Hebron’s Old City, where 35,000 Palestinians lived, was once a major tourist attraction with a history of Islamic pilgrimage for many centuries. What I saw when I visited in 2019 was a deserted city with most of its shops closed. Some of the closed doors were overgrown with ivy and other climbers. Netting was placed overhead to protect the occasional passerby from the missiles of rubbish the settlers in their rooftop apartments throw down on the street. Many of the Palestinian houses had been abandoned. I walked through its attractive souks and all I could see were the occasional settlers and Israeli soldiers, heavily armed, prowling the streets and manning the checkpoints. The once vibrant city was practically deserted.
The United Nations
UN independent rights experts on Tuesday, described Israel’s conviction of human rights defender Issa Amro earlier this month, as showing disdain for the country’s international obligations.
The comments came after the 6 January conviction by an Israeli military court of the Palestinian human rights defender and founder of Youth Against Settlements, a Hebron-based group, which opposes settlement expansion through non-violent civil resistance.
In a statement from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, issued on Tuesday, the experts said that the country must immediately stop using its array of military security tools “to obstruct the legitimate and indispensable work of human rights defenders.”
Israel’s conviction of human rights defender shows disdain for international obligations, say UN experts
GENEVA (26 January 2021) – UN experts said today Israel must immediately stop using its array of military security tools to obstruct the legitimate and indispensable work of human rights defenders.
Their comments come after an Israeli military court convicted Issa Amro, a Palestinian human rights defender and founder of Youth Against Settlements, a Hebron-based group which opposes settlement expansion through non-violent civil resistance.
Amro was convicted of six charges on 6 January 2021 related to his human rights activities between 2010 and 2016. The experts said they fear he will be imprisoned when he is sentenced on 8 February, 2021.