Israeli
Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian
Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Continue
to Impose a Total Siege on the Gaza Strip
· Three Palestinian civilians, including a
journalist, were injured by IOF gunfire in the West Bank.
· IOF gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing
boats in the northern Gaza Strip.
· IOF conducted 15 incursions into Palestinian
communities in the West Bank.
· IOF arrested 23 Palestinian civilians, including
two children.
· IOF transformed two Palestinian houses into
military sites.
· IOF police ordered two families in Jerusalem to
evacuate their homes in favor of an Israeli settlement association.
· IOF have continued to impose a total siege on
the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
· IOF have continued to impose a comprehensive
closure on the OPT for the Jewish festival of Passover.
· IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in
the West Bank arrested five Palestinian civilians.
· IOF have continued settlement activities in the
West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians
and property.
· Israeli settlers broke into the grounds of the
al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
· Israeli settlers placed two mobile homes near a
Palestinian building in Hebron.
· Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian
ambulance in Hebron.
· Three Palestinian civilians, including a
pregnant woman, were injured by Israeli settlers.
Summary
Israeli
violations of international law and humanitarian law escalated in the OPT
during the reporting period (09-15 April 2009):
Shooting: During the reporting
period, three Palestinian civilians, including a journalist, were wounded when
IOF used force against peaceful demonstrations organized in protest against
the construction of the Annexation Wall in the West Bank.
In the Gaza
Strip, on 13 April 2009, IOF gunboats opened fire at a Palestinian fishing boat
near Beit Lahiya beach in the northern Gaza Strip. The boat was destroyed. IOF
gunboats then opened fire at the beach, but no casualties were reported. IOF
claimed that they targeted a boat, allegedly carrying explosives.
Incursions: During the reporting
period, IOF conducted at least 15 military incursions into Palestinian
communities in the West Bank. IOF arrested 23 Palestinian civilians, including
two children. IOF also transformed two houses into military sites.
Restrictions
on Movement: 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
continued to close all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for more than two
years. The IOF siege of Gaza, which has steadily tightened since June 2007, has
had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza
Strip.
· 1.5
million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of
movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and
education.
· The
main concern of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip is to obtain their
basic needs of food, medicines, water and electricity supplies.
· IOF
have continued to prevent the entry of raw construction materials into the Gaza
Strip for more than two years.
· IOF
have not allowed fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip, except limited amounts of
cooking gas, since 10 December 2008.
· The Rafah
International Crossing Point has been opened for a few days for a number of
patients who received medical treatment abroad and needed to return home to the
Gaza Strip.
· IOF
have continued to close Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the face of Palestinian
civilians wishing to travel to the West Bank and Israeli for medical treatment,
trade or social visits. In the past two months, 5 patients, including two
children, died due to the denial of their access to medical treatment outside
the Gaza Strip.
· IOF
have imposed additional restrictions on access of international diplomats,
journalists and humanitarian workers to the Gaza Strip. They have prevented
representatives of several international humanitarian organizations from
entering the Gaza Strip.
· Living
conditions of the Palestinian civilian population have seriously deteriorated;
levels of poverty and unemployment have sharply mounted.
· At
least 900 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been deprived family
visits for more than 17 months.
· At
least 10% of the population of the Gaza Strip is deprived of electricity
supplies.
West
Bank
IOF have
continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian
civilians throughout the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
continue to be denied access to Jerusalem.
· IOF
have established checkpoints in and around Jerusalem, severely restricting
Palestinian access to the city. Civilians are frequently prevented from praying
at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
· There
are approximately 630 permanent roadblocks, manned and unmanned checkpoints
across the West Bank. In addition, there are some 60-80 ‘flying’ or temporary
checkpoints erected across the West Bank by IOF every week.
· When
completed, the illegal Annexation Wall will stretch for 724 kilometers around
the West Bank, further isolating the entire population. 350 kilometers of the
Wall has already been constructed. Approximately 99% of the Wall has been
constructed inside the West Bank itself, further confiscating Palestinian land.
· At
least 65% of the main roads that leads to 18 Palestinian communities in the
West Bank are closed or fully controlled by IOF (47 out of 72 roads).
· There
are around 500 kilometers of restricted roads across the West Bank. In
addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including occupied East
Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without a permit issued by the IOF.
These permits are extremely difficult to obtain.
· IOF
continue to harass, and assault demonstrators who hold peaceful protests
against the construction of the Annexation Wall.
· Palestinian
civilians continue to be harassed by IOF in Jerusalem, and across the West
Bank, including being regularly stopped and searched in the streets by IOF.
· During
the reporting period, IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West
Bank arrested five Palestinian civilians.
Settlement
Activities: IOF have continued settlement activities and Israeli
settlers living in the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law have
continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. On 09 April 2009,
Israeli settlers from the settlement of Qiryat Arba, southeast of Hebron,
placed two mobile homes and an electricity generator near al-Rajabi building in
al-Ras neighborhood, west of the aforementioned settlement. IOF troops were
present in the area, but did not intervene to stop this action. On the same
day, at least ten Israeli settlers from Karmel settlement east of Yatta
village, south of Hebron, attacked a number of Palestinian shepherds. As a
result, three Palestinian civilians, including a pregnant woman, were injured.
On 10 April 2009, dozens of Israeli settlers demonstrated on the road linking
the settlements of Karni Shomron and Qidumim, east of Qalqiliya. They forced
Palestinian farmers to leave their lands and go home. Soon after, IOF prevented
Palestinian civilians from traveling on the Qalqiliya-Nablus road. Also on 10
April, a number of Israeli settlers living in the Ramat Yishai settlement
outpost in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of central Hebron threw stones at a
Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance that was transporting a patient from
Hebron Hospital to her home in the area. The ambulance was damaged and the
patient’s health condition deteriorated. The patient was taken back to the
hospital. IOF troops were present in the area, but did not intervene to stop
the attack. On 13 April 2009, at least 80 Israeli settlers broke into the yards
of the al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish Passover festival, shouting slogans
calling for the demolition of the mosque and its replacement with the Jewish
Temple. The guards of the mosque confronted the settlers and prevented them
from conducting Jewish prayers inside it. IOF troops arrested journalist
Mahmoud Abu ‘Ata, who was covering the attack claiming that he “poses a
danger to the Jewish public.”
Israeli
Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (09-15 April 2009)
The full report is available PDF format.
