there should be no business with Israel

In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Property

(Compiled by Leslie Bravery, Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Auckland, New Zealand www.palestine.org.nz) [If you have difficulty with the display of this newsletter, it may be better viewed on our website]

23 May 2017 {Main source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group (PMG): http://www.nad.ps/ NB:The period covered by this newsletter is taken from the PMG's 24-hour sitrep ending 8am the day after the above date.}

We shall always do our best to verify the accuracy of all items in these IOP newsletters/reports wherever possible [e.g. we often suspect that names of people and places that we see in the PMG sitreps could be typos but as we do not speak Arabic, we have no alternative but to copy and paste these names from the PMG sitreps] – but please forgive us for any errors or omissions (not of our own making) that may occur! L & M.

Israeli soldiers force

wounded female victim

from ambulance

Raiding Israeli troops

rob Hebron homes

of cash and valuables

Israeli Army injures

youth in UN refugee camp

Israeli Army fires

stun grenades and tear gas

at West Bank school

Settler arsonists set fire

to Palestinian wheat crops

Night peace disruption and/or

home invasions in UN

refugee camp and 6 villages

1 attack – 2 injured –

15 taken prisoner

16 raids including home

invasions

2 acts of agricultural/economic

sabotage

Home invasions: 07:00, Beit Hanina - 04:15-06:00, al-Bireh - dawn, Bil'in - 04:10, Tulkarem - 21:55-23:20, al-Oja - 01:55, Beit Sahur - dawn, Hebron.

Peace disruption raids: 09:00-17:10, Biddu - 23:00, al-Sheikh Said - 04:00, the Qalandiya UN refugee camp - Abwein - 12:45, Burin - 03:30, Beita - 12:15, Deir al-Ballout - dawn, Dura - dawn, Beit Ulla.

Palestinian missile attacks: none.

Israeli Army attack: Ramallah – 14:55, Israeli soldiers opened fire on and wounded a 19-year-old woman, Taqwa Bassam Hamad, and later forced her out of the ambulance in which medics were treating her wounds, and took her prisoner.

Economic sabotage: Gaza — the Israeli Navy continues to enforce an arbitrary fishing limit.

Home invasions and robbery: Jerusalem – 07:00, the Israeli Occupation in Beit Hanina forced a resident, Nasser Abu Wahdan, to demolish parts of his home, and also extorted money from him in the form of a fine.

Home invasions and robbery: Hebron – dawn, the Israeli Army raided Hebron, searched several homes, robbing a university professor, Dr Mustafa Kamil Shawar, of cash and a mobile phone, and then stole more money from the homes of Nidal Al-Qawasmi and Adnan Mohammad Eid Al-Zuro. Four people were taken prisoner.

Israeli Army stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Gaza City – 17:30, Israeli forces positioned behind the Green Line fired stun grenades and tear gas residents in the al-Shija’iya neighbourhood.

Israeli Army – youth injured in UN refugee camp: Central Gaza – 17:50, a 16-year-old youth was injured when an Israeli Army position behind the Green Line fired stun grenades and tear gas at people in the al-Bureij UN refugee camp.

Israeli Army stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Khan Yunis – 17:30, Israeli forces, positioned behind the Green Line, fired stun grenades and tear gas at residents in Khuza'a.

Israeli Army mosque violation: Jerusalem – 09:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli troops, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.

Israeli Army stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Ramallah – 18:55, al-Janiya: stun grenades and tear gas.

Israeli Army stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 13:10, Jayus: stun grenades and tear gas.

Israeli Army stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 19:40, Jaljulia checkpoint: stun grenades and tear gas.

Israeli Army – school assault – stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 10:30, school in al-Khadr: stun grenades and tear gas.

Israeli Army – UN refugee camp: Hebron – 13:00, al-Arub UN refugee camp: stun grenades and tear gas.

Occupation settler arson – agricultural sabotage: Tulkarem – 11:40, Israeli settler arsonists stormed Beit Lid and set fire to wheat crops.

Occupation settler land theft: Qalqiliya – 09:50, Israeli Occupation settlers encroached upon privately-owned Palestinian land, in order to begin widening a road.

Raid – UN refugee camp: Jerusalem – 04:00, Israeli forces raided the Qalandiya UN refugee camp and took prisoner one resident.

Raid – home building prevented: Salfit – 12:15, Israeli forces raided Deir al-Ballout town and ordered a resident, Musalim Nasser Abdallah, to stop building a home.

