Five key takeaways from The New Arab's interview with Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Francesca Albanese, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, is tasked with investigating Israel's violations of international law in the Palestinian Territories, occupied since 1967. 

A vocal supporter of the Palestinian's right to self-determination, Francesca Albanese recently spoke with The New Arab about the importance of upholding international law, the necessity of a Palestinian state, and how Israel's apartheid regime has been emboldened by the Oslo Accords.

In this overview, The New Arab summarises Albanese's arguments below. The interview can be read in full here. 

1. "Israel's apartheid system is only one aspect of a broader colonial asset": In the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinians have suffered under a violent occupation for more than 50 years. They are deprived of freedom of movement and Palestinians are unable to access their natural resources.

2. "We need to implement, defend and affirm the Palestinian right of self-determination": To overcome apartheid, we must reiterate upholding international law as part of any political settlement. If we fail to recognise the Palestinian right to self-determination, the Palestinians will be negotiating under coercion. If we hold Israel accountable for its human rights abuses, the Palestinian people will begin to reclaim their freedoms and enjoy political and economic development.

3. "The Oslo Accords created an asymmetric relationship between Israel and the Palestinians": Palestinians are experiencing an asymmetry of force. It is not a 'conflict', a conflict implies the presence of two similar entities confronting each other. The Oslo Accords helped cement this asymmetric relationship by creating the illusion of a Palestinian state. In its current formation, the Palestinian state isn't an independent sovereign state. It is an occupied, fragmented one. 

4. "Without Palestinian self-determination, no stable solution to the Palestinian question will be pursued: To achieve this, all illegal colonies within occupied Palestinian land must be removed. International bodies must affirm the Palestinians' right to their land and resources as conditio sine qua non for peace, both at a material and formal level. There must be no dependency on Israel at any level. 

5. "The most important obstacle to Palestinian existence is the acquisitive and repressive occupation of Palestinian land": The occupation of Palestine has produced humanitarian dependency on foreign aid and economic dependency on the Israeli economy. This crisis created by Israel is an inducted one and depends on the occupation preventing any form of local autonomous development.