Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights. Photo: File.

JNS.org – According to a report issued by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, the growth of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem constitutes a war crime.

“The establishment and expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory by Israel, including the legal and administrative measures that it has taken to provide socioeconomic incentives, security, infrastructure and social services to citizens of Israel residing in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, amount to the transfer by Israel of its population into the occupied Palestinian Territory,” said Al-Hussein. “The transfer of the population by an occupying State into an occupied territory is a grave breach of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and therefore a war crime.”

The report is one of five charging Israel of human-rights abuses that will be presented to the council on March 19.

The Human Rights Council has been criticized for issuing a significantly disproportionate number of reports against Israel. By contrast, Syria and Iran only have single reports issued against them.

Al-Hussein, a member of the Jordanian royal family, is the first Muslim to hold the position of UN high commissioner for human rights.