December 29, 2009
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

The mother of a Palestinian man who was extra-judicially executed by Israeli forces mourns during his funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus

 

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

 

On the 1st Anniversary of
Israel’s Offensive on the Gaza Strip, No Israeli War Criminals Have Been Held
Accountable

 

· Israeli occupation forces killed 6 Palestinians in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip.

 

· 3 of the victims were extra-judicially executed by Israeli
occupation forces in Nablus.

 

· 5 Palestinian civilians, including a child and a woman, were
wounded by Israeli gunfire.

 

· Israeli troops used force to disperse peaceful
demonstrations organized in protest to the construction of the Annexation Wall
in the West Bank.

 

· Israeli occupation forces conducted 28 incursions into
Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

 

· Israeli occupation forces arrested 26 Palestinian civilians,
including 8 children.

 

· Israeli naval troops have continued to attack Palestinian
fishermen in the Gaza Strip.

 

· Israeli has continued to impose a total closure on the OPT
and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.

 

· Israeli troops positioned at military checkpoints in the
West Bank arrested 4 Palestinian civilians, including one child.

 

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

 

· The Israeli government invited bids to build 692 housing
units in illegal Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

 

· A woman and a shepherd survived gunfire attacks by Israeli
settlers.

 

· IOF ordered the demolition of a number of houses claiming
that they were built without licenses.

 

 

 

Summary

 

The publication of this report
coincides with the first anniversary of Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip
(27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009). Over
the course of the offensive, Israeli occupation forces killed 1,419
Palestinians, and wounded over 5,300. The vast majority of those killed were
civilians entitled to full protection and immunity from attack under international
humanitarian law (1,167 protected persons, 82.2%); 326 were children, and 111
were women. This figure includes the 251 non-combatant civilian police officers
killed during the offensive.

 

Today the Gaza Strip has been
subject to 931 days of continuous illegal closure. This form of collective
punishment, which indiscriminately affects each and every one of Gaza’s 1.5
million inhabitants, has resulted in a man-made and completely preventable
humanitarian crisis. Over 80% of Gazan’s now depend on food aid, 80,000m3
of sewage is pumped into the sea every day, power cuts are frequent, and
patients continue to die as they are denied access to necessary medical
treatment.

 

Over the course of 42 years of
occupation, Israeli occupation forces have consistently violated international
law. These violations have been well documented and reported, yet despite a
significant level of media and political attention, the international community
has continued to grant Israel impunity, a fact recently illustrated by the
international reaction to the publication of the Report of the United Nations
Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the “Goldstone Report”).
This impunity, which has been a consistent feature of the occupation, has
resulted in continuous and escalating violations of international law, and the
denial and violation of Palestinian civilians fundamental human rights.

 

PCHR stress the urgent need for
accountability. All those who violate international law must be investigated,
tried and prosecuted in accordance with international standards. Victims’
rights to the equal protection of the law and an effective judicial remedy must
be upheld.

 

Israeli violations of
international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting
period (23 – 29 December 2009):

 

Shooting: On Saturday morning, 26 December
2009, Israeli occupation forces killed 6 Palestinians in two separate attacks
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli
occupation forces employed excessive lethal force and killed 3 Palestinians, while
in Nablus Israeli undercover units extra-judicially executed 3 members of the
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing of Fatah movement).  The three
victims in Nablus had been granted amnesty, in coordination with the
Palestinian National Authority, and had been allowed to move freely and live
normally.  Israeli occupation forces claimed that undercover units fired
at the three victims “as they refused to surrender.” However,
investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
conclude that the three victims were executed in cold blood.  

 

During the reporting period, 4
Palestinian civilians, including a child and a woman, were wounded by Israeli
occupation forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A fifth Palestinian civilian was wounded by
Israeli settlers. Israeli occupation
forces also used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized by
Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders, to
protest the construction of the Annexation Wall in the West Bank.  

 

Incursions: During the reporting period, Israeli
forces conducted at least 28 military incursions into Palestinian communities
in the West Bank.  Israeli occupation
forces arrested 26, including 8 children.  

 

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli
occupation forces conducted two limited incursions into the Gaza Strip, during
which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.  

 

Restrictions on Movement: Israel has continued to impose a tightened closure 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

 

Israel has continued to close all
border crossings to the Gaza Strip for more than two and a half years. The illegal
Israeli-imposed 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.

 

· Israel has continued
to prevent the entry of raw construction materials into the Gaza Strip for more
than two years.

 

· Israel has not allowed
fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip, excluding 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.

 

· Israel has continued
to close Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing to Palestinian civilians wishing to travel
to the West Bank and Israeli for medical treatment, trade or social visits.

 

· Poverty and
unemployment rates stand at approximately 80% and 60% respectively in the Gaza
Strip.

 

· Israel has continued
to prevent the entry of spare parts form water networks and sewage systems.
Losses incurred to this sector are estimated at US$ 6 million.

 

· Israel has imposed access
restrictions on international diplomats, journalists and humanitarian workers seeking
to enter 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 are among the highest in the world.

 

· At least 900
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been denied family visitation
rights for more than two years. 

 

· Israeli occupation
forces have continued to attack Palestinian fishermen along the Gaza Strip
coast.

 

 

West Bank

 

Israeli occupation forces 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.

 

· Israeli occupation forces 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 permanent 630 roadblocks, and 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 Israeli
forces every week.

 

· When complete, 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 Israeli
occupation forces (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 Israeli occupation forces. 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 Israeli
forces in Jerusalem, and across the West Bank, including being regularly
stopped and searched in the streets.

 

Settlement Activities: Israel has continued settlement
activities in the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law and Israeli
settlers living have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

 

During the reporting period, the
Israeli government published invitations for bids to build hundreds of housing
units in illegal Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. The Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot reported on
Monday, 28 December 2009, that the plan includes the construction of 692
housing units: 377 in “Neve Yacob”; 198 in “Pisgat Ze’ev”
and 117 in “Har Homa” settlements. 

 

On 23 December 2009, Israeli
occupation forces moved into Qasra village, southeast of Nablus. They closed the eastern entrance of the
village, and an Israeli bulldozer demolished a fuel station and a grocery
shop. Israeli forces claimed that
Palestinian children had thrown stones at Israeli vehicles from the station.

 

On 24 December 2009, Israeli
occupation forces notified Yasser Mohammed Eslaimiya, from Ethna village west
of Hebron that a small house and a well belonging to him in the west of the
village would be demolished.

 

Following the death of an Israeli
settler on the Nablus-Tulkarm road on 24 December 2009, Israeli settlers
launched a series of attacks against Palestinian civilians and property. 

 

On 27 December 2009, an Israeli
settler fired at a Palestinian woman while she was grazing sheep to the south
of Hebron. She was not hurt, but she
fainted. The Israeli police arrived at
the area and took the woman to a police station to question her.

 

On 29 December 2009, a number of
Israeli settlers fired at a Palestinian shepherd while he was grazing sheep to
the south of Hebron. He was wounded by a
bullet to the shoulder.

 

 

Israeli Violations
Documented during the Reporting Period (23 – 29 December 2009)

The
full report is available PDF format.