Ref:
88/2011 

In
conjunction with the current escalation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli
Occupation Forces (IOF) launched in the early morning of Sunday, 21 August
2011, a large-scale military campaign against many neighbors and streets and
dozens of houses in Hebron.  During this
campaign, IOF arrested at least 50 Palestinians, mostly members and activists
of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), including a member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), a journalist, some academics and members
of charitable associations.  The
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns this operation and
believes it is part of the ongoing Israeli escalation and collective punishment
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).  PCHR calls upon the international community to
promptly intervene in order to compel the government of Israel to stop
systematic crimes collective punishment measures against Palestinian civilians.

According
to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 00:30 on Sunday, a large Israeli
military force, backed by at least 100 military vehicles, 2 armored personnel
carriers, trucks and 2 ambulances stormed into Hebron through many of its main
entrances.  They closed all the entrances
leading to Hebron and divided themselves into separate units.  They drove in the streets and stormed the areas
of Ras al-Jora, Ber al-Mahjar, al-Jame’a, Abu Kteila, al-Salam Street, Ein
Sara, al-Mahawer, al-Sheikh, Nemra, al-Hawouz al-Thani, Wad al-Hariyah and Um
al-Dalia in the north, northwest, center and southwest of Hebron.  They raided dozens of houses amidst intensive
firing of sound bombs and bullets in the air.  They evacuated these houses and forced
residents to stay in the open air.  They searched
the evacuated houses. They checked the ID cards of residents and checked some
of them at gunpoint.  Some relatives of
Palestinians who were arrested reported that IOF used sniffer dogs.  The detainees and their families were
subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment.

Before
withdrawing at approximately 04:50, IOF arrested more than 50 Palestinians
including several academics, social figures and members of charitable
associations. The detainees include: ‘Aamer Abdul Rahman Abu Arafah, 27, a reporter
for Shihab News Agency; Jawad al-Ja’bari, 38, Director of the Muslim Youth
Association; Dr. Amjad Ameen al-Hammouri, 38, a dentist and social activist;
and Dr, Qassem Mustafa al-Qawasmi, a lecturer in al-Quds Open University. Later, the detainees were transported to Kfar
Etzion detention center, southwest of Bethlehem.  It should be noted that this military
operation is the largest of its kind in Hebron since 2004.

At
the same time, IOF moved into the villages of Dura, Beit Awwa, al-Smou’, Beit
Ola, Ethna and Sourif, southwest and northwest of Hebron.  They raided and searched many houses after
evacuating the residents and forcing them to stay in the open air. Before
withdrawing, they arrested 10 Palestinians, including Mohammed Metleq Abdul
Mahdi Abu Jheisha, 57, PLC Member from the Change and Reform Bloc affiliated to
Hamas; and ‘Ali Ahmed ‘Abdul Fattah al-Hour, a lecturer in al-Quds Open
University.  

PCHR
renews its condemnation of this operation and:

1- Affirms that this operation in Hebron and in a number of nearby towns
and villages is part of the policy of collective punishment imposed by IOF
against Palestinian civilians and part of the measures aimed at terrifying the
civilian population.

2- Calls upon the international community to promptly intervene to
put an end to such attacks, and renews its call for the High Contracting
Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under
Article 1 of the Convention to respect and ensure respect for the Convention in
all circumstances, and under Article 146 to prosecute perpetrators of grave breaches,
which constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
and the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions.

3- Calls upon the High Commissioner for Human Rights to immediately
visit the OPT to witness the ongoing war crimes and serious violations of human
rights in the OPT.

4- Calls upon the international community to activate the Goldstone
Report in the next meeting of the UN General Assembly in next September.