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ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: 2000 - 2002
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| A Bone from Rafah by "Starhawk" in Palestine on March 26th 2003. Full text. The Photo |
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ETHNIC CLEANSING IN ISRAEL, the final solution to the Arab problem. LIVING ON THE EDGE. This report from MERIP (Middle East Report Information Project, USA) written by Robert Blecher, winner of the 2002 Philip Shehadi Award for new writers.Conditions for Israeli Palestinians are similar to the situation coloured Americans faced in Mississippi in 1950--only worse. The general plan is to cleanse Israel--including the West Bank--of all Arabs. The only question is which method will be used. Winter 2002 |
| ISRAEL'S ASSASSINATION POLICY "Assassinations have been part of Israel's security policy for many years. Israel is the only democratic country which regards such measures as a legitimate course of action. This policy is patently illegal, according to both Israeli and international law, a policy whose implementation involves a high risk of hurting bystanders and from which there is no turning back even if errors are uncovered after the fact. Israel must cease assassinating Palestinians immediately." DOWNLOAD THE REPORT (From BTselem) |
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BUILDING A WALL, SEALING THE OCCUPATION The city (Qalqilya) sits atop the largest aquifer in the West Bank, making its farmlands among the most fertile in the entire territory. Israel does not permit Palestinians to dig wells as deep as its own, leading to disproportionate allocation of water. ... Hydrology Group estimates that Israel is currently using 75 percent of the renewable water resources found in the West Bank and Gaza. ... in the long term water is of greater value to Israel in the West Bank than the settlements themselves. Settlements are a tool that Israel can use to maintain control of the three key aquifers in the West Bank, and also the valuable water resources of the Jordan Valley, in a region facing increasing water shortages. At the same time, a viable Palestinian state cannot be created without access to water... READ THE FULL STORY OF THE WALL |
| BREEDING POINTS OF TERROR by Jessica Azulay 05 July, 2002 "Then there is the barbed wire and the fencing, miles of it. Israel is in the process of encircling the eight major cities of the West Bank with barbed wire caging and building a long fence slightly east of the 1967 boarder. Barbed wire is so ubiquitous in the occupied territories that it even makes its way into much of the artwork by Palestinian children." |
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WHY I WON'T SERVE SHARON "We members of Courage to Refuse, reserve soldiers who have vowed not to serve in the occupied territories, will not set foot beyond the 1967 line unless it is in civilian clothes and as invited guests." |
| WHY YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO READ THE WORD "SETTLEMENTS" The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported last month (31/May/02) that at the behest of a Likud party minister, the Israel Broadcasting Authority has banned its editorial departments from using the terms "settlers" or "settlements" on radio and TV. By FAIR, the national media watch group |
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POLICY OF DESTRUCTION: |
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· Sleep deprivation for an entire week · Deliberate tightening of shackles · Suffocation · Severe beating, slapping and kicking · Being placed in painful positions on a tiny chair for long hours · Being forced to bend backwards until the detainee collapsed · Playing loud noises and clapping loudly next to the detainee's ears - for hours · Threatening the detainee with death, further torture and the rape of his mother. It appears from the State Attorney's letters that all the above "interrogation methods" are considered legal under Israeli law. The use of human shields, for example: · Jenin refugee camp, 6 April 2002: Kamal Tawalbi, 43, and his fourteen-year-old son, were used as human shields by Israeli soldiers. For three hours, the soldiers forced the father and son to stand in front of them on a balcony, facing the soldiers, while they exchanged gunfire with Palestinian fighters. The soldiers used the shoulders of Mr. Tawalbi and his son to support their rifles. |
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ISRAELI CONTROL OF WATER SUPPLIES Control of the water supply in the Occupied Territories enables Israel to have great control over the whole population. Without water there can be no crops, no drinking, no cooking, no sewerage treatment, no hygiene, no life.Israel and the Palestinian Authority fully share two water systems: the Mountain Aquifer and the Jordan Basin. Israel receives 79 percent of the Mountain Aquifer water and the Palestinians 21 percent. Palestinians have no access to the Jordan Basin: Israel utilizes 100% of its water. |
| Many civilians were among the over seven hundred Palestinians and over two hundred Israelis who, by November 2001, had been killed in the violence that followed the eruption of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in September 2000. In addition, some 16,000 Palestinians and some 1,700 Israelis were injured in the violence. The conflict was marked by attacks on civilians and civilian objects by both Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups. Both Israeli and Palestinian authorities failed to take the necessary steps to stop the security forces under their control from committing abuses, and failed to adequately investigate and punish the perpetrators. |
