HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION ISSUES WEEKLY REPORT ON ISRAELI VIOLATIONS IN WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP
Palestine News Network
Sept 10 2009
PNN – The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has issued its weekly
report for the period of 3 through 9 September, noting that six
civilians were injured and a child killed in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip.
The report follows.
PCHR – Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks
against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT) and Continue to Impose a Total Closure on the Gaza
Strip
A Palestinian child was killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
6 Palestinian civilians, a resistance activist and an Israeli
journalist were wounded by IOF gunfire.
IOF used force against peaceful demonstrations organized to protest
the construction of the Annexation Wall in the West Bank.
IOF conducted 38 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West
Bank and 5 into the Gaza Strip.
IOF arrested 22 Palestinian civilians, including two children, in
the West Bank, and 5 children in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli naval troops continued to attack Palestinian fishers and
fishing boats in the Gaza Strip.
IOF have continued to impose a total closure on the OPT and have
isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints and border crossings
in the West Bank arrested 6 Palestinian civilians, including two women.
IOF have continued measures aimed at establishing a Jewish majority
in occupied east Jerusalem.
IOF extended the closure of a Palestinian development center for
one year.
IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli
settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
Israel laid the foundation for a new settlement between "Ma’ale Adomim"
settlement and East Jerusalem.
Israel approved the construction of hundreds of housing units in
Israeli settlements.
IOF destroyed 4 water tanks in Hebron.
Summary
Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the
OPT continued during the reporting period (03 – 09 September 2009):
Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed a Palestinian
child and wounded 6 Palestinian civilian, a resistance activist and
an Israeli journalist.
On 04 September 2009, IOF shot dead a Palestinian child in Beit Hanoun
town in the northern Gaza Strip, as he was walking with his family
towards their farm in the border area.
On 03 September 2009, a Palestinian resistance activist was wounded
in fighting during an Israeli military incursion into the east of
Gaza City.
On 09 September 2009, a Palestinian civilian was wounded in Beit
Hanoun town, when Israeli troops positioned at the border between
the Gaza Strip and Israel fired at him.
On 03 September 2009, an IOF warplane bombarded a tract of land in
‘Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis. The bombardment made a large
crater in the area, but no casualties were reported.
In the West Bank, on 03 September 2009, a Palestinian child was
injured when a sound bomb left by IOF in Ne’lin village, west of
Ramallah, exploded.
IOF used force against 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;
4 Palestinian civilians, including a journalist and a child, and an
Israeli journalist were wounded.
Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 38
military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. IOF
arrested 22 Palestinian civilians, including two children.
In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted 5 limited incursions into Palestinian
communities, during which they leveled areas of previously razed
Palestinian land. They also arrested 5 Palestinian children who were
grazing animals.
Restrictions on Movement: IOF have 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
IOF have continued to close all border crossings to the Gaza Strip
for more than two years. The illegal IOF closure of the Gaza Strip,
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, 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.
IOF have 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.
IOF have 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.
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 denied
family visitation rights for more than two years.
IOF have continued to attack Palestinian fishers along the Gaza
Strip coast.
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 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 IOF 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 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.
Efforts intended to establish a Jewish majority in occupied Jerusalem:
IOF have escalated arbitrary measures against Palestinian civilians
in East Jerusalem in an attempt to force them to leave the city. On 07
September 2009, the Israeli police summoned Hazem Abu Sair, Director of
Nidal Center for Community Development in the old town of Jerusalem,
and handed to him a decision signed by the chief of Israeli police
extending the closure of the center until 11 September 2010. It
is worth noting that the Israeli police had closed the center
for one month starting from 15 July 2007. On 06 September 2009,
a number of Israeli settlers attacked a number of clergymen near
the Armenian Monastery. They violently beat the clergymen and broke
their crosses. Soon, the Israeli police arrived at the area. The
clergymen complained to the police, but the police instead arrested
two clergymen. The police detained them for 3 days and wanted to expel
them to Armenia, but retreated under media and political pressure.
Settlement Activities: IOF have continued settlement activities in
the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law and Israeli
settlers living have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and
property. On Thursday morning, 03 September 2009, IOF moved into
al-Baq’a area, east of Hebron. Bulldozers destroyed 4 cement-made
water tanks, which are used for irrigation. During this incursion,
a number of Palestinian farmers attempted to stop the destruction
of the tanks. IOF troops violently beat them. As a result, 3 farmers
sustained bruises. On 06 September 2009, Murad Mohammed Abu Haikal,
19, and Labib Mohammed Abu Haikal, 16, from Hebron, were attacked by
Israeli settlers living in "Ramat Yishai" settlement outpost in the
Tal Rumaida neighborhood, central Hebron. Murad sustained a fracture
to the nose and bruises throughout the body.
On 06 September 2009, the Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak,
approved new settlement construction plans. The cabinet (the
six-fold Council of ministers) met to discuss the distribution of
450-500 housing units that had been approved by the Israeli Prime
Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on 6 September 2009. The establishment
of the approved units was decided to be distributed accross different
settlements, including "Har Gilo" south of Jerusalem, "Mode’in Elite"
west of Ramallah and "Ariel" north of Salfit.
On 07 September 2009, a ceremony was organized to lay the foundation
of a new settlement neighborhood called "Mafsirit Adomim" in the
"E1" zone between "Ma’ale Adomim" settlement and the eastern city
of occupied Jerusalem. It is reported that there are plans to
establish 3,000 housing units. According to statements by the head
of the municipality of "Ma’ale Adomim" settlement, there are 37,000
settlers in "Ma’ale Adomim" settlement and that the settlement needs
600 new housing units every year. Israeli Peace Now reported that a
few days ago, the Israeli government had finished the preparations
to construct dozens of housing units in the northern Jordan Valley
in the east of the West Bank. Peace Now stated that there were 100
housing units being constructed.
These units had been approved by former Israeli Minister of Defense,
Amir Peretz, in 2006 and by Minister of Defense, Ihoud Barak, in
2008. The Israeli government continues to approve the establishment
of new housing units in settlements.
Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (03 –
09 September 2009).