A Special Issue on the 7^th
Anniversary of the al-Aqsa Intifada

 

The Intifada Enters Its Eighth Year
and Criminals Remain Free of Punishment

 

This report coincides with the 7^th anniversary of the
eruption of the al-Aqsa Intifada, which broke out following the former Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to al-Aqsa Mosque (the
Holy Sanctuary) in occupied Jerusalem. Over the last 7 years, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have perpetrated
grave breaches of international law, including war crimes, against Palestinian
civilians, in a manner unprecedented since 1967. The international
community has remained silent and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth
Geneva Convention of 1949 failed to meet their obligations to ensure respect
for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and provide
protection for Palestinian civilians.  The international silence has
served to encourage the Israeli government and its occupation forces to
perpetrate more war crimes with impunity against Palestinian civilians. 

 

Over the past 7 years, IOF have employed its full-fledged arsenal
against Palestinian civilians and property in the OPT. IOF have also attacked
medical crews and journalists and killed and wounded a number of them. PCHR
believes that the international failure to punish Israeli war criminals to
apply the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in
Time of War of 1949 in the OPT is a form
of permission for more killings.

 

The 7^th year of the Intifada has been the worst for the Gaza
Strip. IOF hand continued to impose a total siege on the Gaza Strip, isolating
it from the outside world, and forcing nearly 1.5 million Palestinians to live
in a big jail under severe humanitarian conditions. IOF closed all border crossing
of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip on 14 June 2007.
Israeli policy peaked with declaring the Gaza Strip as “an enemy entity.”
Although such declaration does not bring any new, as IOF have effectively dealt
with the Gaza Strip as an enemy entity, it implies more sanctions against the
Palestinian civilian population. IOF have allowed the entry of limited food and
medical supplies into the Gaza Strip. The total siege imposed on the Gaza Strip
has impacted all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip and has violated Palestinian
economic and social rights. Moreover, IOF have continued to prevent
Palestinians from the Gaza Strip from travelling to religious sites in
Jerusalem. They have only allowed a few number of Christians to travel to the
West Bank during Christian occasions.

 

In the West Bank, IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall in
violation of international law and humanitarian law and the Advisory Opinion
issued by the International Court of Justice on 9 July 2004, which considers
the Wall illegal.

 

In the 7^th year of the Intifadah, IOF have continued to move
into Palestinian communities and kill and arrest Palestinian civilians. IOF
have also continued to impose severe restrictions on internal movement inside
the West Bank. They have divided the West Bank into 5 separate partitions
through a network of checkpoints and barriers. They are currently at least 40
permanent checkpoints and at least 15 temporary ones in the West Bank. These
figures do not include checkpoints erected along the border between the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip. IOF have also closed scores of roads with barriers,
including sand hills, cement blocks, iron gates and trenches. By the end of 7^th
year of the Intifada, the number of checkpoints in the West Bank has been 546.

 

IOF have maintained policies aimed at the Judaization of Jerusalem. They
have continued to construct the Annexation Wall around the city and take a
series of measures against its Palestinian population. They have cut off the city
from its Palestinian surroundings and expanded settlements around the town.  

 

In the 7^th year of the Intifada, 470 Palestinians, including
344 civilians (73%) have been killed by IOF. The number of civilian victims
includes 81 children (23%) and 14 women (3.5%). In the Gaza Strip alone, 365
Palestinians, including 262 civilians, have been killed by IOF. According to
PCHR’s documentation, 83 Palestinians have been extra-judicially executed by
IOF (34.5% of the total number of civilian victims). This number includes 72
targeted persons and 11 civilian bystanders. Also during the 7^th
year of the Intifada, IOF killed 2 medical personnel and a journalist. In
addition, a Palestinian civilian was killed by an Israeli settler.

 

By the end of the 6^th year of the al-Aqsa Intifada, 4,329
Palestinians, including 3,413 civilians (79%), have been killed. These figures
include 724 children (22%) and 119 women (3.5%). In the Gaza Strip alone, 2,502
Palestinians, including 1,779 civilians, have been killed by IOF. According to
PCHR’s documentation, 668 Palestinians have been extra-judicially executed by
IOF (19.6% of the total number of civilian victims). This number includes 448
targeted persons and 220 civilian bystanders, including 73 children.

 

A table
showing those killed during the al-Aqsa Intifada from

29
September 2000 to 28 September 2007  

 

Context	Total	7th year
Palestinians killed  in attacks by Israeli occupying forces, settlers and Israeli police in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and inside Israel	4,329, including 3,413 civilians	470, including 344 civilians
Palestinians killed in the West Bank	1,827, including 1,634 civilians	105, including 82 civilians
Palestinians killed in Gaza Strip	2,502, including 1,779 civilians	365, including 262 civilians
Children killed	805	81
Children killed in the Gaza Strip	488	58
Children killed in the West Bank	317	23
Females killed	138	19
Females killed in the Gaza Strip	74	16
Females killed in the West Bank	64	3
Palestinians killed in extra-judicial executions	448, including 220 civilian bystanders (73 of them are children)	83, including 11 civilian bystanders
Medical personnel killed	21	2
Journalists killed	10	0
Civilians killed in settler attacks	46	1

 

* In addition, 80 Palestinian
civilians, including 19 children and 26 women, have died at military
checkpoints and border crossing due to the obstruction by IOF of their access
to medical care.

