Israel is breaking human rights laws by promoting Jewish settlements and segregating Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, a panel of UN experts said Thursday in Geneva.
The report came two days after Israeli diplomats refused to take part in a regular review of Israel's human rights record at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.
The experts called on Israel to withdraw all settlers and to compensate Palestinians for human rights violations.
"The motivation behind violence and intimidation against the Palestinians and their properties is to drive the local populations away from their lands, allowing the settlements to expand," said Unity Dow, a panel member from Botswana.
The settlement policy was preventing the formation of a state by Palestinians and therefore undermined their right of self-determination, said the report which was prepared on behalf of the UN rights council.
"The settlements are established for the exclusive benefit of Israeli Jews," the experts said. "Settlements are being maintained and developed through a system of total segregation between the settlers and the rest of the population living in the OPT (occupied Palestinian territory)."
The UN panel relied on accounts by governments, non-governmental groups, academics and ordinary citizens, but the experts were not granted access to Israel or the occupied areas.