| IOP – 26 June 2017 |
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| Saturday, 01 July 2017 | |
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While the Occupation is business as usual for Israel, 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] 26 June 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. 1 Palestinian missile attack
Israel launches 3 air strikes, opens fire on fishing boats and Gaza farmland
Israeli Navy opens fire on Palestinian fishing boats
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in UN refugee camp and 12 towns and villages
7 Israeli attacks (5 Israeli ceasefire violations + 1 Palestinian)
20 raids including home invasions
7 injured – 1 abducted (aged 17)
2 acts of agricultural/economic sabotage
8 taken prisoner – 1 detained Home invasions: 01:10,Til village - 02:55-04:10, Abu Dis - 01:50-06:10, Bethlehem - 01:50-06:10, the al-Dheisheh UN refugee camp - 01:50-06:10, al-Khadr - 01:50-06:10, Irtas - dawn, Beit Awa - dawn, Beit Ummar. Peace disruption raids: dawn, Beit Ummar - 09:50, Markah village - 09:50, the Fahma UN refugee camp - 23:00-04:00, Sabastya - 23:00-04:00, al-Naqura - 23:00-04:00, Deir Sharaf - 23:00-04:00, Orif - 23:00-04:00, Madma - 18:20, al-Nu'em- 07:50, al-Ubeidiya - 01:40-04:45, Ithna - 01:40-04:45, Khursa. Ceasefire violation – Palestinian missile launches: Central Gaza – 22:00, a number of missiles fired towards the Green Line. Ceasefire violation – air strike: Gaza – 01:35, Israeli military aircraft launched missiles into north-west Gaza City. Ceasefire violation – air strike: Central Gaza – 01:40, Israeli military aircraft fired missiles onto an area near the al-Nusayrat UN refugee camp. Ceasefire violation – air strike: Rafah – 02:10, Israeli military aircraft carried out air strikes on Rafah City. Ceasefire violation – Israeli Navy attack – economic sabotage: Gaza – 00:10, the Israeli Navy opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza City. Ceasefire violation – Israeli Army attack – agricultural sabotage: Gaza – 00:20, Israeli forces, positioned behind the Green Line, opened fire on al-Shija’iya farmland. Israeli Army attack – indiscriminate fire: Nablus – 01:10, the Israeli Army opened indiscriminate fire on Til village. Israeli Army attack – home invasions: Hebron – dawn, Israeli forces, firing live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas, raided Beit Ummar and searched several homes. Home invasions – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jerusalem – 02:55-04:10, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, raided Abu Dis, searched two homes and took prisoner two people. Home invasions – 7 wounded – UN refugee camp – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 01:50-06:10, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, raided Bethlehem, the al-Dheisheh UN refugee camp, al-Khadr and Irtas, and searched several homes. Seven people were wounded, including a paramedic (Ala Anwar Abdel-Ra'uf Al-Bal'awi) and another resident, Ramzi Hassan Abu Ajamiya, who was rammed by an Israeli Army motor vehicle. The Army ordered another person to report for interrogation at Israeli Military Intelligence. Home invasions – abduction: Hebron – dawn, Israeli forces raided Beit Ummar, searched several homes and abducted a 17-year-old youth: Rashad Bashar Issa Za'aqiq. Israeli Army – robbery: Salfit – 18:30, Israeli soldiers, positioned outside Kifl Hares village, seized a Palestinian man, Hatem Mohammad Abu Nassar from Deir Istiya, and took his motor cycle. Raid – UN refugee camp: Jenin – 09:50, Israeli forces raided Markah village and the Fahma UN refugee camp. [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: Raiding Israeli troops shoot and kill a Palestinian man in Hebron. On Wednesday evening, armed, undercover Israeli soldiers, disguised as civilians, shot and killed 23-year-old Iyad Munir Arafat Ghaith. Israeli raids on Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps are a nightly occurrence in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to Ma’an documentation, Ghaith is the thirty-fifth Palestinian to have been killed by an Israeli in 2017. Eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during the same timeframe. https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777840 Israeli settlers and soldiers storm Beit Ummar. On Thursday, the Israeli Army stormed residential areas, shooting and wounding a 15-year-old boy, and soldiers firing tear gas canisters and stun grenades, attacked homes, causing a fire to break out. During the raid, soldiers took prisoner three Palestinians, including a 17-year-old minor. http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=4h7tHga91194117201a4h7tHg Zionist fanatics from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement set Palestinian farmland ablaze and contaminated crops with sewage. The Israeli settlers started a fire near the Palestinian village of Burin on Wednesday afternoon, 28 June. No action was taken by the Israeli Army or police to find the perpetrators. According to footage shared on social media by Palestinian news agency al-Quds, Israeli soldiers and police officers were on the scene actually supporting the settlers. Several