 

A table showing those who have been
wounded during the al-Aqsa Intifada from

29 September 2000 to 28 September
2007[1]

 

Area	Total	7th year
Gaza Strip	11,000	1,000
West Bank	13,345	418
Total	2,345	1,418

 

A table
showing land levelling, house demolitions and destruction to industrial and
educational facilities in the Gaza Strip during the al-Aqsa Intifada,

from 29
September 2000 to 28 September 2007 

 

Type	Total		7th year
Land leveling	38,352 donums[2]		1,500 donums
House demolition[3]	Complete	Partial	Complete	Partial
	2,991	2,870	80	443
Industrial facilities destroyed[4]	735		58

 

The seven years of the al-Aqsa Intifada have been characterized by the
following Israeli military attacks: 

  

· Prolonged Incursions and
redeployment into Palestinian Authority controlled areas.

· Massive killings and destruction
of houses and civilian property.

· Extra-judicial executions against
Palestinian activists and political leaders, the most significant of which
targeted Abu Ali Mustafa, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine; Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and leader of Hamas;
and his successor, Dr. ‘Abdul ‘Aziz al-Rantissi.

· Destruction of the Palestinian economy and the structure of
the Palestinian Authority through the destruction of civil and security
facilities.

· Using  Palestinian
civilians as human shields during military operations in the OPT.

· Closing Rafah International
Crossing Point and other border crossings of the Gaza Strip.

· Chasing fishermen and depriving them of their sources of
income.

· Storming Jericho Prison and arresting senior political
leaders.

· Humiliation of Palestinian at military checkpoints.

· Deaths of dozens of people due to the obstruction of their
access to hospitals.  

· Deportation of a number of Palestinian activists.

· Continued construction of
the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank territory, in a challenge for the
advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considered
the construction of the wall illegal.

· Wilful killing of
Palestinian civilians.

· Indiscriminate shelling of
Palestinian civilian residential areas using various forms of weaponry, including
warplanes, tanks and machine guns.

· Collective punishment of
Palestinian civilians, denying them their basic human rights, including the
rights of health, education, freedom of movement and work, through imposing a
tightened siege on the OPT.

· Transformation of Erez
crossing into an international border crossing between the Gaza Strip and
Israel.

· Transformation of Qalandya
checkpoint into an international border crossing between the West Bank and
Israel.

· Arbitrary arrests and
placing Palestinians in administrative detention.

· Closure of a number of
charitable societies in the West Bank.

· Systematic attacks by
Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.

 

 

 

 

 

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue
Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory (OPT)

 

 

· 4 Palestinians, including one civilian, were killed by IOF
in the Gaza Strip.

 

· One of the victims was extra-judicially executed by IOF.

 

· 12 Palestinians, including 2 children and a journalist,
were wounded by IOF.

 

· IOF conducted 21 incursions into Palestinian communities in
the West Bank and 3 ones into the Gaza Strip.

 

· IOF arrested 25 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and 2
ones in the Gaza Strip.

 

· IOF have closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron during the
holy Ramadan Month for 6 sporadic days.

 

· IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.

 

· IOF have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world and
a humanitarian crisis has emerged.

 

· Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
have been denied access to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

 

· IOF troops arrested 8 Palestinian civilians, including a
child, at checkpoints in the West Bank.

 

· IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank
and Israeli settlers have continued to attacks Palestinian civilians and
property.

 

· IOF started to level land in Jerusalem to establish a metro
network. 

 

· Israeli settlers stormed some areas in Hebron and Nablus.

 

 

Summary

 

Israeli
violations of international law and humanitarian law continued in the OPT
during the reporting period (27 September – 3 October 2007):

 

Shooting:
During the
reporting period, IOF killed 4 Palestinians, including one civilian, and wounded
10 others, including 2 children and a journalist, in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip.

 

In the
Gaza Strip, IOF killed 4 Palestinians and wounded 3 others.

 

On 1
October 2007, 2 members of the Palestinian resistance were killed when they
resisted an IOF infantry unit that moved into the northern Gaza Strip town of
Jabalya. On 3 October 2007, IOF extra-judicially executed a member of the
‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) and wounded another
one in Rafah. On the same day, a Palestinian civilian was killed by IOF during
an incursion into al-Fukhari area in Khan Yunis. During the reporting period, a
child and a journalist were wounded in two separate attacks near Erez crossing
in the northern Gaza Strip, when IOF troops fired at Palestinian civilians who
gathered near the crossing waiting for their relatives who were released from
Israeli jails on 2 October 2007.

