Israel is treating Palestinian territories as ‘colonies’, claims UN official

A United Nations human rights official has accused Israel of treating the Palestinian territories as “colonies.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, also claimed Israel is “maintaining the occupation in order to get as much land as possible for Jewish-only people. 

“Arriving in London for the first time since she was handed the post, Albanese also spoke of the Holocaust and the Nabka as “two tragedies” but denied comparing one with the other.

The Italian lawyer has faced strong criticism from Israel, and pro-Zionist groups across the globe for her strong opinions.

The Israeli government minister Amichai Chikli said she was “spewing hatred and antisemitism.”But in comments reported by the Guardian, Albanese refused to tone down her rhetoric.

She said:“For me, apartheid is a symptom and a consequence of the territorial ambitions Israel has for the land of what remains of an encircled Palestine … The cause is the colonies. 

“Israel is a colonial power maintaining the occupation in order to get as much land as possible for Jewish-only people. And this is what leads to the numerous violations of international law.”

Responding to criticism that she has equated the Palestinian Nakba with the Holocaust, she said:“In as much as the Holocaust has been a defining moment in the collective life of the Jewish people, so is the Nakba, for the Palestinian people.

“So I’ve not said that they are the same, simply because they are not. Why would we compare two tragedies?”

Albanese  is due to meet with Palestinian and Jewish groups while in the UK, and has also scheduled in meetings with MPs. 

She has accepted Israel’s right to “defend itself, its citizens, territory, no matter the fact that it has not defined its borders.”

But she added “it cannot justify the occupation in the name of self-defence.”