Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has spotlighted in two new reports to the General Assembly how Israeli practices impinge upon the rights of Palestinians through the continued building of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and its other practices. In one publication, Ban stressed that United Nations' resolutions and a 2004 Advisory to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) both reflect how Israel's construction of settlements – “in effect, the transfer by an occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” – breach the Fourth Geneva Convention. Other activities, such as land requisition and the destruction of houses and orchards, are also “illegal,” he writes. --MORE
