Human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories

On 3 April 2009, the President of the Human Rights Council established the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict with the mandate "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after." The Mission interpreted the mandate as requiring it to place the civilian population of the region at the center of its concerns regarding the violations of international law, and determined that it was required to consider any actions by all parties that might have constituted violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law, and to review related actions in the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.