GENEVA, July 11 (Reuters) - A United Nations expert on Tuesday said Israel had transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an "open-air prison" through widespread detentions of Palestinians, an assertion swiftly dismissed by Israel.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, told reporters in Geneva that Israel had carried out widespread, systematic and arbitrary detention of Palestinians since the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel's founding in 1948, defeating Arab armies from around the Middle East, scattered hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees through the wider region.
In the 1967 Middle East war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally, and launched settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
Persons:
Israel, Francesca Albanese, Albanese, Israel's, Gabrielle Tétrault, Farber, William Maclean
Organizations:
United, Israel, Reuters, Human Rights, West Bank, Thomson
Locations:
GENEVA, United Nations, Geneva, Israel, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Gaza, Egypt, Jenin