Palestinian officials demanded their legal rights against Israel under the territory's improved international status on Thursday. Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the Security Council that the international community was obliged to ensure protection of Palestinian civilians under the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war and occupation. "Israel has clearly violated and abdicated its responsibility as an occupying power to ensure the safety and well-being of the civilian population under its occupation," Mansour told an emergency meeting of the 15-country council requested by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to address the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas. Mansour said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Switzerland-as the depository for Geneva Conventions-to convene a meeting of the parties to the 4th Geneva Convention on the protection of civilian persons in time of war. The Palestinian ambassador said his government wants parties to the convention "to consider measures to uphold their obligations, under common Article 1 and Article 146 regarding penal sanctions for grave breaches, and enforce the Convention in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem."
