UN rapporteur 'very concerned' by Israel live fire against Palestinians

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The United Nations special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories said Thursday he was "very concerned" by Israel's use of live fire in dealing with Palestinians.

"Lethal force is supposed to be used as a last resort and only when there is a legitimate threat to a security officer's life," Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories said.

Lynk, who took over the role in March and has so far been denied a visa to visit, said this rule was "being neglected."

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed since October 2015.

Israel has dismissed allegations of excessive force in most cases, saying its officers do only what is necessary to protect lives.

Lynk compared the shootings of Palestinians in the West Bank to that of an ultra-Orthodox Jew who stabbed six people at a Gay Pride march in Jerusalem in 2015, killing one.

In that case the attacker was wrestled to the ground.

"He was actually brought down and wasn't actually physically harmed in any way," Lynk said in a phone interview with AFP shortly after the release of his first report.

"If that kind of force can be used to neutralise an attacker with a knife, why can't that be used with most of the alleged Palestinian a ssailants in similar circumstances?"

A United Nations report last month said that of the Palestinians injured by Israelis in 2016, 14 percent were hurt by live ammunition, up from four percent in 2013.

"When you look at the larger picture, with no hope on the horizon for a peace process, with deteriorating economic circumstances, it becomes clear that there is a nexus, a relationship, or a connection between these kinds of attacks -- deplorable as they may be -- and the much larger economic, social and political circumstances."

In recent months, the Tel Aviv regime forces have shot dead a large number of Palestinians after accusing them of carrying out attacks against Israelis across the occupied territories.

Tensions first surged in August 2015, when the Tel Aviv regime imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Almost 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada since October 2015.

Any extension would then need to be approved by the UN Human Rights Council.




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