12-16-08, 9:13 am
PCHR strongly condemns the decision taken by Israeli occupation authorities to prevent Professor Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), from entering the OPT on Sunday, 14 December 2008, and departing him from Ben Gurion Airport on Monday morning. PCHR calls upon the international community, including the UN Secretary-General, to denounce the position taken by Israeli occupation authorities, to stop dealing with Israel as a state above law, and to immediately take necessary steps than can ensure Israel's compliance to international humanitarian law and human rights law.
According to information available to PCHR from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the OPT, Professor Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur for the OPT, arrived at Ben Gurion Airport coming from Geneva in the context of a scheduled visit to observe the human rights situation in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. However, Israeli occupation authorities informed him in the airport that his visit was banned for security and other considerations. Professor Falk was forced to spend the night at the airport, and he departed on a plane traveling to Geneva in Switzerland at approximately 05:30 on Monday.
It is worth noting that Professor Falk was scheduled to visit the Gaza Strip on 18 December 2008 to observe the deterioration in the human rights situation caused by the policy of collective punishment imposed by Israeli occupation authorities on the Gaza Strip. He was supposed to hold a series of meetings with international human rights organizations; civil society organizations, including human rights ones; and UN agencies, in addition to field tours in the Gaza Strip.
