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RECENT REPORTS: PALESTINIAN CONDITIONS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND ISRAEL

Weekly HR reports of Israeli aggression available online

Physicians for Human Rights Israel resposible for imminent collapse of Palestinian health care system:
The Palestinian health system is the only framework currently capable of meeting the needs of 3.5 million Palestinians, and cannot be replaced overnight by another system. Lack of funding for this system will lead to the death of thousands of people in the short term, and to extensive morbidity [disease] in the long term.
10 May 2006

ED. - Due to lack of time, numerous reports from October 2005 - May 2006 were not posted.

Physicians for Human Rights Gaza after Disengagement- Patients pay the Price:
The closure imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel since the beginning of the disengagement plan prevents entry into Israel or passage through Israel in order to reach the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Hundreds of patients have been left without treatment.
12 October 2005

United Nations With world focused on Gaza,Israel expanding in West Bank and pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem:
During the past year, Israel's decision to withdraw Jewish settlers and troops from Gaza has attracted the attention of the international community. This focus of attention on Gaza has allowed Israel to continue with the construction of the wall in Palestinian territory, the expansion of settlements and the de-Palestinization of Jerusalem with virtually no criticism. This report focuses principally on these matters.
Summary article
8 October 2005 post

United Nations Israel will remain occupier after disengagement:
Israel will in law remain an Occupying Power still subject to obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The report focused upon military incursions into the Gaza Strip, the demolition of homes, violations of human rights and humanitarian law arising from the construction of the Wall and the pervasiveness of restrictions of movement.
8 October 2005 post

United Nations Israel pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem:
Israel is striving to reduce the number of Palestinians living in Jerusalem while increasing its Jewish population to undermine claims on East Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual Palestinian state, a U.N. human rights investigator said on Monday.
27 September 2005

European Delegation to Israel and Palestine Report on fact-finding trip after removal of settlers in Gaza
The visit took place shortly after Israelıs disengagement from The Gaza Strip. The Delegation embarked on its [fact-finding] trip at this crucial moment in time, to witness and assess at first-hand those facts that (continue to) threaten the prospects for a just peace and that are not being decisively addressed by the international community. The Delegation comes to the conclusion that in light of Israelıs persistence in the [illegal] policies [that cause much suffering among Palestinians on a daily basis] , and the impact of such policies on the situation on the ground, an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict depends in the first instance on a more determined international intervention to achieve accountability from Israel and to enforce a compliance with International Law.
28 August 2005

International Crisis Group The Jerusalem Powder Keg
While the world focuses on Gaza, the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations in fact may be playing itself out away from the spotlight, in Jerusalem. With recent steps, Israel is attempting to solidify its hold over a wide area in and around the city, creating a far broader Jerusalem. If the international community and specifically the U.S. are serious about preserving and promoting a viable two-state solution, they need to speak far more clearly and insistently to halt actions that directly and immediately jeopardise that goal. And if that solution is ever to be reached, they will need to be clear that changes that have occurred since Israelis and Palestinians last sat down to negotiate in 2000-2001 will have to be reversed.
2 August 2005 Posted 18 August 2005

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Ruling Palestine: A History of the legally sanctioned Jewish-Israeli Seizure of land and housing in Palestine (PDF 1.8M) or excerpt
In tracing more than a century of Jewish-Israeli land acquisitions, this study documents the methodical process underlying the Zionist conquest of Palestine and the dispossession and displacement of its indigenous Arab inhabitants. We examine this process with reference to relevant international treaties and agreements. We show that Israel's discriminatory policies towards Palestinians constituted violations of key United Nations resolutions adopted by the international community in the General Assembly and the Security Council over the past several decades.
May 2005 Posted 16 August 2005

UN Adopts Pathbreaking New Global Standard which Demands Return of Confiscated Refugee Land and Housing
The United Nations is expected to adopt a sweeping series of principles today that urge governments everywhere to ensure all refugees and persons displaced due to conflict and natural disasters are entitled to return to, recover and reside in their original homes, lands and properties.

