UN rights investigator accuses Israel of ’ethnic cleansing’ -
Haaretz
By Reuters | Mar. 21, 2014
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.581248
Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, told a news conference that Israeli policies bore “unacceptable characteristics of colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing”.
“Every increment of enlarging the settlements or every incident of house demolition is a way of worsening the situation confronting the Palestinian people and reducing what prospects they might have as the outcome of supposed peace negotiations.”
Asked about his accusation of ethnic cleansing, Falk said that more than 11,000 Palestinians had lost their right to live in Jerusalem since 1996 due to Israel imposing residency laws favoring Jews and revoking Palestinian residence permits.
“The 11,000 is just the tip of the iceberg because many more are faced with possible challenges to their residency rights.”
This compounded the “ordeal of this extended, prolonged occupation”, according to Falk, an international law expert and professor emeritus at Princeton University in the United States.