Yitzhar settler attacks have been carried out in Palestinian villages in recent months, including the destruction of some 45 olive trees near Burin on Sunday. Yitzhar settlers also continue to dump waste on Palestinian farmland. Anti-settlement activist, Bilal Eid, said the settlers dump harmful waste on Palestinian land, especially in the village of Burin, in order to pressure Palestinians to leave their land and allow Israel to annex it to the settlements. Villages and towns south of Nablus, including the village of Burin, have repeatedly been attacked by the Israeli Army under the pretext of providing protection for Jewish settlers. A number of Palestinians, including a 72-year-old woman and a shepherd, have been hospitalised since attacks took place in April near Yitzhar. Israeli settlers and soldiers who commit violent acts against Palestinians do so without facing any consequences, while Palestinians can face up to 20 years in prison for throwing stones and certainly face a minimum prison sentence of three years. Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across Occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community. According to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were, in 2016, a total of 107 reported settler attacks against Palestinian persons and property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with 65 attacks being reported since the start of 2017. http://imemc.org/article/palestinian-lands-set-ablaze-contaminated-with-sewage-by-extremist-yitzhar-settlers/ London to Jerusalem – 2,000-mile walk in solidarity with the Palestinians. Walkers plan to enter Jerusalem on 2 November to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. middleeasteye Israeli politician warns that Israel resembles fascist state. “Artists, actors and playwrights are under threat, Supreme Court justices and judges generally are threatened, journalists are fired and are threatened, journalists and newspapers are under threat of being closed by the authorities, and now also academics are under threat and can say nothing.” https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/government-turning-israel-into-a-fascist-state-says-herzog-1.440526 Long-deferred Israeli apartheid road closer to being launched. http://www.altro.co.il/newsletters/show/10088Walling off Gaza Ghetto. Israeli news media reports confirm the construction of a new high-tech 65 km surveillance wall, equipped with cameras and sensors “to separate Gaza from Israel”, thereby reinforcing the enclosure of a population of more than 1.85 million people in Gaza as a de facto “prison territory”. This initiative constitutes the latest stage of a process started in 1994 with the establishment of the so-called 'Israel Gaza security barrier'. http://www.globalresearch.ca/enclosure-of-gaza-as-a-prison-territory Israeli Army incursion into Central Gaza. With military drones flying overhead, three Israeli Army tanks, and four armoured bulldozers stormed across the border and ruined local agriculture, bulldozing crops east of the al-Bureij UN refugee camp and blocking the land with hills of sand. http://imemc.org/article/israeli-army-vehicles-invade-palestinian-lands-in-central-gaza/ Orthodox Church in Jerusalem sells land to Israel. The Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist revealed on Tuesday that the Orthodox Church sold the land to Jewish investors and businessmen. Quds Net News, a local Palestinian news agency, noted that this is the second time the Church has sold Israel large amounts of land in recent years. About two years ago the Orthodox Church sold some 1,000 dunams to an Israeli enterprise, the agency said. The secret deal came to light after the Church filed a complaint against the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem, seeking documents to prove that transferring ownership of the land to the municipality would mean they stopped paying taxes. It also revealed that two years ago the Church sold 200 dunams in the al-Talibiyeh neighbourhood in Jerusalem to a group of unidentified investors, noting that Palestinian residents that owned the land feared that the investors would force them out of their homes after they completed the 30-year lease. Quds Net News said that the Orthodox Church sold the Franciscan Monastery to an Israeli firm “because it needed the funds.” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170628-orthodox-church-in-jerusalem-sells-land-to-israel/ Israeli court rules that airlines cannot ask women to move from their seats for ultra-orthodox men. El Al, and by extension other airlines, may no longer ask women to change seats on a flight due to the requests of haredi men who demand not to sit next to women, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled. albawaba.com Israel shrinks meaningless Palestinian fishing zone even further. Israel's Agriculture Ministry has announced that the Palestinian fishing zone in the blockaded Gaza Strip will be reduced from nine nautical miles to six nautical miles, the chief of the Palestinian Fishermen’s Union, Nizar Ayash, told Quds Press today. In May, Israel purportedly extended the zone from six nautical miles to nine nautical miles, not that it made any difference to Palestinian fishermen who suffer indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli Navy wherever they try to fish. Ayash called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its “brutal” practices against the Palestinian fishermen. Some 4,000 Palestinian fishermen attempt to work off the coast of Gaza to provide for over 50,000 people in Gaza. It is time to end Israel's Gaza blockade. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170628-israel-shrinks-palestinian-fishing-zone-in-gaza/ Blank history of the Palestinians book removed from Amazon. Amazon has removed a book called The History of the Palestinian People: From Ancient Times to the Modern Era from its online store, after numerous complaints that the work comprised only 132 empty pages. The book was published in the name of Assaf Voll, who has a Masters in Jewish Studies from the University of Haifa. https://www.thejc.com/news/world/blank-history-of-the-palestinians-book-removed-from-amazon-1.440768 Board of Deputies praises Quakers after Palestine campaign group cancels event with State of Terror author. A Palestinian Solidarity Campaign-backed event, featuring an author accused of peddling anti-Semitic theories on Israel and Judaism, has been cancelled. Thomas Suarez was due to speak at the meeting, this Thursday, to promote his latest book State of Terror – How Terrorism Created Modern Israel. But on Monday, it emerged that the meeting due to take place at the local Quaker Friends Meeting House in Cambridge this Thursday, had been called off. Cambridge PSC said on Tuesday they were “disappointed”. Mr Suarez, a professional violinist, has branded Zionism as “fascist” and claimed its leaders encouraged anti-Semitism in Germany to force Jews to move to Palestine. Speaking about 'the Jewish state', he said: “Crammed into those three words are all of Jewry, Judaism, Jewish history, culture, persecution, and most cynical and exploitative of all, the Holocaust.” The Board of Deputies are among the Jewish organisations known to have raised objections to Thursday’s event. A spokesman for Cambridge PSC said: “Naturally we are disappointed with the decision. We had been in detailed dialogue with the Friends Meeting House about the proposed meeting and understand the pressure they have been put under. We have had a strong relationship with Friends Meeting House over the years and this will continue, given our shared deep commitment to human rights and justice for the Palestinian people. https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/board-halt-anti-israel-author-talk-1.438110 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Julie Webb Pullman – Today in Gaza http://todayingaza.wordpress.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leslie Bravery www.palestine.org.nz PHRC | Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let us know if you no longer wish to receive these emails. Please, if you have friends or family who would like to receive them ask them to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it fugee camp - 01:50-06:10, al-Khadr - 01:50-06:10, Irtas - dawn, Beit Awa - dawn, Beit Ummar. Peace disruption raids: dawn, Beit Ummar - 09:50, Markah village - 09:50, the Fahma UN refugee camp - 23:00-04:00, Sabastya - 23:00-04:00, al-Naqura - 23:00-04:00, Deir Sharaf - 23:00-04:00, Orif - 23:00-04:00, Madma - 18:20, al-Nu'em- 07:50, al-Ubeidiya - 01:40-04:45, Ithna - 01:40-04:45, Khursa. Ceasefire violation – Palestinian missile launches: Central Gaza – 22:00, a number of missiles fired towards the Green Line. Ceasefire violation – air strike: Gaza – 01:35, Israeli military aircraft launched missiles into north-west Gaza City. Ceasefire violation – air strike: Central Gaza – 01:40, Israeli military aircraft fired missiles onto an area near the al-Nusayrat UN refugee camp. Ceasefire violation – air strike: Rafah – 02:10, Israeli military aircraft carried out air strikes on Rafah City. Ceasefire violation – Israeli Navy attack – economic sabotage: Gaza – 00:10, the Israeli Navy opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza City. Ceasefire violation – Israeli Army attack – agricultural sabotage: Gaza – 00:20, Israeli forces, positioned behind the Green Line, opened fire on al-Shija’iya farmland. Israeli Army attack – indiscriminate fire: Nablus – 01:10, the Israeli Army opened indiscriminate fire on Til village. Israeli Army attack – home invasions: Hebron – dawn, Israeli forces, firing live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas, raided Beit Ummar and searched several homes. Home invasions – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jerusalem – 02:55-04:10, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, raided Abu Dis, searched two homes and took prisoner two people. Home invasions – 7 wounded – UN refugee camp – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 01:50-06:10, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, raided Bethlehem, the al-Dheisheh UN refugee camp, al-Khadr and Irtas, and searched several homes. Seven people were wounded, including a paramedic (Ala Anwar Abdel-Ra'uf Al-Bal'awi) and another resident, Ramzi Hassan Abu Ajamiya, who was rammed by an Israeli