Friday, November 16, 2012


Human Rights  Abuses in Israel and Palestine
(This is a research report done for one of my Political Science classes. The point was to pack as much information onto one sheet of paper as possible, so this is not a complete list, but it does touch on some of the most important aspects.)
 
Israel
Israel is guilty of numerous human rights violations against Palestinians, including killing of civilians, “ill-treatment and torture of detainees, the detention of conscientious objectors…home demolitions and the forced eviction of Palestinian families punitive arrests, unfair trials…and the use of excessive or lethal force to subdue nonviolent demonstrations as well as the use of restrictive legal means.”[1]  
At least 6,617 Palestinians including 1,477 children (including 244 aged 0-8) [2] have been killed since 2000.[3] As of September, there are currently about 189 Palestinian children in Israeli prison, 28 of them aged 12-15. The average in 2009 was 355 children in prison[4] Israel imprisons Palestinians indefinitely without charge.[5] Though outlawed in 2005, DCI has documented 18 cases of the Israeli army using Palestinian children as human shields, including one case where a nine year old child was “forced at gunpoint to search bags thought to contain explosives.”[6] Six hundred twenty-four permanent checkpoints and road blocks discourage and prevent travel in the West Bank. “About 495 ‘flying checkpoints’ are set up each month...at which soldiers check passing cars for a period of a few hours.”[7] In order to make room for a Jewish settlement, Israel relocated 2,300 Bedouin to a site next to a hazardous dump.[8] Israel prevents Palestinians in the West Bank from accessing the Jordan River, diverting water to Israel and rapidly depleting the Dead Sea. The only other major source of water is the Mountain Aquifer which Israel is dangerously overexploiting despite the fact that they have other major water resources; Israel allows Palestinians access to “no more than 20 per cent,” of the water from the aquifer.[9] Israel stops Palestinians from building cisterns, confiscates irrigation hosing, destroys “rainwater harvesting and storage cisterns, agricultural pools and spring canals,”[10] and prevents villages from connecting to the supply lines of Israeli settlements (whose residents receive three times more water than Palestinians).[11] The separation wall, 85% of which is illegally built inside the green line on Palestinian land, damages the West Bank economy, steals the most fertile Palestinian land, cuts off civilians from their farms, divides villages, and greatly extends travel time. “As much as 90 percent of the fresh water wells in the West Bank have ended up on Israel's side” of the wall.[12] Since 1967 Israel has demolished nearly 27,000 homes, and 94% of Palestinian building permits are denied.[13] During the war in Gaza, Israel used white phosphorous against civilians.[14] The IDF used highly accurate drone-launched missiles to kill civilians.[15] The IDF targeted urban civilian areas, including UN schools where refugees had gathered.[16] Migrant workers in Israel are horribly treated and are facing expulsion in order for Israel to maintain a Jewish majority; it is nearly impossible for non-Jews to get Israeli citizenship.[17] Israeli laws penalize citizens for organizing or participating in boycotts or petitions in support of Palestinian rights. “Another law allows the government to withhold funding from certain groups or municipalities that commemorate the so-called Nakba Day, which marks the displacement of about 700,000 Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.”[18]                
Israeli settler violence has increased every year since its lowest point in 2007 from just over 200 incidents to about 1,000 in 2007. These attacks include stone throwing, shootings, arson (especially of mosques and olive groves), physical attacks, and vehicular attacks.[19] Settlements dump sewage into Palestinian villages.[20]              
Israeli human rights groups press the Israeli government (who would otherwise do nothing) for reform, but have made little improvements.  B’Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights petitioned Israel’s High Court in 2003 to order an investigation of every non-hostile civilian killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In 2011 the IDF changed its policy in light of the “relative security calm in the West Bank.” Officially “every case in which a civilian is killed from now on, as a result of an action of IDF forces…will result in an immediate MPIU investigation.”[21] However, the new policy is based on the “calm” situation in the West Bank, and should the situation change, the IDF will “revert to its previous policy,” which does not require an investigation into killings of civilians.17 Out of 304 occurrences, only 73 cases were opened and only “nine indictments were filed.”[22] The change “does not ensure that Israel will meet its lawful obligations.”17 Israel failed to investigate charges made by the Goldstone Report.15

