The ICRC and ‘the occupied territories’

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The ICRC’s bias against Israel disgraces its humanitarian mission and its claims of impartiality. ... For several decades the ICRC has promoted through the UN and other international bodies a conceptual straitjacket: “the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).”
Because the ICRC is the “official guardian” of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) (GC IV), its interpretation is considered authoritative.
Using its exclusive position, it turned GC IV – which was intended to ensure the protection of civilians threatened by war and other conflicts – into a political sledgehammer against Israel.
The ICRC contrived the term OPT, promoted it in every forum and unilaterally designated what is at best a disputed area as (1) illegally occupied by Israel, (2) belonging to Palestinian Arabs and (3) an unnamed and undefined territory without a history.
GC IV, however, is concerned with humanitarian issues, the rights of “protected persons.” It is not mandated to designate new countries.
The ICRC unilaterally shifted the focus and intent of GC IV, distorting its raison d’être, and uses it to condemn Israel’s acquisition of land in 1967 as “illegal occupation.” ...