Genocide as colonial erasure: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, presents a report, entitled “Genocide as colonial erasure”, in which she investigates the atrocities the Palestinians currently go through and gives a broader view of the genocidal intent as colonial erasure providing legal research, analysis and evidence.

The Rapporteur stresses the fact that the persecution Israel perpetuates after the 7th of October towards the Palestinian population should not be isolated from the decades of a premeditated plan of erasure of the indigenous population by forcibly displacing and replacing it, committing mass killing, mass incarceration, racial segregation and building a state of apartheid.

Since the very beginning, covered by the exceptional status and extended impunity, Israel has systematically violated the international law pursuing the goal of “Greater Israel”  over the whole of former Mandatory Palestine.

The narratives of a war in the name of “self-defense” are contradicted by the actions that the Israeli government conducts, that reflect in reality the genocidal intent that pervades the entire State apparatus. The analyses points up that although there are individuals personally responsible for the crimes towards the Palestinian people, the roots of the ongoing genocide reside in the century-long project of eliminatory settler colonialism perpetrated by the State of Israel.

Eventually, Francesca Albanese urges the States to take urgent action in order to ensure the full application of the Genocide Convention and full protection of the Palestinians and invites the International Community to put in application a set of recommendations such arms embargo, sanctions, recognition of Israel as an Apartheid state, humanitarian assistance and prosecution of all corporate entities and dual citizens responsible of crimes in the occupied Palestine.