[NB: Times indicated in Bold Type contribute to the sleep deprivation suffered by Palestinian children]

SEE ALSO: Life under Israeli Military Occupation

(after Behind the Wall, below)

News updates:

Palestinian prisoners in Israel suspend hunger strike. Deal struck with Israel after intense talks hailed as 'victory' for Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike for 40 days.

Palestinian youngster shot dead. 22 May 2017 | The boy approached Israeli forces holding a knife in his hand, and “after a short dispute, an Israeli soldier was able to open fire at the suspect who was neutralised and the knife in his possession was seized.” A spokesperson from the Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma'an that Israeli forces prevented the service's ambulances from reaching the boy, who witnesses say was covered with a blanket by Israeli forces. https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777229

Israeli colonists uproot grapevines, spray toxic chemicals. Illegal Israeli colonists invaded, Sunday, Palestinian lands in the al-Khadr town, south of Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank, uprooted dozens of recently-planted grapevines and sprayed at least 300 vines with toxins. Ahmad Salah, the co-ordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in al-Khadr, said the attack targeted agricultural lands owned by Mohammad Abdul-Salam Salah, and that a similar attack was carried out against the same vineyard just three months ago, when the colonists uprooted and stole 500 vines, in addition to stealing fences and iron bars. http://imemc.org/article/israeli-colonists-uproot-grapevines-spray-toxins/

'We are Sumud' Israeli forces raided a protest camp in a village in the South Hebron Hills. At least one local resident was injured and one person taken prisoner as Israeli troops began to destroy remaining tents erected by activists, organisers said. The raid took place on Thursday morning in the village of Sarura, where activists and local landowners set up a protest camp last week to demand that families who were evicted in the 1990s be allowed to return. Soldiers robbed activists of equipment. Issa Amro, the director of the Hebron-based Youth Against Settlements, told Al Jazeera by phone: “This morning soldiers arrived to confiscate tents and tools they tried to destroy the last tent in the camp, but kids and activists were able to stop them”. Ashley Bohrer, an American-Jewish activist of the Centre for Jewish Non-violence, told Al Jazeera that soldiers used a “disproportionate amount of force against activists, kicking and shoving us . . .” Video from Thursday's assault show Israeli soldiers shoving local families and activists as they attempted to remove the remaining tent. Activists are heard yelling, “there are children in this tent” as soldiers started to remove stakes that were supporting the shade structure. Bohrer added that a 55-year-old Palestinian man, who owned a cave in the village, was injured by Israeli forces and had to be treated by paramedics. A Canadian-born man with the Centre for Jewish Non-violence was also detained. 'We are Sumud' the protest camp was erected by a coalition of Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish and other organisations under the banner “We are Sumud” to call for “an end to the systematic displacement of Palestinians”. Sumud means “steadfastness” in Arabic. “The main goal is to bring the Palestinian families back so they could return to their homes,” Amro said, emphasising the coalition's commitment to non-violent resistance. At least ten families from Sarura, who mostly lived in caves, were forcibly evicted in 1998 due to settler violence and a military firing zone set up by Israel, according to Amro and a statement by organisers of the demonstration. Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/israeli-forces-raid-sarura-protest-camp-hebron-hills-170525110933587.html

Settlers and Israeli soldiers besiege Bethlehem school. A group of settlers and Israeli Occupation forces besieged Al-Minya Secondary School in the town of Teqoa, Bethlehem, preventing students and staff from leaving. A student and a number of staff members have been detained. Sharid Farouk, deputy head of the school, said students on their way to school in the morning to sit their exams were pursued by settlers. Primary school student Mahdi Al-Kawazabah and Muhammad Al-Qurna, a teacher, were handcuffed and taken prisoner. Another teacher, Khalid Al-Araisi had his identity cards taken from him. Two settler cars and five Jeeps belonging to the Occupation forces surrounded the school, Farouk explained. He said a number of teachers had positioned themselves at the school gates to prevent settlers from entering the premises, while others remained with the students inside the building. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170525-settlers-and-israeli-soldiers-besiege-bethlehem-school/

Young Palestinian refugees bring message of freedom to US. Palestinian teenagers living in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, in the Occupied West Bank of Israel, want others things, too: security, freedom, hope for the future. “We want our rights, as human beings, as children, as teenagers,” says Sireen Khamis, aged 16. “We want to feel safe in our country, but we are not.” As a member of Shoruq (Arabic for “Sunrise”), an all-girl hip-hop collective from Dheisheh, Khamis and her band mates rap about the daily struggles of Palestinian teenagers. The group is performing in the United States, along with a mixed group of boys and girls who dance the traditional dabke. http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/hc-shoruq-artist-collective-20170329-story.html

