UN Blames Israel for Effects of West Bank Movement Restrictions

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published a special report this week, which claimed that movement restrictions in the West Bank were applied four years after the start of the second Intifada, despite significant improvements in West Bank security.

The UN agency blamed Israel for harm caused to the Palestinian people, just days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas failed to mention a “series of easing measures” the Israeli government enacted for the benefit of that same population.

In early November, an international committee is set to arrive in Amman, to investigate the influence of West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem on the rights of Palestinians. The committee was created last March by the UN Human Rights Council, despite opposition from Israel and the United States.

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