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JEWISH VOICES FOR PEACE Reports from Jewish activists in the West Bank 1. A Bullet Between Small Bones2. A Jewish American says he was a human shield 3. Dispatches by Israeli and Palestinian Activists 4. Soldiers Refuse to Serve 5. Mohammad's Killer 6. An Israeli in Palestine |
| 116th Child killed in Gaza He loved nothing more than to go down to the sea, swim, and fly his home-made kite - but on Friday morning, June 21, Abd a-Samed Shamalekh, aged 10, went instead to his family's plot of land to pick eggplants and cucumbers. |
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UNITED STATES REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES IN ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, 2001 Released March 4, 2002This is quite a full and detailed report, clearly showing the total lack of any kind of basic rights for Palestinians. The more you read the more you see that Gaza and the West Bank are two very large prisons. The IDF are the jailers. Not that any Israeli official is likely to read this report! That would only occur if they were forced to justify something like torture or assassination--but wait-- they seem to have been okayed at the highest levels of Israeli government! It's hard to believe that anyone in the Bush administration has ever read this report. Well I guess they are pretty busy with their war against terror. |
| Turning the West Bank and Gaza into Prisons by Justin Podur and Cynthia Peters: June 26, 2002 Describe what's happening in Jenin. "This is a society that's slowly being choked to death. It is marked by fear, random violence, and irrational destruction. No one is allowed peace of mind. Even the relatively well-off -- those with jobs and some money -- live in constant fear. The poor, of course, are the hardest hit." |
| Amnesty International News Release 26 June 2002 MDE 15/100/2002 Although some Palestinian armed groups have carried out atrocious killings, nothing can justify Israel's collective punishment of every Palestinian man, woman, and child in the entire West Bank. All major West Bank towns have been reoccupied by the Israeli army, and the population are confined to their houses for 24 hours a day, preventing a population of 500,000 from pursuing their daily lives, while food, water, electricity, and ambulances have all be halted. |
| Jerusalem Bus Atrocity Condemned (18 June, 2002) Related Material: Armed Groups Should Halt Attacks on Civilians May 9, 2002 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH The Palestinian armed group Hamas has claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem bus bombing which killed at least nineteen Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more. Suicide bombers have deliberately targeted civilians-this time a crowded rush hour bus carrying school children and office workers starting their day. When Palestinian groups violate the most basic international law in order to draw attention to their own plight, revulsion is the only appropriate response; any other message is lost. |
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WHEN PALESTINIANS ARE ATTACKED BY SETTLERS, GUESS WHAT THE ISRAELI ARMY DOES? STANDING IDLY BY Well, not always--often they go along as moral support."Despite the IDF Spokesperson's claims, settler attacks on Palestinians, mainly after Palestinian attacks, remain a common phenomenon. The events described below clearly indicate that whatever the lessons learned by the security forces, the changes that were made are not sufficient to protect Palestinians from settler violence." Read this report from B'Tselem. ..... MS Doc / 135 Kb |
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TRIGGER HAPPY SOLDIERS READ THE REPORT |
| Bomb attack on bus in Jerusalem. 18 June 2002 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL There is revulsion and condemnation for the bomb attack that killed at least 19 people and wounded 50 others, including children, during rush-hour in Jerusalem. Deliberately killing civilians violates fundamental principles of international law. |
| Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict A PRIMER (Middle East Research and Information Project) This is an online outline of history divided into various pages, such as 1967 war. Produced by MERIP, a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Washington, DC. The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) was established 31 years ago. |
| Background to the Israel-Palestine Crisis by Stephen R. Shalom (Znet) May 2002 This is a concise description, presented in clear terms, but keeping to the relevant facts. Presented as questions and answers. The modern origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. |
| THE CRISIS IN PALESTINE By Stephen R Shalom. 02 April, 2002 (Znet) This is a brief outline of the causes of the current crisis. If you haven't much time, this is one of the best and shortest to read. |
| LAND GRAB Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank May 2002 GRABBING LAND This is a comprehensive 105 page document (in rtf) details stunning revelations. It was produced by The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. (B'Tselem) "The research reveals that while the built-up areas of the settlements constitute only 1.7% of the land in the West Bank, the municipal boundaries are over three times as large: 6.8%. Regional councils constitute an additional 35.1%. Thus, a total of 41.9% of the area in the West Bank is controlled by the [Israeli] settlements." This is only one of a number of startling facts about the occupation. DOWNLOAD REPORT RTF / Zipped/ 250 Kb |
