Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12 - 18 March 2015)
Israeli forces continue systematic attacks against Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
A Palestinian civilian from al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah, died of previous wounds.
Israeli forces continued to open fire at border areas in the Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported.
Three Palestinian civilians were wounded in the east of Abasan village in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.
A child was wounded in Kufor Qaddoum weekly protest, northeast of Qalqilya.
Six Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, were wounded in other protests.
Israeli forces conducted 77 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, six ones in East Jerusalem and one in the southern Gaza Strip.
67 Palestinian civilians, including 22 children and 10 women, were arrested.
Thirty-one of these civilians, including 16 children and 10 women, were arrested in occupied Jerusalem.
Israel continued to impose a total closure on the oPt and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
Israeli forces established dozens of checkpoints in the West Bank.
Eight Palestinian civilians, including two children, were arrested at military checkpoints in the West Bank.
Israeli forces continued to support settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
Israeli forces arrested 67 olive trees and demolished retaining walls, southeast of Nablus.
An artesian well was bridged, 10 olive trees were cut off and a retaining wall was demolished, northwest of Jenin.
Israeli municipality of Jerusalem issued administrative demolition notices in Silwan village, south of East Jerusalem.
Settlers opened fire at famers and cut off 65 olive seedlings in Termis'ya village, north of Ramallah.
Summary
Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law in the oPt continued during the reporting period (19 – 25 March 2015).
Shooting:
During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian died of wounds he sustained last week. Moreover, Israeli forces wounded 10 Palestinian civilians, including five children, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; seven of whom, including the five children, were wounded in the West Bank, while the other three ones were in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces also continued to open fire at border areas in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, a Palestinian civilian died of wounds he sustained last week, while Israeli forces wounded seven Palestinian civilians, including five children. One of the children was wounded during a weekly protest against settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall. Furthermore, six civilians, including four children, were wounded in other protests in the oPt.
On 25 March 2015, medical sources at Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah pronounced Ali Safi (20), from al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah, dead of wounds he sustained earlier.
Israeli forces continued the use of excessive and systematic force against peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians and Israeli and international solidarity activists against the construction of the annexation wall and settlement activities in the West Bank. As a result, a 17-year-old child sustained a bullet wound to the left leg during Kufor Qaddoum weekly protest, northeast of Qalqilya.
In the same context, six Palestinian civilians, including four children, were wounded during other protests organized at the western entrance of Selwad village, northeast of Ramallah, the southern entrance of al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah, and around Ofer detention facility, southwest of Ramallah.
In the Gaza Strip, on 20 March 2015, three Palestinian civilians were wounded when Israeli forces stationed along the border fence, east of Khan Yunis, opened fire and fired tear gas canisters at a group of Palestinian civilians, who were present 150-500 meters away from the said fence. As a result, the three civilians were wounded and were taken to Algeria Hospital in Abasan hospital.
In the context of opening fire at border areas, on 19 March 2015, Israeli forces stationed along the border fence, east of al-Shuhada cemetery, east of Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, opened fire at the border area. Israeli forces opened fire also at approximately 13:00 on Saturday, 21 March 2015, at approximately 16:30 on Sunday, 22 March 2015, and at approximately 10:15 on Monday, 23 March 2015.
Furthermore, on 22 March 2015, Israeli forces stationed along the border fence opened fire at agricultural lands in the east of Abasan village, east of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip.
On 23 March 2015, Israeli forces stationed along the border fence also opened fire and fired tear gas canisters at agricultural lands and shepherds, east of Deir al-Balah and al-Bureij refugee camp in the east of the central Gaza Strip.
It should be noted that because of the abovementioned shooting incidents, farmers were frightened, but neither casualties nor material damage were reported.
Incursions:
During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 77 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, six ones in East Jerusalem and a limited one in the Gaza Strip. During these incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 67 Palestinians, including 22 children and 10 women. Thirty-one of these Palestinians, including 16 children and 10 women, were arrested in Jerusalem.
Restrictions on movement:
Israel continued to impose a tight closure of the oPt, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
The illegal closure of the Gaza Strip, which has been steadily tightened since June 2007 has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities impose measures to undermine the freedom of trade, including the basic needs for the Gaza Strip population and the agricultural and industrial products to be exported. For 8 consecutive years, Israel has tightened the land and naval closure to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and other countries around the world. This resulted in grave violations of the economic, social and cultural rights and a deterioration of living conditions for 1.8 million people. The Israeli authorities have established Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shaloum) as the sole crossing for imports and exports in order to exercise its control over the Gaza Strip’s economy. They also aim at imposing a complete ban on the Gaza Strip’s exports.
Settlement activities and attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians and property
On Thursday, 19 March 2015, Israeli forces raided al-Farisiya area, northern Jordan Valley, east of Tubas. They confiscated two potable water tanks belonging to al-Maleh valley council.
On the same day, Israeli forces moved into Kufor Ataya area, in area (C), west of Majdal Bani Fadel village, southeast of Nablus. They levelled agricultural lands, cut off 300 olive trees aging about four years and demolished over 600 meters of retaining walls.