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/young-palestinian-dancers-tell-stories-resistancehttps://www.arabamerica.com/dance-storytelling-resistance-shoruq-childrens-debke-troupe/

Israeli Justice Minister angry at map showing Israel minus 1967 conquered territory. 19 May 2017 | Minister Ayelet Shaked reacted angrily to map of Israel released by the White House, saying: “I hope this is just ignorance and not policy”. She reminded her audience that her party was given a mandate to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. Shaked also said, interestingly, “these are ideological matters and they are our job.” http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4964422,00.html

Israel committed 33 violations against news media and information freedom in April. A report released by The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) concludes that Israel violated press and media freedom 33 times during the month of April. According to a PNN report, April 2017 witnessed a slight decrease in the total number of violations against freedom of information in Palestine compared with a staggering 51 violations recorded in March. Among the worst of these violations was the closure of four libraries in Hebron and Nablus, following the raid and confiscation of some of their contents, under the pretext of “incitement”. Palestine TV reporter, Anaal Bassem al Jadaa, was injured by a flying tear gas canister, fired by an Israeli soldier, while covering a demonstration against settlement in Kafr-Qaddum village. Palestine TV cameraman Bashar Mahmud Nazzal was shot in the leg with a rubber-coated metal bullet, while covering the same demonstration. An attack on WAFA News Agency photographer Mashhour Hasan, in Hebron, and the destruction of his camera while covering events in the city, was yet another incident. Additionally, April saw the renewal of imprisonment without trial of journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, only ten days before his date of release. Israeli Occupation forces also brutally attacked around 14 journalists in Jerusalem, while they were covering a peaceful demonstration in the city.

Female news reporters 'unable to listen' to Trump's visit to Western Wall due to gender segregation. The gender separation at the Western Wall is in accordance with Orthodox Jewish tradition. Female reporters accompanying President Donald Trump on his trip to the Middle East were separated from their male colleagues and the President during his historic visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Men and women aren’t allowed to pray together at the Wall and a small barrier separates the two genders in accordance with Orthodox Jewish tradition. The women reporters were unable to hear the conversations Mr Trump was having but saw him speaking to a rabbi quietly as he approached the Wall. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trumps-western-wall-female-reporters-gender-segregation-unable-to-hear-a7749896.html

VIDEO: Israel siphoning natural gas from Gaza, says Dutch report. US and Israeli companies are working, with Israeli approval, to siphon natural gas from Gaza’s territorial waters, even though this is illegal according to international law, says Shir Hever, an economist working at The Real News Network (TRNN). His economic research focuses on Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian territory; international aid to the Palestinians and to Israel; the effects of the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian territories on the Israeli economy; and the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel. His first book: Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation: Repression Beyond Exploitation, was published by Pluto Press. http://imemc.org/article/video-israel-siphoning-natural-gas-from-gaza-says-dutch-report-pt-2/

Report slams Israel's military law enforcement system.

Israeli Army 'among world's child rights violators'.

Israel's poverty levels and inequality are among the highest in the developed world. Despite being the “Start-Up Nation,” an international survey of digital competency shows that only 27% of adults in Israel are ranked in the highest competency levels, versus 31% on average in the other OECD countries.

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The Palestine Yearbook 2015

The genocide the world ignores

by Diana Lodge

Everyone should have a copy

of this invaluable resource!

To order the book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Palestine+Yearbook+2015

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Julie Webb Pullman – Today in Gaza

http://gaza.scoop.ps/

http://todayingaza.wordpress.com/

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Listen to Earthwise, Christchurch, New Zealand,

on plainsfm96.9

Live stream www.plainsfm.org.nz on the first and third Monday of each month at 9pm, repeated Wednesdays at 9:30am. Earthwise is also broadcast in Hamilton on Free FM and in Waikanae on Coastal Access. Many of the programmes cover Palestine and other peace with justice issues. Also there are discussions on environmental issues. Last two months podcasts can be found at: plainsfm Organisers Martin and Lois Griffiths.

