39. The UN is investigating the root causes of violence between Israelis and Palestinians

The Mondoweiss Podcast

In May, 2021, fighting broke out between Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza and the Israeli military. Three hundred Palestinian residents of Gaza were killed, including 66 children, and thousands more were injured. The United Nation’s Human Rights Council set up a Commission of Inquiry to identify the “root causes'' of the violence. On June 7th of this year the Commission presented its first report to the UN Human Rights Council.

Unlike past UN commissions of inquiry on violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the mandate of this Commission is not time-limited. It is not subject to annual renewal. And it is not restricted to examining the immediate circumstances that led to its formation. Rather, it was told to take its time, and examine the “underlying root causes of recurrent tensions.”

In further contrast with past commissions and Special Rapporteurs on the occupied Palestinian territories, this Commission has been tasked with examining the situation in both the occupied Palestinian territories and, in the words of the Commission’s June report, “Israel itself.”

The commission is led by several highly experienced leaders in international law, including Miloon Kothari, who served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing with the Human Rights Council.

In the wake of the Commission’s first report, Mondoweiss contributor David Kattenburg spoke with Miloon Kothari. His views were both candid and cutting.

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Articles and Links mentioned in the show

• ‘Apartheid’ is not sufficient: an interview with UN Human Rights Commissioner Miloon Kothari, David Kattenburg
• U.S. State Department statement on the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on the Situation in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza
• The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, UN Human Rights Council

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