Israeli occupation denying Palestinians ‘right to development’ says new UN study

Decades of Israeli occupation and appropriation of land and resources has denied the Palestinian people the right to development, a new study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has found.

The report, ‘The Economic Costs of the Israeli Occupation for the Palestinian People and Their Human Right to Development: Legal Dimensions’, highlights “the economic costs imposed by occupation in relation to Palestinian agriculture, water resources, fisheries, mining, tourism, communications, manufacturing and human capital”.

According to the UNCTAD press release, “under [Israeli] occupation, the Palestinian people and Government are not allowed to carry out essential tasks required for economic and social development to take place”.

“This prevents them from enjoying the inalienable human right to development, which maintains that every human person and all peoples are entitled to freely participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development”, it continues.

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The study emphasizes that under international law, “the occupying authority has obligations to both the people under occupation and the international community as a whole”.

“It follows that the international community bears obligations to support the economic development of the Palestinian people and ensure that Israel complies with international law”.

Mahmoud Elkhafif, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People Unit of UNCTAD, said:

“The international community should shoulder its responsibility to promote development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and ensure that the occupation and its enduring harm to the welfare of the Palestinian people is ended”.