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Behind the Wall

Rich Wiles is a photographic artist who has been living and working in Palestine for some years. His photographic work has been shown around Europe, the US, Australia and in Palestine itself. Since 2006 he has been writing from Occupied Palestine under the title Behind the Wall. Much of this work is based in and around the refugee camps in Palestine, highlighting daily life and memories of refugees who still live in forced exile for over 60 years since Al Nakba (The Catastrophe).Visit Rich's website to view photos, many of which can be 'clicked on' to reveal information about them along with other tabs to Rich's biography, Contact etc. www.richwiles.com

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Life under Israeli Military Occupation

Every area of Israeli-Occupied Palestinian territory experiences arbitrary restrictions of movement imposed by the Israeli Army. The lack of freedom of movement is the frustrating and humiliating background to daily life for the Palestinian people, whose suffering includes a variety of human rights abuses, from night home invasions to wanton acts of agricultural and economic sabotage. The Israeli Occupation Army enforces a permit system for the benefit of settlers that determines where Palestinians may live in their own land.

Water

A major aquifer under the West Bank is controlled by Israel and from it the occupying power illegally plunders two-thirds of the precious water. Across the Occupied West Bank, Israel's illegal settlements have completely free access to water. Settler homes enjoy full swimming pools and well-watered gardens, while Palestinian access to their own water is severely restricted. Israel compounds this crime in two ways: The Zionist state forces Palestinians to pay the Israeli government public water supply company Mekorot for what little water they are allowed and, at the same time, Israel forbids Palestinians to sink wells or even build water storage facilities. Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are restricted to about 70 litres a day per person – well below the 100 litres per capita daily recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) – whereas Israeli daily per capita consumption, at about 300 litres, is about four times as much. In some rural communities Palestinians survive on far less than even the average 70 litres, in some cases barely 20 litres per day, the minimum amount recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency situations response.

In addition, reports by both the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme show that the water crisis in Gaza is likely to be critical and irreversible by 2020. The reports show that Gaza is almost completely dependent on a coastal aquifer that has now become filled with undrinkable sea water. Both international bodies express concern that Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip means severe limitations on people's access to essential water supplies.

One example of the water discrimination faced by Palestinians is the plight of Furush Beit Dajan villagers in the Jordan Valley. A visit by a delegation that included two British MPs in January 2015, co-ordinated by EWASH member Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC), heard how the Israeli occupation was choking the community’s access to water. Israeli settlements surrounding the village faced no restrictions on access to water resources while Palestinians are only allowed to extract water from wells down to a depth of 80m. Palestinian farmers are unable to obtain the quantity or quality of water necessary to effectively irrigate their crops. Following the Occupation of the West Bank in 1967 the Israeli Army seized all the agricultural land in the area and Palestinian farmers are forced into renting their own land back from the Israelis.

Restrictions of movement

Israel places checkpoints at the entrances to towns and villages to prevent people from entering or leaving. Interference with people attempting to move around towns and villages consists of blocking roads with concrete blocks, barbed-wire and/or earth mounds. People attempting to transport farm produce and other goods find obstacles placed on the roads by the Israeli Army. Trucks have to be unloaded by hand and similarly re-loaded onto vehicles brought from beyond the obstructions. Road closures are used to isolate areas wherever the Israeli Army considers the presence of Palestinians to be ‘illegal’. When the Israeli Army declares a curfew, anyone appearing in the street or at a window is liable to be shot dead. There are instances of Palestinian mothers giving birth at checkpoints, having been denied ready access to hospital. In some cases mothers have died as a result of Israeli Army indifference. *Restrictions of movement comprise: Closures of checkpoints - Flying checkpoints - Closures (per district) - Closures of main roads - Closures of crossings.

Agricultural and economic sabotage

Both the Israeli Army and illegal (according to international law) settlers terrorise Palestinian farmers, often preventing them from working their land, as well as frequently uprooting or setting fire to Palestinian olive trees and bulldozing their crops. The United Nations (UN Security Council Resolution 465) has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel's construction of settlements constitutes violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The International Court of Justice (see also summary) says these settlements are illegal and no foreign governments support Israel's settlements. The aim of the settlements is both to take land and resources from the local people and to bring pressure to bear on them to leave. On 21 January 2015, the newspaper Falesteen reported that the Israeli Occupation settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron had demanded the equivalent of US$22,359 in property 'taxes' from a Palestinian farmer, Al-Ja'bari, for his nearby house and farmland.

The Gaza fishing industry

The Gaza fishing industry is being crippled by the enforcement of a draconian fishing limit. The Israel Navy forces Palestinian fishing boats to remain within a three-nautical-mile, over-fished zone, sometimes at the cost to crews of life, limb and property. Gaza City's ruined international airport is permanently closed. Palestinians needing to enter or leave Palestine can do so only with Israeli permission. In addition to Israel's occasional massive bombing raids, Gaza residents are forced to live with the constant fear of overflying drones and the traumatising effects of sonic booms created by Israeli war planes. The effects on the children of Gaza are particularly distressing.