Army motor vehicle. The Army ordered another person to report for interrogation at Israeli Military Intelligence. Home invasions – abduction: Hebron – dawn, Israeli forces raided Beit Ummar, searched several homes and abducted a 17-year-old youth: Rashad Bashar Issa Za'aqiq. Israeli Army – robbery: Salfit – 18:30, Israeli soldiers, positioned outside Kifl Hares village, seized a Palestinian man, Hatem Mohammad Abu Nassar from Deir Istiya, and took his motor cycle. Raid – UN refugee camp: Jenin – 09:50, Israeli forces raided Markah village and the Fahma UN refugee camp. [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: Raiding Israeli troops shoot and kill a Palestinian man in Hebron. On Wednesday evening, armed, undercover Israeli soldiers, disguised as civilians, shot and killed 23-year-old Iyad Munir Arafat Ghaith. Israeli raids on Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps are a nightly occurrence in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to Ma’an documentation, Ghaith is the thirty-fifth Palestinian to have been killed by an Israeli in 2017. Eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during the same timeframe. https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777840 Israeli settlers and soldiers storm Beit Ummar. On Thursday, the Israeli Army stormed residential areas, shooting and wounding a 15-year-old boy, and soldiers firing tear gas canisters and stun grenades, attacked homes, causing a fire to break out. During the raid, soldiers took prisoner three Palestinians, including a 17-year-old minor. http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=4h7tHga91194117201a4h7tHg Zionist fanatics from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement set Palestinian farmland ablaze and contaminate crops with sewage. The Israeli settlers started a fire near the Palestinian village of Burin on Wednesday afternoon, 28 June. No action was taken by the Israeli Army or police to find the perpetrators. According to footage shared on social media by Palestinian news agency al-Quds, Israeli soldiers and police officers were on the scene actually supporting the settlers. Several Yitzhar settler attacks have been carried out in Palestinian villages in recent months, including the destruction of some 45 olive trees near Burin on Sunday. Yitzhar settlers also continue to dump waste on Palestinian farmland. Anti-settlement activist, Bilal Eid, said the settlers dump harmful waste on Palestinian land, especially in the village of Burin, in order to pressure Palestinians to leave their land and allow Israel to annex it to the settlements. Villages and towns south of Nablus, including the village of Burin, have repeatedly been attacked by the Israeli Army under the pretext of providing protection for Jewish settlers. A number of Palestinians, including a 72-year-old woman and a shepherd, have been hospitalised since attacks took place in April near Yitzhar. Israeli settlers and soldiers who commit violent acts against Palestinians do so without facing any consequences, while Palestinians can face up to 20 years in prison for throwing stones and certainly face a minimum prison sentence of three years. Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across Occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community. According to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were, in 2016, a total of 107 reported settler attacks against Palestinian persons and property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with 65 attacks being reported since the start of 2017. http://imemc.org/article/palestinian-lands-set-ablaze-contaminated-with-sewage-by-extremist-yitzhar-settlers/ London to Jerusalem – 2,000-mile walk in solidarity with the Palestinians. Walkers plan to enter Jerusalem on 2 November to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. middleeasteye Israeli politician warns that Israel resembles fascist state. “Artists, actors and playwrights are under threat, Supreme Court justices and judges generally are threatened, journalists are fired and are threatened, journalists and newspapers are under threat of being closed by the authorities, and now also academics are under threat and can say nothing.” https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/government-turning-israel-into-a-fascist-state-says-herzog-1.440526 Long-deferred Israeli apartheid road closer to being launched. http://www.altro.co.il/newsletters/show/10088 Walling off Gaza Ghetto. Israeli news media reports confirm the construction of a new high-tech 65 km surveillance wall, equipped with cameras and sensors “to separate Gaza from Israel”, thereby reinforcing the enclosure of a population of more than 1.85 million people in Gaza as a de facto “prison territory”. This initiative constitutes the latest stage of a process started in 1994 with the establishment of the so-called 'Israel Gaza security barrier'. http://www.globalresearch.ca/enclosure-of-gaza-as-a-prison-territory Israeli Army incursion into Central Gaza. With military drones flying overhead, three Israeli Army tanks, and four armoured bulldozers stormed across the border and ruined local agriculture, bulldozing crops east of the al-Bureij