US pressured Palestinian Authority to drop investigative power from UN resolution

A UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution that would have established a mechanism to help with the investigation of crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories was watered down following backroom pressure from the US, a US official and a source briefed by a European diplomat told Middle East Eye.

The final wording of the resolution, adopted by the council this week, invites the UN General Assembly only “to consider establishing” such a body.

However, earlier drafts of the resolution would have seen the establishment of the mechanism, an initiative that experts say has been powerful in the investigation of serious crimes in Syria and Myanmar.

Before the resolution passed, the chairs of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee suggested in a 31 March letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that any member state or UN entity supporting such a mechanism could face US sanctions.

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