House demolitions and evictions

The Israeli Army routinely destroys Palestinian houses built without Israel's permission. Since the beginning of 2015, the Israeli Occupation has demolished 77 homes, livestock shelters, farm buildings and other structures in Area C of the West Bank, resulting in 110 people, around half of them children, losing their homes at the height of the winter, according to a report compiled by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA also reported that between 19 and 26 January, Israel had already demolished 41 structures, far higher than the weekly average in 2014 of nine demolitions per week. In that seven-day period, the Israeli occupation delivered 45 'halt to construction' orders and two demolition orders. In 2014, Israel demolished the homes of 969 Palestinians – a total of 493 homes and ancillary structures in Area C of the West Bank which, under the Oslo Accords, is under exclusive Israeli control. In East Jerusalem seven Palestinian buildings were demolished, including two on 29 January in the Jabal Mukkaber neighbourhood. Buildings were also torn down in Issawiya, Shuafat and Ras al-Amud. In East Jerusalem, 208 Palestinians were displaced in 2014 after Israel demolished 97 buildings. In 2014, according to OCHA figures, the Israeli occupation destroyed 590 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 1177 people. The 41 structures destroyed by Israel between 19 and 26 January, according to OCHA, were in Bedouin and other pastoral communities in Hebron, Jericho, Ramallah and Beit Iksa, north-west of Jerusalem. The destruction included buildings that had been donated by European humanitarian organisations. Construction stop orders were issued for a park funded by donor nations in the Yatta area and buildings in the Ramallah area and near Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley.

On 23 January 2015, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator, James W. Rawley, expressed his concern over the recent spate of Israeli Army demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. "In the past three days, 77 Palestinians, over half of them children, have been made homeless," said Mr. Rawley.

"Some of the demolished structures were provided by the international community to support vulnerable families. Demolitions that result in forced evictions and displacement run counter to Israel's obligations under international law and create unnecessary suffering and tension. They must stop immediately," he said.

Discrimination

Israel's planning policies very much limit the ability of Palestinians to build in East Jerusalem, discriminating against them compared to Jews. In Area C – the majority of the West Bank – except in certain exceptional cases, Israel does not allow Palestinians construction levels to match natural population growth, and prevents hundreds of communities with some 300,000 Palestinian residents to connect to essential infrastructure and services (according to OCHA figures). Under this Israeli-imposed regime, Palestinians living in overcrowded housing and appalling conditions, are faced with the choice, either to move out to the Palestinian enclaves in Areas A and B or build homes without Israeli permits and face the consequences.

Home invasions and abductions of children and other youngsters

Israeli troops frequently invade Palestinian homes (often at dead of night) and abductions of Palestinian minors are commonplace. Israeli soldiers often vandalise the interiors of Palestinian homes being raided and frequently terrorise children and other minors with threats. Youngsters abducted by Israeli soldiers are often blindfolded and their wrists tied behind their backs. Many children are illegally taken to prison in Israel, where more terror is practised against them, such as solitary confinement and shackling in painful positions for long periods. The majority of these children are detained inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

This inhumane treatment of children prompted an Investigation and Report by UNICEF in February 2013. The report found that each year approximately 700 Palestinian children aged 12 to 17, mainly boys, are arrested, interrogated and held captive by Israeli army, police and security agents. The majority are charged with throwing stones, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of ten years' imprisonment, or 20 years if thrown at a moving vehicle (six months maximum for a juvenile, 12-13 years). The usual process, as described in the UNICEF Report, is for the child to be aggressively awakened in the middle of the night by armed soldiers, and forcibly brought to an interrogation centre, tied and blindfolded, sleep-deprived and brought to a state of extreme fear. The transfer can take up to an entire day. Interrogation takes place in a police station (without a lawyer or family member present) using a mix of intimidation and threats. Child prisoners have been threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault, against themselves or a family member. Most children confess at the end of such interrogation. Some children have been held in solitary confinement, for a period ranging from two days up to one month before the court hearing. Children are generally brought before a military court in leg chains and shackles, wearing prison uniform. Most see their lawyers for the first time when they are brought to the court. UNICEF found that the practices described are in violation of international law.

