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My impression before my visit to Jerusalem was that it is a small and religious city, but I was surprised that it is larger than I expected, and it is not only a religious city, but also a contemporary city. I saw the religious side of the city I saw when I visited the Old City of Jerusalem with the wonderful tour guide, Shaked Berry, who coordinated with Sharaka (an NGO that supports peace between Israel and Gulf stets) and I saw a true incarnation of the three major Abrahamic religions: the Temple Mount and the Western Wall for Judaism, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for Christianity, the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. The Old City is divided into the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter.
The confusion I found on my trip like many Muslims is that we always imagine the Dome of the Rock, a holy Islamic shrine, to be the Al-Aqsa Mosque....
Therefore, the moment I stood in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque was solemn, because I saw myself in front of a long history, and the truly touching moment was when I heard the call to prayer for the Maghrib prayer while I saw people of different faiths walking in the square. But what struck me was that I could not go inside the mosque because of security warnings, especially after there were several incidents against Gulf Arabic-speaking visitors, especially when the visitor knows that they are from the Gulf countries, so I preferred not to speak in Arabic and go immediately to the Christian neighborhood and then the Jewish one.
On July 22, 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed the members of a “Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel,” including “all underlying root causes…systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.”
The process for selecting members of the COI is entirely secret. It is unknown how COI members are nominated, how many candidates were considered, what selection criteria is applied, and who has ultimate authority to appoint these individuals. This secrecy is a blatant violation of UN rules and international fact-finding standards.
This review highlights the chosen panel members’ conflicts of interest and prejudicial backgrounds, including long histories of anti-Israel activism and highly inflammatory rhetoric. Many of their statements and associations directly relate to topics under the COI mandate, suggesting that the Commission members have already formed their conclusions, prior to any investigation. These appointments demonstrate that the goal of the COI is not to conduct an impartial and objective investigation, but rather, to manufacture evidence, recycle allegations of apartheid, and demonize Zionism and Jewish self-determination. In fact, it appears these individuals were chosen specifically for their prejudicial stances. Such extreme bias, a violation of international and UN fact-finding requirements (p. 19), is typical of UN inquiries into Israel, and countries should refuse to cooperate with this panel and to provide it funding.
(full article online)
Anti-Israel Bias and NGO Links of UNHRC’s Gaza Commission of Inquiry Members » ngomonitor
On July 22, 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed the members of a “Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel." The chosen panel members’ have conflicts of interest and prejudicial backgrounds, including long histories of...www.ngo-monitor.org
Why do they need to investigate what is going on in front of their face?Many of their statements and associations directly relate to topics under the COI mandate, suggesting that the Commission members have already formed their conclusions, prior to any investigation.
Unrwa’s mission made no reference to refugee resettlement, and its definition of a Palestinian refugee included future generations without any time limit.
Meanwhile, some 20 million non-Palestinian refugees are under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), whose mandate is limited to actual refugees, whose aim is to resettle as many as possible in countries where they can find safety and opportunity, and whose workforce is smaller than Unrwa’s. This triggers the question of why Unrwa operates on its own, rather than under the UNHCR structure, and how long its open-ended mandate will continue.
Finally, it should be noted that there were also some 850,000 Jewish refugees as a result of persecution and violence in Arab lands, beginning largely in the 1940s. No special U.N. agency was set up for them. They eventually found new homes in Israel, Europe and North and South America, and their trauma has largely been ignored by history.
(full article online)
Opinion | Refugees, Rights and Peace in the Middle East
All the Palestinians have to do is say they will stop trying to destroy Israel.www.wsj.com
Resettlement is outside UNRWA's mandate. They have no authority to do that.Unrwa’s mission made no reference to refugee resettlement,