Scott Leckie, Executive Director of the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an independent human rights organisation with extensive experience working on restitution themes, said "Housing and property restitution is an essential element of reconstruction and recovery in post-conflict situations...The Middle East is a good example of this. The dispossession of Palestinian homes, lands and properties remains at the heart of the longstanding conflict which today seems no closer to being resolved. More than half of the original Palestinian population has been displaced from Palestine, and some six million Palestinian refugees need to achieve residential justice through the exercise of their legal rights to housing, land and property restitution. Any peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians will not be feasible until Israel acknowledges the right of Palestinians to return to and re-possess their homes which are now controlled by Israel."
11 August 2005

U.N. Human Rights Commission - Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
The Special Procedures mandate holders would like to express their concern at the fact that the wall violates Israel's obligations under international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The wall particularly violates freedom of movement, as well as the rights to adequate housing, food, family life, education and health. Furthermore, the wall violates important norms of international humanitarian law prohibiting the annexation of occupied territory, the establishment of settlements, the confiscation of private land and the forcible transfer of people. The disproportionately severe impact of the wall on women and children is also a grave concern that calls for immediate action.
4 August 2005

B'Tselem - Means of Expulsion: Violence, Harassment and Lawlessness Toward Palestinians in the Southern Hebron Hills
In the southernmost West Bank , some one thousand Palestinians have maintained the way of life of their ancestors: living in caves and earning a living from farming and livestock. In the 1970s, the Israeli military commander declared the area a "closed military area," and for the past five years, Israel has been trying to expel them from the area.
18 July 2005

The Logic of Suicide Terrorism
Itıs the occupation, not the fundamentalism
The American Conservative Interview with Robert Pape
18 July 2005

Settler Violence

Human Rights Watch -Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military's Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing
In recent months several high-profile killings have drawn Israeli and international attention to the army's failure to conduct thorough and impartial investigations where there is credible evidence of unlawful use of force against civilians‹none more so than the October 5, 2004, incident in which Givati Brigade soldiers shot a thirteen-year-old Gaza schoolgirl Iman al Hams, 13 yr old schoolgirl killed by IDF [news article]. An internal IDF debriefing immediately after the incident found that the company commander had ³"not acted unethically."[IDF news report] Fellow soldiers then released a communications tape to the media showing that another soldier had warned the commander that the victim was "a little girl". The tape recorded the commander saying, "Anything thatıs mobile, that moves in the zone, even if itıs a three-year-old, needs to be killed." On the tape he also states that he "confirmed the kill" by firing at the girlıs body at close range.
UPDATE 2005: Commander received a PROMOTION to major/span>
UPDATE 2006: Commander received MONETARY COMPENSATION despite the evidence
22 June 2005

International Labour Organization: Situation of workers in occupied Arab territories continues to deteriorate
"[ILO] observed a prevailing feeling that the economic situation of Palestinians must rapidly improve in order for them to continue to support the policy of dialogue and negotiation with Israel", the report says. "This calls for a rapid lifting of closures, better access to the Israeli labour market, and improved trade facilities, as well as putting an end to discrimination against Arab people in the occupied Syrian Golan". One in three young persons aged 15-24 years and over half of those aged 25-29 years are in forced idleness, that is neither studying nor in employment... In 2004, 57 per cent of all wage workers in the occupied territories received monthly wages that failed to lift a family of two adults and four children above the official poverty line. Approximately half of the population, 1.8 million persons, live below the national poverty threshold. In 2004, 57 per cent of all wage workers in the occupied territories received monthly wages that failed to lift a family of two adults and four children above the official poverty line.
Friday 27 May 2005

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Ruling Palestine: A History of the legally sanctioned Jewish-Israeli Seizure of land and housing in Palestine (PDF 1.8M) or excerpt
In tracing more than a century of Jewish-Israeli land acquisitions, this study documents the methodical process underlying the Zionist conquest of Palestine and the dispossession and displacement of its indigenous Arab inhabitants. We examine this process with reference to relevant international treaties and agreements. We show that Israel's discriminatory policies towards Palestinians constituted violations of key United Nations resolutions adopted by the international community in the General Assembly and the Security Council over the past several decades.
May 2005

