Khaberni - "Human Rights Watch" decided to withdraw a report that was scheduled to be published about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing Israel's prevention of Palestinian refugees from returning to their homeland as a "crime against humanity," which caused outrage and led to resignations from the organization.
Media reports revealed that the organization withdrew the report, which was scheduled for publication on December 4th last year, in a move considered a departure from its usual procedures driven by fear of political reactions, according to critics of the action.
In its report on the state of human rights and freedoms in the world, which it published today, Wednesday, "Human Rights Watch" acknowledged upcoming updates to the press release related to Palestine, Israel, and Iran.
The new report lacked any reference to criminalizing Israel for preventing Palestinians from returning to their country and focused on Israel escalating its violations and atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza, noting Israel's commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in Gaza.
Resignations and Accusations
The withdrawal of the report led to the resignation of the team manager responsible for the Israel and Palestine file, Omar Shakir, and the assistant researcher in the team, Milena Ansari.
Shakir, who chaired the team for about a decade, said, "I resigned from Human Rights Watch after more than ten years, most of which I spent as the director of the Israel Palestine file, following the new executive director's withdrawal of the final report on the right of return of Palestinian refugees on the eve of its publication, preventing its publication for weeks."
In his resignation letter, he explained that he lost confidence in the organization's operational mechanisms and its commitment to "principled reporting based on facts and law," declaring his inability to continue representing it.
Shakir and Milena Ansari in separate resignation letters stated that withdrawing the report contradicts the organization’s usual review and publication procedures and accused Human Rights Watch of prioritizing fear of political responses over adherence to international law.
Organization Statement
The resignations caused a broad echo within the organization, which is considered among the leading international human rights organizations, coinciding with the new executive director, Philip Bolopion, taking up his duties.
"Human Rights Watch" issued a statement saying that the report dealt with complex and sensitive issues, and the review process showed the need to strengthen some research aspects and the factual basis upon which the legal conclusions were made to ensure their alignment with the "high standards" of the organization.
The organization clarified that the publication of the report was suspended pending further study and research, and that the matter is still being pursued.
According to "Geo Currents" website, the measures stated in the organization's statement raised Shakir's concern that Human Rights Watch would "reformulate the final report," giving the leadership "the opportunity to cancel or distort the report at different stages."
Shakir noted that despite the clear shift in the discourse related to Israel's treatment of Palestinians, with terms "apartheid, genocide, and ethnic cleansing" gaining wide acceptance, the right of return, which Israel's supporters say would lead to the extinction of the Jewish state through denying it a Jewish majority, remains a contentious topic.
He added "The only issue, even within Human Rights Watch, where there is still reluctance to apply the law and facts in a principled way, is the plight of Palestinian refugees and their right to return to their homes from which they were forced to flee."
