elements of his steadfastness on his land and in his country.”