Amnesty slams Israel 'war crimes'
Gaza - 
                   man carrying bleeding boy wounded by Israeli actions Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing war crimes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The rights group's report for 2004 says Israeli forces have killed some 700 Palestinians - including 150 children - mostly in unlawful circumstances. The report lists "reckless shooting, shelling and air strikes in civilian areas... and excessive use of force".
Thursday, 26 May, 2005

BıTselem Report - Take No Prisoners: Lethal Shooting of Palestinians by Israeli Forces During Arrest Operations
Grave suspicion of assassinations under the guise of arrests.
Wednesday, 25 May, 2005

Child tied to an
            Israeli jeep as he is being used as a human shield BıTselem Report - One Big Prison: New Report Warns Against Continued Strangulation of Gaza Strip after Disengagement
One Big Prison documents the ongoing violations of human rights and international law resulting from Israelıs restrictions on the movement of people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank, Israel, and the rest of the world. The report also warns against Israelıs attempt to avoid its responsibility toward residents of the Gaza Strip following disengagement.
March 29, 2005

OTHER REPORTS FROM B'TSELEM

Administrative punishment

Administrative detention
House demolitions as punishment
Deportation

Destruction of property

Demolition of houses as punishment
Demolition for alleged military purposes
Planning and building

Detainees and prisoners

Administrative Torture

East Jerusalem

Background
Legal Status
The Separation Barrier in Jerusalem
Family unification and child registration
Revocation of residency
Revocation of social rights
Planning, building and expropriation of land
Neglect of infrastructure and services

International Law

Background
International human rights law
International humanitarian law (Laws of war)

Land and water

Land expropriation and settlements
The water crisis

Residency rights and deportation

Family separation
Deportation
Revocation of residency of Palestinians in East Jerusalem

Restrictions on movement

Background
Closure
Siege
Curfew
Effect on the economy
Medical treatment

Separation Barrier

Background
Opinion of the International Court of Justice
Israeli High Court of Justice ruling
Jerusalem

Settlements and Israeli civilians

Land expropriation and settlements
Attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinians
Settler violence
East Jerusalem

Use of force

Beating and abuse
Use of firearms
Human shields

Violations by Palestinians

Attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinians
Harm to Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel
Death penalty in the Palestinian Authority

I AM IN THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING LINKS TO REPORTS PRIOR TO 2005. IN OTHER WORDS, THE SECTION BELOW IS "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" - WEBMASTER

Human Rights Watch - Israel: Caterpillar Should Suspend Bulldozer Sales
Weaponized Bulldozers Used to Destroy Civilian Property and Infrastructure
Caterpillar Inc., the U.S.-based heavy equipment company, should immediately suspend sales of its powerful D9 bulldozer to the Israeli army, Human Rights Watch said  today. As Human Rights Watch documented in a recent report, the  Israeli military uses the D9 as its primary weapon to raze Palestinian homes, destroy agriculture and shred roads in violation  of the laws of war. "Caterpillar betrays its stated values when it sells bulldozers to  Israel knowing that they are being used to illegally destroy  Palestinian homes," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at  Human Rights Watch. "Until Israel stops these practices,  Caterpillar's continued sales will make the company complicit in human rights abuses."
Above press release refers to this report Razing Rafah
23 November, 2004

Amnesty International - Under the rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and property
More than 3,000 homes, hundreds of public buildings and private commercial properties, and vast areas of agricultural land have been destroyed by the Israeli army and security forces in Israel and the Occupied Territories in the past three and a half years. Tens of thousands of men, women and children have been forcibly evicted from their homes and made homeless or have lost their source of livelihood. Thousands of other houses and properties have been damaged, many beyond repair. In addition, tens of thousands of other homes are under threat of demolition, their occupants living in fear of forced eviction and homelessness..
18 May, 2004

Amnesty International 2004 Report on Israel/Occupied Territories

Amnesty International - Surviving under siege: The impact of movement restrictions on the right to work

Amnesty International - Israel must end its policy of assassinations

Amnesty International - Israel must immediately stop the construction of wall

Four Years of Intifada: Statistical Overview

US State Department 2003 Report on Israel and the Occupied Territories

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