1. INTRODUCTION

This presentation will focus on refuting the arguments put forward in Israel's report to this Committee to the effect that Israeli jurisdiction does not extend to the West Bank and Gaza Strip and that therefore the Covenant does not apply to Israeli actions in these territories. CESR believes that is critically important to reject the notion that the Oslo process has somehow relieved Israel of all human rights accountability for its policies and practices in occupied Palestinian lands. This misguided idea would leave Palestinians, who must already confront a double repression from Israel and their own national authority, with no legal recourse to address the source of the violations of their most fundamental rights.