NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s human rights chief warned on Monday that Israeli threats to “empty and erase entire neighborhoods” in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron raised serious concerns of ethnic cleansing, as he condemned an operation he said had forcibly displaced more than 2,000 Palestinians in just three days.
Volker Turk said that since Friday, as part of an “aggressive operation,” Israel had demolished homes and commercial properties, and stripped residents of their ability to move freely. The sweeping measures, he added, raised “grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force,” which must end.
“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law,” he said in a statement issued in Geneva.
Turk, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, said an Israeli lockdown was confining many residents to their homes or immediate neighborhoods, and he highlighted the rhetoric of the Israeli leadership as evidence of intent.
“Declarations by senior Israeli government officials indicate that the measures implemented are punitive in nature and designed to instill fear. This is unacceptable,” he said.
He demanded that displaced residents be allowed to return home, and said Israel must provide compensation and reparation for unlawful evictions and demolitions, and for the displacements that followed.
The operation in Hebron began on Oct. 23 after Palestinian attackers killed two soldiers at a military checkpoint near the city.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered a full lockdown of the West Bank, said Israeli forces would go house-to-house in the Hebron neighborhood that was thought to be where the attackers came from, and the operation would involve demolitions and forced displacements.
The defense minister, Israel Katz, wrote that the “Jenin refugee camp model is on its way to Hebron,” and later confirmed about 2,000 people had been forcibly displaced.
Hebron municipality said about 35 hectares had been demolished or marked for demolition, mainly in the neighborhoods of Ein Deir Baha and Farsh Al-Hawa.
The city of Hebron is home to about 200,000 Palestinians, and a further 600,000 live in the wider governorate, making it the most populous area in the West Bank.