Israel’s toxic hazard weapon

Israel has devised yet another technique designed to to drive Palestinians from their land and weaken their resolve to resist. It is a direct assault on their health that carries the menace of further agricultural and economic sabotage. For instance, activity at Israel's Barkan industrial complex generates growing quantities of polluting waste-water from the production of plastics, lead and other commodities that endanger human health. Pollution from Barkan flows into the streams that run through valleys where there are Palestinian farms as well as towns. Israeli Occupation settlements discharge their untreated waste to add to the pollution. This poisons Palestinian land, crops, farm animals and essential, if meagre, water supplies. Settlers – with Israeli Army assistance – release wild pigs, that reproduce rapidly, into Palestinian areas, spoiling agriculture and damaging olive trees, fencing and small buildings. The pigs cannot be controlled because Israel will not allow the people to own or use firearms, or even knives, to kill the pigs. Poison cannot be used because of the danger to Palestinian farm animals.

'Rubber bullets'

The unqualified term 'rubber bullets' is misleading because it implies that ammunition is made solely of rubber. In fact there are two types of such bullets, both of which are made of steel with a minimal coating (1mm to 2mm) of either rubber or plastic. The medical journal The Lancet has published the results of medical examinations of victims wounded by rubber-coated steel bullets, coming to the conclusion that when firing this type of ammunition it is “impossible to avoid severe injuries to vulnerable body regions such as the head, neck and upper torso, leading to substantial mortality, morbidity and disability.”

Tear gas – Israel's daily violations of the CWC

Israel has signed, but refuses to ratify, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Tear gas riot control agents, including tear gas and pepper-spray, are banned in international warfare under both the 1925 Geneva Protocol and Article 1 of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. The CWC defines chemical weapons as “munitions and devices that are designed to cause death or other harm through toxic chemicals” that lead to “death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals.” According to the CWC, “riot control agents” are any chemicals, not specifically named in their list of prohibited chemicals, that can cause humans to suffer rapid “sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure.” Belligerent military occupation by a foreign power is an act of war and when the Israeli Army fires tear gas grenades at Palestinian villagers in their homes or at protesters it is violating the CWC; the more so when standard weapons of war, such as live fire, accompany the use of tear gas. Persons blinded by tear gas cannot avoid live fire, rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades or military vehicles and bulldozers. But that is the reality for Palestinians living under Israeli military Occupation.

Israeli Army military exercises force Palestinians out of their homes

An example of this practice is contained in an International Women's Peace Service (IWPS) report on the Israeli Army's terrorising of a Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley. The report tells of a continual programme of Israeli military training in the village of ‘Atuf that traumatises the population. Every week 22 families, amounting to 172 individuals, are displaced from their homes from 4am to 5pm by Israeli military live-fire exercises. Since 1967 Israeli troops have been forcing the Bedouin people to leave their houses each week. Whole families and their livestock are displaced to outlying fields to the sound of gunfire and explosions. The entire area is designated “Area C” and there is a 'closed military zone' where nothing is allowed to be built or improved. A whole valley of fertile farmland lies uncultivated while the nearby Occupation settlement of Beqa constantly expands. In both ‘Atuf and Tamun countless houses have been demolished by the Israeli Army and many more are under demolition orders. Since 1970, 14 people have been killed and 30 have lost limbs due to exploding abandoned Israeli Army ordnance. The explosives can be as small as a pen, easily mistaken by children as harmless. The continual sound of explosions and gunfire results in many cases of psychological trauma, especially to children, and the only school in the district is within earshot of the weekly Israeli military exercises.

Ethnic discrimination

In addition to all of the above, Palestinians citizens of Israel as well as those living under occupation have to contend with more than 50 discriminatory Israeli laws. These affect all areas of life, including rights to political participation, access to land, education, state budget resources and criminal procedures. Some of the laws also violate the rights of refugees.

Israeli Army violence

The Israeli Occupation Army enforces many of the above restrictions with the threat, or actual use, of military action as well as personal physical assault. Thus, daily life for Palestinians is conducted in an all-pervasive atmosphere of violence and fear.

The Prawer Plan

The Israeli Knesset approved a plan which has since been suspended for the mass expulsion of the Arab Bedouin community in the Naqab (Negev) Desert in the south of Israel. If fully implemented, the Prawer Plan would have resulted in the destruction of 35 'unrecognised' Arab Bedouin villages with the forced displacement and dispossession of up to 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel.

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Leslie Bravery www.palestine.org.nz

PHRC | Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand

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See this In Occupied Palestine newsletter at: the PHRC website: www.palestine.org.nz

- and you can check out previous editions by clicking on In Occupied Palestine listed under Contents

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