HTML clipboard
Press Release
PCHR Releases 2000 Report
Ref: 29 /2001
Date: May 29, 2001
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has released its annual report for 2000. The report includes an examination of the human rights situation in Palestine from January 1 to December 31, 2000. It also includes PCHR’s financial report for 2000 and an assessment of its 2000 annual plan.
The Report states that the year 2000 came to an end with an increasing level of human rights violations and war crimes perpetrated by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The final quarter of the year 2000 witnessed an unprecedented continuous and systematic escalation in the excessive use of lethal force by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians. According to the results of investigations conducted by PCHR, in dozens of incidents when Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians, the lives of Israeli soldiers had not been in danger. In all cases where Palestinian civilians were killed, Israeli forces did not resort to the use of less lethal means of crowd control before live or rubber-coated metal bullets were used against peaceful Palestinian demonstrations. Israeli actions were not, however, limited to indiscriminate firing on Palestinian civilians or the use of snipers or silenced guns. For the first time since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces not only used heavy and medium calibre machine guns, but also employed combat helicopters, gunboats and tanks to shell Palestinian residential areas.
In the last quarter of 2000, attacks by Israeli forces and settlers resulted in the deaths of 273 Palestinian civilians, including 103 children under 18 and 11 people over 50. The total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers from January 1 until December 31, 2000 was 297, including 111 children under 18. This figure includes 15 Palestinians who were extra-judicially executed as part of a declared Israeli policy of political assassination. In nine of the 15 cases of extra-judicial killing, Israeli forces also killed or injured Palestinian civilian by-standers. The number of Palestinian civilians wounded by Israeli bullets or artillery shells in the last quarter of the year 2000 was approximately 10,000, including 2,500 in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces also often targeted the upper part of the body. According to medical reports, 1,305 out of the 2,500 wounded in Gaza, were wounded in the upper part of the body. Of these, 531 were wounded in the head and the neck and 774 were wounded in the chest and the abdomen. According to the same reports, 1,492 children under 18 were wounded by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip during the same period.
Furthermore, Israeli forces also targeted medical personnel and ambulances. Although medical personnel and vehicles were always clearly marked and easily identifiable, Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian nurses in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with live bullets. A German physician and resident of Bethlehem was killed by an artillery shell when he was trying to offer help to Palestinian civilians who were wounded during Israeli shelling of the city. Dozens of medical personnel were wounded during the period of September 29 to December 31, 2000.
Similarly, members of the local and international press were not immune to violations. The press was frequently fired upon by Israeli occupation forces and settlers. These attacks particularly targeted cameramen and photographers, whose visual media capture powerful images, such as Mohammed al-Durreh’s death, have attracted intense international attention. Such attacks by the Israeli occupation forces constitute a deliberate attempt to terrify journalists and deter them from carrying out their duties. Members of the press, like medical personnel, enjoy special protetion under international humanitarian law and relevant international instruments.
The Israeli occupation forces also targeted Palestinian security forces, especially in the last quarter of the year 2000. Despite the limited number of armed confrontations between Palestinian security forces or armed Palestinians and Israeli forces, PCHR documented many incidents during which Israeli forces fired live bullets or artillery shells at Palestinian security personnel. These forces were fired upon whilst attempting to move Palestinian civilians (who were either participating in peaceful marches or throwing stones at Israeli forces) away from Israeli forces. PCHR also documented several cases in which the Israeli forces fired live bullets and artillery shells at Palestinian security personnel without warning when no clashes were occurring. In all circumstances, the Israeli occupation forces failed to comply with the principles of international law and international humanitarian law. Israeli forces did not distinguish between civilian and military targets, resulting in the high death and injury toll amongst Palestinian civilians. The total number of Palestinain deaths caused by Israeli forces in the year 2000 was 335, including 36 Palestinian Security personnel.
In further violation of international humanitarian law, the continuous and systematic Israeli shelling of Palestinian cities and residential areas resulted in a large number of civilian deaths and injuries. Both public and private properties were severely damaged. Dozens of houses were completely destroyed and hundreds were severely damaged, leaving hundreds of Palestinian families homeless. Although no city escaped Israeli shelling, some cities were systematically targeted during the last three months of 2000: Hebron, Khan Yunis, Rafah, Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Ramallah.
During the last quarter of the year 2000, Israeli occupation forces engaged in large-scale destruction and demolition of Palestinian property and land. Israeli forces razed thousands of donums of Palestinian agricultural land, which constitute the basic resource of the Palestinian economy. They uprooted fruit-bearing trees and destroyed hundreds of greenhouses, irrigation systems, wells, and also agricultural facilities and equipment. The Israeli occupation forces demolished dozens of Palestinian houses and their contents after expelling the residents – often without prior warning. Israeli forces also demolished a number of factories, workshops and other civilian facilities. According to information documented by PCHR, Israeli forces razed a total of 4,698 donums of Palestinian agricultural and wooded land in the Gaza Strip from October to December 2000. During the same period, these forces also demolished 62 Palestinian houses in the Gaza Strip.
A total siege was also imposed by the Israeli forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories during the last quarter of 2000. The new siege was not limited to the restriction of commercial transactions and the prevention of approximately 50,000 Palestinian laborers from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip who work in Israel from going to their places of work. New measures included the closure of all crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel as well as the “Safe Passage,” which opened on October 25 1999 to facilitate movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In addition, Israel prohibited movement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip across the Israeli territories. Israeli forces also closed the border with Egypt in Rafah and Al-Karama Crossing on the border with Jordan for long periods, preventing the travel of Palestinian civilians to and from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Additionally, in one of the worst examples of Israeli collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, Israeli closed Gaza International.
During this latter period of 2000, Israel reinforced its military presence in the OPT, particularly at the entrances of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have imposed restrictions on movement between these cities, transforming the OPT into Bantustan-like isolated areas, in a manner unprecedented since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967. Israeli forces also imposed strict curfews on Palestinian areas under their security control. In the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron, more than 30,000 Palestinian civilians were forced to remain in their homes, under virtual house arrest, to maintain the “security” of approximately 300 Jewish settlers living in settlements inside the city. These policies cannot be explained except by reference to the now extinct system of apartheid in South Africa.
PCHR considers that it is inaccurate to interpret the unprecedented escalation of Israeli violations purely as a response to massive clashes that erupted in the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the end of September 2000, in what has become known as the “Al-Aqsa Intifada.” It is equally unreasonable to view such clashes as merely a reaction to the provocative visit of the extremist rightist leader Ariel Sharon (the present Prime Minister of Israel) to Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Holy Sanctuary) on September 28, 2000. Rather, the outbreak of clashes between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli forces was the result of years of Israeli oppression and persecution of Palestinian civilians and the continued denial of their most basic rights and freedoms. At the heart of the Palestinian struggle is the denial of the right to self-determination; an end to the occupation, the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes are legitimate, legal demands that have been consistently denied by Israel even during the peace process.
The outbreak of clashes can be viewed as the result of frustrations at a ten-year-old peace process throughout which human rights and international humanitarian law were subjugated by continuous US pressure on Palestinians, and continuing US support for Israel and its oppressive practices against the Palestinian people. PCHR had previously and repeatedly expressed its grave concerns at the submission of human rights and freedoms for political considerations. The final statement of the October 2000 Sharm al-Sheikh Summit in the middle of October 2000, in which the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak participated, clearly failed to understand this fundamental flaw in the peace process.
Prior to the outbreak of violence in September 2000, the absence of any respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Palestinian people was clear. Israeli forces continued to destroy and confiscate Palestinian land to facilitate the expansion of existing settlements, the establishment of new settlements, and to build bypass roads. In addition, Israeli forces and settlers continued to kill Palestinian civilians. More than 1,600 Palestinian prisoners were still detained in Israeli jails, at danger of torture and in conditions which failed to reach international standards. Israel also tightened its siege on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, imposing restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians and goods, thereby suffocating the Palestinian economy. These cumulative violations resulted in an escalating crisis in the economic and social rights of Palestinian civilians.
The deadline for the interim period, May 4, 1999, also passed without Israeli compliance with its obligations under the Interim Agreement regarding the redeployment of its forces in the West Bank. The interim period and its agreements were based on a series of steps intended to build mutual confidence and to reach a final settlement, such as redeployment of forces from the OPT. However, by the end of the year 2000, more than one and a half years since the scheduled end of the interim period, not only had a final agreement not been reached, but Israeli forces had also failed to comply with the requirements of the interim agreement.
With regard to its expectations for the future in the region, PCHR maintains that the latest developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the unprecedented escalation in Israeli human rights violations and war crimes in the last quarter of the year 2000 undermines any hope of the situation coming to an end in the near future. In light of the blatant abuse of Palestinian human rights, PCHR calls upon the international community and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations to intervene and put an end to the violations. The provision of immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians is now more necessary than ever before in the conflict. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to reconsider their decision to delay its conference, called for by the UN General Assembly, which convened for only ten minutes on July 15 1999 and without further action. It is the view of PCHR that not only has continuing HCP inaction led to an unprecedented politicization of international humanitarian law, but it also implies encouragement for Israeli violations against Palestinian civilians, increasingly constituting an international conspiracy of silence.
On the Palestinian domestic level, PCHRs report states that democratic change needed in the Palestinian National Authority was presented with serious obstacles resulting from the ascendancy of the executive over the legislature and the judiciary, especially in the first nine months of 2000. During the last quarter of the year 2000, the worsening logistical, economic and social conditions imposed by Israel on Palestinian civilians and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), eliminated all opportunities to discuss a process of democratic change and institutionalization. However, it is also the view of PCHR that, irrespective of the worsening effects of the continuing Israeli occupation of the OPT on Palestinian democratic development, the Palestinian National Authority is primarily responsible for problems in democratic development.
The PNA has not made any real efforts to promote the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers or to ensure the protection of Palestinian human rights.
Justice, in particular, faced concrete challenges and obstacles in the year 2000 but the PNA failed to take crucial measures to promote the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. The year 2000 ended without the PNA issuing legislation guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary. The judicial ratified in its third reading in the Palestinian Legislative Council in November 1998, was not issued. A Presidential decree was issued ordering the establishment of a high judiciary council. However, despite the importance of establishing such a council, PCHR has expressed reservations about the means by which the council was established.
Furthermore, the implementation of Palestinian court decisions, particularly those relating to the release of political prisoners, faced serious challenges from law enforcement officials. As such, this issue remained one of the most important open files on the PNA agenda. During the first nine months of the year 2000, the PNA continued to wage illegal arrest campaigns and failed to release prisoners even after the High Court ruled in favor of their release. Nevertheless, during the last quarter of the year 2000, this issue saw considerable improvement following the release of most political prisoners. PCHR expressed its satisfaction with this improvement.
One the most significant obstacles to the functioning of Palestinian judicial system was the continued operation of the State Security Courts which dramatically undermined the independence of the judiciary. Moreover, the mandates of these courts are increasingly expanded to include civil cases. Trials in these courts are conducted rapidly without legal representation for those indicted or any right of appeal. The State Security Courts lack the basic international requirements for fair trials. The abolishment of the State Security Courts is one of the basic demands of human rights organizations. During the year 2000, the Palestinian State Security Courts sentenced a number of those indicted to death, with no possibility of appeal.
During the first nine months of the year 2000, the PNA continued to restrict the right to free expression and peaceful assembly. The order issued by the Palestinian Chief of Police on February 29, 2000 prohibiting public meetings without his prior approval was strongly condemned by PCHR and other Palestinian human rights organizations. This order, as well as the executive bill issued by the Palestinian President in his capacity as Minister of Interior, on April 30, 2000, violates Law 12 of 1998 regarding public meetings in both word and spirit. However, it should be noted that these restrictions were significantly eased in the last quarter of the year. During this time, dozens of marches and public meetings were organized without prior approval of the Palestinian Chief of Police. All of these activities were organized to protest Israeli occupation and practices and were not related to the PNA.
During the last quarter of the year, the work of the Palestinian legislature was profoundly affected by the total Israeli siege imposed on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) were not able to move freely between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and even between cities, to attend the sessions of the PLC and its committees. However, during the first nine months of the year, the PLC failed to meet the expectations of Palestinian people as a legislative body. Although the tenure of the PLC came to its de jure end in May 1999, as stipulated in the Interim Agreement after the public authorization expired, no public election was held. In addition, the election is not expected to be held in the near future. This is a major obstacle to democratic development, particularly given the continued failure of the PNA to hold elections for Palestinian local councils, which are currently administered by appointed committees rather than elected ones.
A copy of the report can be obtained through contacting PCHR at [email protected],
Click here to Download Report.
