The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) | Shadow report
seizure of private land, house demolitions and illegal settlements, restrictions on gaining access to health-care services, destruction of cultural sites
and denial of access to humanitarian aid. It recognizes that the above-mentioned challenges limit the State party’s effective control of its jurisdiction
over its own territory and resources and its capacity to implement the Covenant. However, it reminds the State party that the Covenant is applicable in its entire territory and that it should take all possible measures to
implement it in all parts of the territory. In that regard, the Committee regrets that, notwithstanding the agreement between the Fatah and Hamas
movements to end Palestinian division, signed on 12 October 2017, the
State party has made limited progress in resolving internal political issues
that negatively affect the full enjoyment by Palestinians in the West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip of their rights under the Covenant and contribute to the political and geographical fragmentation of the
State party’s territory. It notes that, owing to this fragmentation, Palestinians continue to be subject to multiple legal systems that impede the full
realization of their rights under the Covenant.17
B. Positive aspects
4. The Committee welcomes the accession of the State party to a significant
number of international instruments since its accession to the Covenant,
and the issues referred to below.
C. Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Domestic application of the Covenant
5. The Committee is concerned about the interpretation of the Supreme Constitutional Court, in its decisions No. 4 (2017) of 19 November 2017 and No.
5 (2018) of 12 March 2018, according to which international treaties acceded to by the State party take precedence over national legislation only insofar as they are consistent with the national, religious and cultural identity
of the Palestinian Arab people. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned
about the multiple non-unified legal systems in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip.
6. The Committee recommends that the State party revise existing legislation
with a view to preventing legal uncertainty or ambiguity that could provide
grounds for legal interpretations contradictory to the State party’s legal obligations, and that the State party enact legislation to ensure the unification
of its legal systems, as also recommended by the Human Rights Committee.18
17
18
CEDAW/C/PSE/CO/1, para. 9; CERD/C/PSE/CO/1-2, para. 3; CRC/C/PSE/CO/1, para. 4; and CAT/C/PSE/
CO/1, para. 4.
CCPR/C/PSE/CO/1, para. 6.
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