On Monday, 23 March 2015, Israeli forces moved into al-Mantiqa area, northeast of Beit Ommar village, north of Hebron. An Israeli Civil Administration officer distributed notices to halt construction works in three houses and a facility under the pretext of non-licensing.
On Tuesday, 24 March 2015, Israeli forces moved into Ta'nak village, west of Jenin. They bridged an artesian well belonging to Suleiman Abdul Rahman Sadeq Zayoud (31), demolished a retaining wall and cut off 10 olive trees belonging to the aforementioned person too.
On Tuesday, 24 March 2015, Israeli forces moved into al-Koum village, west of Hebron. An Israeli Civil Administration officer distributed three notices to halt construction works in 2 houses and a water well under the pretext of non-licensing too.
On Thursday, 19 March 2015, Mohammed Ahmed Hezamah from Termes'yah village, north of Ramallah found that 65 olive seedlings from his land were uprooted in al-Thahrat area adjacent to "'Aadi 'Aad" settlement outpost established in the eastern side of the village.
On Saturday morning, 21 March 2015, around nine masked and armed settlers from "'Aadi 'Aad" settlement outpost established in the eastern side of Termes'ayah village fired two live bullets at Rabah 'Ali Mohammed Hazamah (47), a farmer, who was with four other farmers ploughing his land in al-Thahrat area near the aforementioned outpost. However, no injuries were reported.
Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (19 – 25 March 2015)
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Recommendations to the International Community
PCHR emphasizes the international community’s position that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are still under Israeli occupation, in spite of Israeli military redeployment outside the Gaza Strip in 2005. PCHR further confirms that Israeli forces continued to impose collective punishment measures on the Gaza Strip, which have escalated since the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, in which Hamas won the majority of seats of the Palestinian Legislative Council. PCHR stresses that there is international recognition of Israel’s obligation to respect international human rights instruments and the international humanitarian law, especially the Hague Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land and the Geneva Conventions. Israel is bound to apply the international human rights law and the law of war sometime reciprocally and other times in parallel in a way that achieves the best protection for civilians and remedy for victims.
In light of continued arbitrary measures, land confiscation and settlement activities in the West Bank, and the continued aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip, PCHR calls upon the international community, especially the United Nations, the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention and the European Union – in the context of their natural obligation to respect and enforce the international law – to cooperate and act according to the following recommendations:
1. PCHR calls upon the international community and the United Nations to use all available means to allow the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination, through the establishment of the Palestinian State, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority, using all international legal mechanisms, including sanctions to end the occupation of the State of Palestine;
2. PCHR calls upon the United Nations to provide international protection to Palestinians in the oPt, and to ensure the non-recurrence of aggression against the oPt, especially the Gaza Strip;
3. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to compel Israel, as a High Contracting Party to the Conventions, to apply the Conventions in the oPt;
4. PCHR calls upon the Parties to international human rights instruments, especially the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to pressurize Israel to comply with their provisions in the oPt, and to compel it to incorporate the human rights situation in the oPt in its reports submitted to the concerned committees;
5. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfil their obligation to ensure the application of the Conventions, including extending the scope of their jurisdiction in order to prosecute suspected war criminals, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator and the place of a crime, to pave the way for prosecuting suspected Israeli war criminals and end the longstanding impunity they have enjoyed;
6. PCHR calls on States that apply the principle of universal jurisdiction not to surrender to Israeli pressure to limit universal jurisdiction to perpetuate the impunity enjoyed by suspected Israeli war criminals;
7. PCHR calls upon the international community to act in order to stop all Israeli settlement expansion activities in the oPt through imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements and criminalizing trading with them;
8. PCHR calls upon the UN General Assembly to transfer the Goldstone Report to the UN Security Council in order to refer it to the International Criminal Court in accordance with Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute;
9. PCHR calls upon the United Nations to confirm that holding war criminals in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a precondition to achieve stability and peace in the regions, and that peace cannot be built on the expense of human rights;
10. PCHR calls upon the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council to explicitly declare that the Israeli closure policy in Gaza and the annexation wall in the West Bank are illegal, and accordingly refer the two issues to the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel to compel it to remove them;
11. PCHR calls upon the international community, in light of its failure to the stop the aggression on the Palestinian people, to at least fulfil its obligation to reconstruct the Gaza Strip after the series of hostilities launched by Israel which directly targeted the civilian infrastructure;
12. PCHR calls upon the United Nations and the European Union to express a clear position towards the annexation wall following the international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, as the annexation wall seizes large parts of the State of Palestine;
13. PCHR calls upon the European Union to activate Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which provides that both sides must respect human rights as a precondition for economic cooperation between the EU states and Israel, and the EU must not ignore Israeli violations and crimes against Palestinian civilians;
14. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian leadership to sign and accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Geneva Conventions, and calls upon the international community, especially the United Nations, to encourage the State of Palestine to accede to international human rights law and humanitarian law instruments.
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Public Document
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