 

In the
West Bank, 7 Palestinian civilians, including one child, were wounded by IOF. Five
of these civilians were wounded when IOF used force to disperse a peaceful
demonstration organized by Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli
human rights defenders in protest to the construction of the Annexation Wall in
Bal’ein village, west of Ramallah. The other two civilians, including a child,
were wounded by in Hebron.

 

Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF
conducted at least 21 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the
West Bank. During those incursions, IOF arrested 25 Palestinian civilians. Thus,
the number of Palestinians arrested by IOF in the West Bank since the beginning
of this year has mounted to 2,067. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted 3
incursions into Palestinian communities in the Gaza Strip.

 

Restrictions on Movement: Since Wednesday morning, 26 September 2007, IOF have imposed
a total siege on the OPT. IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the
OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in
the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

 

Gaza Strip

 

IOF
have imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip. They have closed its border
crossings as a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians.

 

IOF have closed Rafah International
Crossing Point, even though they do not directly control it. They have
prevented European observers working at the crossing point form reaching it. IOF
had already closed Rafah International Crossing Point following an armed attack
against an IOF military post in Kerem Shalom area, southeast of Rafah, on 25
June 2006. The crossing point had been partially reopened for short, sporadic
periods to allow few numbers of Palestinian to travel through it. The crossing
point has been completely closed since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip and
the withdrawal of Palestinian security forces from the crossing point. There
are approximately 6,000 Palestinians held at the Egyptian side of the border
awaiting to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip. Most of them have run out
of money and are living on assistance. In addition, 19 of them have died in
Egypt. The bodies were returned to Gaza through the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem
Shalom) crossing. In addition, thousands of travelers were allowed to return to
the Gaza Strip through al-Ojah crossing, 8 kilometers southeast of Rafah. From
there, they were transported to Erez Checkpoint to enter the Gaza Strip.  IOF have also closed commercial
crossings, especially al-Mentar (Karni) crossing. IOF have continued to close
Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip
have been prevented from traveling through this crossing. 

 

West
Bank

 

IOF have
continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian
civilians to and from Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been denied access to the city. IOF have
established many checkpoints around and inside the city. Restrictions of the
movement of Palestinian civilians often escalate on Fridays to prevent them
from praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque. IOF often violently beat Palestinian
civilians who attempt to bypass checkpoints and enter the city. IOF have
imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the
city since the beginning of the holy Ramadan Month on Thursday, 13 September
2007. Although IOF claimed that they would ease the restrictions on access to
holy sites in the city during the Ramadan Month, but they reinforced their
presence at various checkpoints on the roads leading to the city. In Hebron,
IOF have closed the Ibrahimi Mosque for 6 sporadic days since the begging of
the Ramadan Month.

 

IOF have tightened the siege imposed on Palestinian
communities in the West Bank. They have isolated Jerusalem from the rest
of the West Bank. IOF positioned at various checkpoints in the West Bank have
continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian
civilians. IOF also erected more checkpoints on the main roads and
intersections in the West Bank. During the reporting period, IOF arrested 8 Palestinian
civilians, including a child, at checkpoints in the West Bank.

 

Settlement Activities: Israeli settlers living in the OPT
in violation of international humanitarian law have continued to attack
Palestinian civilians and property. During the reporting period, IOF started to
level land in two sites to establish two passenger stations and a car park in
the context of the metro project in East Jerusalem. The project aims at
connecting Israeli settlement around Jerusalem. It is expected to seize more
areas of Palestinian agricultural land. Also during the reporting period, IOF
started to establish cement foundations and electrical pillars in Hebron to
establish an electricity network for a number of Israeli settlements to the
southwest of Bethlehem. Large areas of Palestinian land would be damaged with
the establishment of this electricity network. On 30 September 2007, Israeli
settlers from settlements located around Hebron, escorted by IOF, stormed
al-Jumjoma Mount, which overlooks settler road #60 to the north of Hebron. They
stayed in the area for nearly 3 hours, during which time they prevented
Palestinian farmers from reaching their agricultural land. On 2 October 2007,
Israeli settlers living in settlements around Nablus, escorted by IOF, broke
into Joseph Tomb in the east of Nablus, and conducted some religious rituals.
They withdrew from the area later. On the same day, hundreds of Israeli
settlers moved towards the evacuated “Homesh” settlement. They set up tents to
stay in the area. IOF imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian
civilians. They also established sand barriers and leveled land. “Homesh”
settlement and 3 other Israeli settlements were evacuated in 2005. 

 

Israeli Violations Documented
during the Reporting Period (27 September – 3 October 2007)

 

The full report is available PDF format.