Palestine
In its struggle to free Palestine from occupation, Palestinians sometimes violate the rights of civilians. Hamas in Gaza and the PA in the West Bank detain Palestinian prisoners without charge.5 Hamas executes prisoners for collaborating with Israel based on confessions obtained under torture.[23] The party violently attacks “any activity not organized by it.”[24] Hamas and other Gaza groups are guilty of firing rockets from civilian populated areas of Gaza at civilian targets within Israel; sometimes the rockets misfire, killing Palestinian civilians.13 Since the year 2000 Palestinians have killed 1,097 Israelis.3                                             
Other non-government groups such as Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Brigade (Fatah affiliated), Salah al-Din Brigade, and the Ali Abu Mustafa Brigades (occasionally recruiting children) have attacked Israelis with rockets and suicide bombings.15,[25]  
The PA has not acted on the Goldstone Report’s recommendations to prosecute PA security officers for the beating of peaceful protesters.[26] Hamas has also not fulfilled its obligation, according to Goldstone, to prosecute militias who fired rockets into civilian populations and used Palestinian human shields; however, Hamas has “largely stopped launching” rockets on Israel. Other militias who continue to do so are occasionally arrested by Hamas (although Hamas sometimes participates).15 Rockets are still used, albeit to a lesser degree than before the Gaza War. With the exception of an attack that injured twenty Israelis in 2011, the use of suicide bombings stopped after 2006.[27]







[1]Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: Human Rights Concerns.   http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories (accessed October 7 2012).
[2]Child Fatalities. 2012 Defense for Children National/Palestine Section. http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-fatalities (accessed November 7 2012).
[3]Israelis and Palestinians Killed in the Current Violence. 2012. If Americans Knew. http://ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html#source (accessed November 7 2012).
[4]Detention Bulletin. 2012. Defense for Children National/Palestine Section. http://www.dci-palestine.org/sites/default/files/detention_bulletin_september_2012.pdf (accessed November 7, 2012).
[5]Human Rights Watch. Israel/Palestinian Authority: Charge or free Palestinian Detainees. 2012. http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/18/israelpalestinian-authority-charge-or-free-palestinian-detainees (accessed November 8 2012).
[6]Human Shields. 2012. Defence for Children National Palestine Section. http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/human-shields-0 (accessed November 7 2012).
[7]Easing Lite. B’Tselem. 2011. http://www.btselem.org/annual_report_2011/130906 (accessed November 7 2012).
[8]Stifling Growth. B’Tselem. 2011. http://www.btselem.org/annual_report_2011/130924 (accessed November 7 2012).
[9]Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to to Water. 2009. Amnesty International. http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/mde150272009en.pdf (accessed November 7 2012) (pg. 9).
[10]Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to to Water. 2009. Amnesty International. http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/mde150272009en.pdf (accessed November 7 2012) (pg. 36).
[11]Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to to Water. 2009. Amnesty International. http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/mde150272009en.pdf (accessed November 7 2012) (pgs 5, 20).
[12]Christison, Kathleen. 2011. Israel’s Seperation Wall- the End of Palestinian Statehood. The Middle East Monitor. http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/guest-writers/2306-israels-separation-wall-the-death-of-palestinian-statehood (accessed November 7 2012).
[13]Introduction. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. http://www.icahd.org/the-facts (accessed November 11 2012).
[15]Precisely Wrong. 2009. Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/en/video/2009/06/30/precisely-wrong (accessed November 9 2012).
[16]Turning a Blind Eye http://www.hrw.org/node/89574/section/4 (accessed November 9 2012).
[17]Adler, Katya. Israel’s Immigrant Children Fight Deportation. 2010. BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8524723.stm (accessed November 7 2012).
[18]Sanders, Edmond. 2011. Israel Law Targets Boycott Campaigns.  http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/12/world/la-fg-israel-boycott-20110712
[19]Munayyer, Yousef. When Settlers Attack. 2012 The Palestine Center. http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/32678 (accessed November 9 2012).
[20] Bannoura, Saed. 2011. Israeli Sewage Dumped in Palestinian Village Known for anti-Settlement Protests. International Middle East Media Center. http://www.imemc.org/article/61139 (accessed November 9 2012).
[21]A Welcome Change. B’Tselem. 2011. http://www.btselem.org/annual_report_2011/130897  (accessed November 7 2012).
[22]A Decade of Impunity for Harm to Civilians. March 19 2012. B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/press-release/201203_decade_of_impunity (accessed November 7 2012).
[23] Human Rights Watch. 2012. Gaza: Arbitrary Arrests, Torture, Unfair Trials. http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/03/gaza-arbitrary-arrests-torture-unfair-trials (accessed November 8 2012).
[24] Bannoura, Saed. 2012. Human Rights Group Denounces Hamas Attack on Women’s Procession in Gaza. International Middle East Center. http://www.imemc.org/article/64520 (accessed November 9 2012).
[25]Terrorist Groups. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. National Counterterrorism Center. http://www.nctc.gov/site/groups/al_aqsa.html (accessed November 9 2012).
[27]Timeline: After long lull, bomb hits Jerusalem again. Reuters. 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/23/us-israel-explosion-jerusalem-idUSTRE72M4TJ20110323 (accessed November 9 2012).
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