A member of a United Nations-mandated independent commission of inquiry has said that increasing Jewish settler violence in the occupied West Bank was a "major concern" and announced plans to investigate further.
The Commission of Inquiry mandated by the UN's rights body addressed the Geneva-based Human Rights Council earlier on Tuesday, accusing Israel's government of placing growing restrictions on Palestinian civil society groups.
"We are very disturbed that violent settler activity has considerably increased in the last months, in fact, the means through which (Israeli) annexation is insured," said Miloon Kothari, a member of the COI.
The West Bank, among territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians seek for a state, has seen an increase in violence over the past 15 months with stepped-up Israeli raids amid a spate of Palestinian street attacks.
US and European officials have also repeatedly raised the issue of settler attacks on Palestinians, which reached record levels last year and has continued to increase since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist far-right government took office in January and accelerated settlement expansion.
'As long as occupation continues'
At the same meeting, Israel's closest ally, the United States, issued a statement on behalf of 27 countries criticising the COI which, unusually, has an open-ended mandate.
"We believe the nature of this COI is further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council, and must stop," said US Ambassador Michele Taylor.
Israel, which left its seat empty, said in a statement by its Foreign Minister Eli Cohen that the COI was a "stain on the UN and on the Human Rights Council".
Kothari, however, riposted: "As long as the occupation continues, the United Nations needs to continue to rigorously investigate the situation and therefore, we would like to see a sunset of the Israeli occupation."
The COI was opened in 2021. The council cannot make legally binding decisions but evidence collected by the inquiries it establishes is sometimes used by international courts.