| The imprisonment of Conscientious objectors in Israel 15 May There is a rising number of Israeli soldiers and reservists imprisoned for refusing to perform their military service in the Occupied Territories. This rise is the result of a growing concern of conscripts, soldiers and reservists about some of the actions taken by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Occupied Territories. |
| Building the Terror Infrastructure 22 April, 2002 Okay, so you'd like to start your own Terrorist Network. It's not as hard as you imagine. Here's how to go about it. Written by Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist writing for Ha'aretz. His articles shine a critical light on Israeli policy and help highlight the suffering of the Palestinian people. |
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SPEECHLESS IN JENIN From: TychoSent: Monday, April 22, 2002 10:35 PM Would that I had my copy of Faustus here, to provide the exact quote that has been in my mind since I first stepped into the horror of anti-humanity that is now Jenin Camp, the exchange in which Mephistopholes points out to Faustus that hell already exists here on earth. After what I have witnessed there, I am beyond quotes, beyond words, almost but not quite beyond tears, which flowed last night even in my sleep. The Israelis conducted a ruthless, calculated massacre and left in its wake an abyss of sorrow, anger and vengefulness. If Sharon had himself entered Jenin and carried out these atrocities, the shock factor might not be so great, yet there were 20,000 israelis in that camp, operating under gestapo-like orders and thus, Israel is also going to suffer from this as well, as it must in the eyes of justice -- if any justice can still be found in the world today. READ THE EMAIL |
| Amnesty International calls for a commission of inquiry into mass arbitrary detention of Palestinians AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL More than 8,500 Palestinians have been arrested between 27 February and 20 May, many of them arbitrarily detained. These arrests and detentions were accompanied by a consistent pattern of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and sometimes torture. |
| Israeli military action is collective punishment. Amnesty International 15 April 2002 MDE 15/045/2002 64/02 Israel's latest military incursions into towns and villages in the Occupied Territories. The IDF killed and targeted medical personnel, ambulances and medical facilities, and fired randomly at houses and at people in the streets, even when curfews were lifted. Mass arbitrary arrests have been carried out in a manner designed to degrade those detained. |
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VIEW MAPS See the maps and understand why Arafat could not accept the deal! The way out of the problems of Israel and the Occupied Territories will not be solved by destroying the Palestinians, occupying their land with Jewish settlements, bulldozing Palestinian houses, destroying roads, barricading villages and towns, uprooting olive trees, stationing tanks at the end of every street, and bombing them day after day. We don't condone the Palestinian suicide bombers killing Israelis--but suicide bombing is usually a measure of extreme desperation. It is Israel and America that hold all the cards. Occupied Territories: This might be a clue to the problem. Doh! |
| Essay by NOAM CHOMSKY Prospects for Peace in the Middle East by Noam Chomsky, " No peace without justice; no justice without truth" The University of Toledo, March 4, 2001. An excellent essay on the background to the Middle East conflicts, with questions and answers. |
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KILLING DOCTORS & SHOOTING AT AMBULANCES "For a period of two weeks, from 28 February - 13 March, IDF [Israeli Army] gunfire killed five Palestinian medical personnel who were on duty, wounded ten Red Crescent personnel, and damaged twelve ambulances, two of them totally."DOWNLOAD THE FULL B'Tselem REPORT, Zipped 2.3 Mb "On 8 March, the International Red Cross published a statement in which it condemned IDF [Israeli Forces] shooting at ambulances and medical teams. The statement emphasized that the Red Crescent ambulances that were hit were properly marked and that their movement had been coordinated with the Israeli authorities." |
| The view from Beit El by Gideon Levy Ha'aretz March 04, 2002 Most Israelis, it is safe to assume, have never and probably will never visit the settlement of Beit El. They therefore have no idea what an inhabitant of that large settlement sees when he opens his window. |
| THERE MUST BE AN INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE IN ISRAEL'S OCCUPIED TERRITORIES Amnesty International 8 March 2002 No country should stand on the sidelines. Palestinian and Israeli children are slaughtered, ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians shot at, Palestinians homes are demolished and their towns and villages sealed off. Remaining silent amounts to condoning the escalation of killings, violence and retaliation. |
| COMMITTMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS ESSENTIAL 24 Jan 2002 (Amnesty International) Palestinians and Jews are living in fear. Every Palestinian in the Occupied Territories is affected in a cycle of repression which is bringing people to despair. Israelis are living in constant fear of suicide bombs and armed attacks which have deliberately targeted civilians, killing and wounding people in streets, shops and bars. Trampling on people's human rights cannot be justified under any circumstances, not in the name of security and not in the name of freedom. |
| ISRAEL URGED TO END ARMED ATTACKS 24 Jan 2002 (Amnesty International) Israel had been accused of consistently carrying out grave violations of human rights, including arbitrary killings. The Gaza strip has been enclosed behind a high wire fence and every town and village in the West Bank has be barricaded by concrete blocks, piles of earth and barriers manned by soldiers. More ... |
| DEMOLITION OF HOMES 15 Jan 2002 (Amnesty International) There was condemnation of the Israeli demolition of dozens of homes in the south of the Gaza Strip, as an act of collective punishment and a grave breach of international humanitarian law. More ... |
| ISRAEL SHOULD HONOUR THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION 4 December 2001 (Amnesty International) The High Contracting Parties call on the Occupying Power (Israel) to "immediately refrain from committing grave breaches involving any of the acts committed under art. 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, such as wilful killing, torture, unlawful deportation, wilful deprivation of the rights of fair and regular trial, extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly." more ... |
| CAMP DAVID: THE TRAGEDY OF ERRORS By Hussein Agha, Robert Malley Mr. Malley, as Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs, was a member of the US peace team and participated in the Camp David summit. Read the article from The New York Review of Books August 9, 2001 Thomas L Friedman (New York Times) has persuaded much of the world that Arafat was "nuts" for turning down Barak's "generous offer". But what does an American negotiator say? "... strictly speaking, there never was an Israeli offer. Determined to preserve Israel's position in the event of failure, and resolved not to let the Palestinians take advantage of one-sided compromises, the Israelis always stopped one, if not several, steps short of a proposal. The ideas put forward at Camp David were never stated in writing, but orally conveyed. They generally were presented as US concepts, not Israeli ones; indeed, despite having demanded the opportunity to negotiate face to face with Arafat, Barak refused to hold any substantive meeting with him at Camp David ..." more |
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MORE RUINS April 14, 2001 Ewen MacAskill, April 14, 2001 The Guardian SEE THE MAPS! Why Arafat could not accept the deal. More ... |
| ISRAELI BEATING OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER 3 Jan 2002 (Amnesty International) The detention and beating of a prominent doctor and human rights defender, and the beating of members of an international delegation underlines the Israeli authorities' apparent disregard for basic human rights. More ... |
| REVENGE KILLINGS MUST STOP 5 December 2001 (Amnesty International) Reprisals against the entire population for attacks by armed groups violates international human rights and humanitarian law standards. Attacks on civilians because they are soft targets are not acceptable. The cycle of violence will not end without respect for human rights. More ... |
| HAMAS KILLING OF ISRAELI CIVILIANS CONDEMNED 3 December 2001 (Amnesty International) Deliberate suicide attacks by Hamas have killed 25 Israeli civilians and wounded two hundred. These revenge killings were for earlier revenge attacks by Israel, which were for earlier revenge attacks by Hamas, which were for earlier revenge attacks by by Israel, which were ... |
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ARIEL SHARON MAY BE INVESTIGATED 3 October, 2001 (Amnesty International) A court in Brussels will today (3 October 2001) begin to consider arguments about whether Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may be investigated in Belgium for alleged war crimes committed in Lebanon in 1982 while he was Israel's Minister of Defence. More ... |
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS NEEDED 16 Sep 2001 (Amnesty International) Amnesty International delegates witnessed reckless Israeli shooting which was not in response to any Palestinian attacks. On 16 September the Israeli army shot in the direction of delegates from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as they were examining the sites of recently destroyed houses 100 metres from the border with Egypt. There was no fire from Palestinian areas at the time. More ... |
DISREGARD FOR PALESTINIAN LIFE 1 August 2001 (Amnesty International) The Israeli Air Force killed yesterday eight people, including two children and two journalists, and wounded 15 others, including a human rights defender, as they shot two missiles from an Apache helicopter against the Nablus-based Palestinian Centre for Information, run by a Hamas leader, Jamal Mansur. Whatever human rights violations are committed by a government, nothing can justify attacks targeting civilians, said Amnesty International. Nor can any killings by opposition groups justify this shocking disregard for basic human rights principles by a government. More ... |
PALESTINIAN CONFINEMENT 18 July 2001 (Amnesty International) The confinement of more than three million people for 10 months to their own villages or homes by curfews and closures is a totally unacceptable response to the violence of a few, the organization said. More ... |
INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS ESSENTIAL 9 July 2001 (Amnesty International) "We completely agree with the Mitchell Committee's conclusion that peace and security must be built on respect for international law and the protection of human rights," said the two human rights organizations. "Independent observation of what is happening on the ground is essential, and only the international community can provide this." More ... |
| PALESTINIANS TO BE ASSASSINATED 4 July 2001 (Amnesty International) The decision by Israel's security cabinet to expand its targeting of Palestinians is a further dangerous step in its policy of state assassination. More . . . |
| DISCO BOMBING 4 June 2001 (Amnesty International) Amnesty International strongly condemned the killing of 20 civilians and wounding of 100 others in a Tel Aviv discotheque on 1 June. More ... |
| UNLAWFUL KILLINGS 11 April 2001 HRW: Study of Human Rights Abuses in Hebron District, documents excessive use of force and unlawful killings by Israeli forces, Palestinian targeting of Israeli civilians, and a systematic policy of Israeli blockades and curfews that amount to collective punishment. The report also brings to light a disturbing pattern of violence committed by Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians in and around Hebron, often committed with the knowledge of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers in the area. More ... |
| RIGHT OF RETURN 30 Mar 2001 Amnesty International's position on forcible exile and the right to return. More ... |
| HR AND OSLO 26 Mar 2001 A major flaw of the process which began with the Oslo Agreement of 1993 was that peace was not founded on ensuring respect and protection for human rights. |
| ASSASSINATIONS 21 Feb 2001 The targeting of Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis amounts to a policy of state assassination: Amnesty International. 21 February 2001 MDE 15/007/2001 |
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Vigilante Settlers and Israel's Non-Enforcement of the Law In addition to these acts, in recent months there have been several lethal shooting attacks that were attributed to a gang (or gangs) of Israelis. According to some assessments, the same groups are responsible for a series of attacks that began in April 2001. The police informed BTselem that it is intensively investigating the matter, but did not indicate that any progress was being made in the investigation. DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT (B'Tselem) |
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ISRAEL'S DAILY DESTRUCTION OF GAZA by Kristen Ess October 29, 2002In this prison it matters less every day whether or not Israel drops another bomb on Rafah or Khan Younis. Israel has military control of 42% of the Gaza Strip in order to "protect" its 6,000 illegal Israeli settlers. Many of the settlers are armed. 1.25 million Palestinians are dying on less than 60% of the land. Many Palestinians are without water, are not allowed to dig to new wells, are without jobs, and without money to obtain medical service or food. Much of the transportation is by donkey and cart. Cars are crushed or unaffordable. Palestinians are not allowed in. There is no way out. READ MORE |
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LOSING GROUND? The Matrix of Control ... is an interlocking series of mechanisms, only a few of which require physical occupation of territory, that allow Israel to control every aspect of Palestinian life in the Occupied Territories. A system of highways and bypass roads links the settlements, creating additional barriers between Palestinian areas and incorporating the West Bank into Israel proper. Army bases occupy large tracts of land and keep weaponry ready for reasserting control through brute force. Other "facts on the ground" include industrial parks and continuing Israeli control of aquifers ... Yet a third set of control mechanisms, the most subtle of all, are those of a bureaucratic or "legal" nature. They entangle Palestinians in restrictions, which trigger sanctions whenever Palestinians try to expand their life space. The West Bank and Gaza are permanently "closed," violating freedom of movement of people and goods and impoverishing the Palestinian population. A system of permits causes, among other things, prolonged separation of family members and limits work, travel and study abroad. Building permits, enforced by house demolitions, arrests, fines and daily harassment, serve to confine Palestinians to small enclaves. Expansive "master plans" around settlements (in contrast to the tight planning rings around Palestinian communities) allow Israel to contend that settlement building has been "frozen" within the larger rings. Planting of crops is restricted, and Israel controls the licensing and inspection of Palestinian businesses. To all of this must be added, of course, the psychological costs of life under occupation: loss of life, imprisonment, torture, harassment, humiliation, anger and frustration, as well as traumas suffered by tens of thousands of Palestinians (especially children) who witnessed their homes being demolished, saw their loved ones beaten and humiliated, suffered from inadequate housing and lost opportunities to realize their potential in life. The matrix of control, though it lends a benign and civil face to the occupation, is sustained only by raw military power. READ MORE ON THE MATRIX |