UN refugee camp and blocking the land with hills of sand. http://imemc.org/article/israeli-army-vehicles-invade-palestinian-lands-in-central-gaza/ Orthodox Church in Jerusalem sells land to Israel. The Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist revealed on Tuesday that the Orthodox Church sold the land to Jewish investors and businessmen. Quds Net News, a local Palestinian news agency, noted that this is the second time the Church has sold Israel large amounts of land in recent years. About two years ago the Orthodox Church sold some 1,000 dunams to an Israeli enterprise, the agency said. The secret deal came to light after the Church filed a complaint against the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem, seeking documents to prove that transferring ownership of the land to the municipality would mean they stopped paying taxes. It also revealed that two years ago the Church sold 200 dunams in the al-Talibiyeh neighbourhood in Jerusalem to a group of unidentified investors, noting that Palestinian residents that owned the land feared that the investors would force them out of their homes after they completed the 30-year lease. Quds Net News said that the Orthodox Church sold the Franciscan Monastery to an Israeli firm “because it needed the funds.” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170628-orthodox-church-in-jerusalem-sells-land-to-israel/ Israeli court rules that airlines cannot ask women to move from their seats for ultra-orthodox men. El Al, and by extension other airlines, may no longer ask women to change seats on a flight due to the requests of haredi men who demand not to sit next to women, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled. albawaba.com Israel shrinks meaningless Palestinian fishing zone even further. Israel's Agriculture Ministry has announced that the Palestinian fishing zone in the blockaded Gaza Strip will be reduced from nine nautical miles to six nautical miles, the chief of the Palestinian Fishermen’s Union, Nizar Ayash, told Quds Press today. In May, Israel purportedly extended the zone from six nautical miles to nine nautical miles, not that it made any difference to Palestinian fishermen who suffer indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli Navy wherever they try to fish. Ayash called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its “brutal” practices against the Palestinian fishermen. Some 4,000 Palestinian fishermen attempt to work off the coast of Gaza to provide for over 50,000 people in Gaza. It is time to end Israel's Gaza blockade. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170628-israel-shrinks-palestinian-fishing-zone-in-gaza/ Blank history of the Palestinians book removed from Amazon. Amazon has removed a book called The History of the Palestinian People: From Ancient Times to the Modern Era from its online store, after numerous complaints that the work comprised only 132 empty pages. The book was published in the name of Assaf Voll, who has a Masters in Jewish Studies from the University of Haifa. https://www.thejc.com/news/world/blank-history-of-the-palestinians-book-removed-from-amazon-1.440768 Board of Deputies praises Quakers after Palestine campaign group cancels event with State of Terror author. A Palestinian Solidarity Campaign-backed event, featuring an author accused of peddling anti-Semitic theories on Israel and Judaism, has been cancelled. Thomas Suarez was due to speak at the meeting, this Thursday, to promote his latest book State of Terror – How Terrorism Created Modern Israel. But on Monday, it emerged that the meeting due to take place at the local Quaker Friends Meeting House in Cambridge this Thursday, had been called off. Cambridge PSC said on Tuesday they were “disappointed”. Mr Suarez, a professional violinist, has branded Zionism as “fascist” and claimed its leaders encouraged anti-Semitism in Germany to force Jews to move to Palestine. Speaking about 'the Jewish state', he said: “Crammed into those three words are all of Jewry, Judaism, Jewish history, culture, persecution, and most cynical and exploitative of all, the Holocaust.” The Board of Deputies are among the Jewish organisations known to have raised objections to Thursday’s event. A spokesman for Cambridge PSC said: “Naturally we are disappointed with the decision. We had been in detailed dialogue with the Friends Meeting House about the proposed meeting and understand the pressure they have been put under. We have had a strong relationship with Friends Meeting House over the years and this will continue, given our shared deep commitment to human rights and justice for the Palestinian people.” https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/board-halt-anti-israel-author-talk-1.438110 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Julie Webb Pullman – Today in Gaza http://todayingaza.wordpress.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leslie Bravery www.palestine.org.nz PHRC | Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let us know if you no longer wish to receive these emails. Please, if you have friends or family who would like to receive them ask them to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |