GENEVA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - United Nations human rights
investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement
expansion and withdraw all Jewish settlers from the occupied
West Bank, saying that its practices violated international law.
"Israel must, in compliance with article 49 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without
preconditions. It must immediately initiate a process of
withdrawal of all settlers from the OPT (occupied Palestinian
territories)," said a report by the inquiry led by French judge
Christine Chanet.
The settlements contravene the 1949 Geneva Conventions
forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied
territory, which could amount to war crimes that fall under the
jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to
the United Nations of planning to commit further "war crimes" by
expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto
U.N. recognition of statehood and warned that Jerusalem must be
held accountable.
Israel has not cooperated with the probe set up by the Human
Rights Council last March to examine the impact of settlements
in the territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel says the
forum has an inherent bias against it and defends its settlement
policy by citing historical and Biblical links to the West Bank.
The independent U.N. investigators interviewed more than 50
people who came to Jordan in November to testify about
confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods including olive
trees, and violence by Jewish settlers, according to the report.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jon Boyle)