Geneva, October 21 (RHC)-- The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the UNHRC, has questioned the Israeli regime over escalation of expansionist policies and violation of Palestinians' rights. On Monday, UNHRC strongly criticized Tel Aviv's demolition of houses, expansion of settlements, and limiting access to water for Palestine's farmers.

UNHRC Chairman Nigel Rodley said the illegal constructions were "at the heart of many problems that are faced, including alleged violations of the right to life and freedom of movement and so on." 

Cornelis Flinterman, another member of the committee, which held a meeting after the latest Israeli war on Gaza, also said the Palestinians are quite often "intimidated by the settlers coming to live in the new settlements. They are more or less, you could say, treated as foreigners in their own country."

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.