Lending its voice to widespread anger and dismay over the killing of unarmed Palestinians by Israeli forces, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a resolution on Friday calling on the council to urgently dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate "all alleged violations and abuses... in the context of the [Israeli] military assaults on large-scale civilian protests that began on March 30, 2018... including those that may amount to war crimes." The US along with Australia were the only two countries to vote against the resolution, while some other Western champions of human rights, such as Britain and Germany, abstained from the vote. These countries are expected to use their clout to try and block the UN investigations.
Israeli forces opened indiscriminate fire on Palestinian protesters as they were observing the 70th anniversary - near Israel's separation fence in Gaza - of what they call Naqba Day (day of catastrophe), annually commemorated on May 15 when Israel was created, driving some 700,000 people out of their homes and destroying hundreds of their villages. Since the protest demonstrations began, Israeli soldiers have killed 100 Palestinians, including five journalists and several children. Unsurprisingly, the worst violence happened on the day the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On that day alone, 60 protesters were killed and thousands injured. As the UNHRC chief, Zeid al Ra'ad, noted those killed and wounded "were completely unarmed, [and] were shot in the back, in the chest, in the head and limbs with live ammunition." Yet unaffected by the brutality, US President Donald Trump hailed the embassy inauguration by his daughter and son-in-law, who has strong financial and religious ties to Israel. In his usual distorted logic, he said "Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine its own capital, but for many years we have failed to acknowledge the obvious." He of course conveniently overlooked the fact that Jerusalem is an occupied territory and hence Israel has no right to claim a land occupied through an act of war as its own. In moving his country's embassy to the city, Trump has violated several UN resolutions as well as international law.
The Palestinians see East Jerusalem (Al-Quds) as the capital of their future state. They are not going to give up their claim. As the UN rights body chief aptly noted "nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week." The violence, worst since the 2014 attack on Gaza, will further fuel anti-American sentiments in Muslim countries where people have reacted by staging protest demonstration against Israel and its patron, the US. It will also feed the rage of anti-Western extremist groups like the IS and al Qaeda remnants, erupting in bloody reprisal attacks in unexpected ways.
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