| IOP – 12 July 2017 |
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| Monday, 17 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] 12 July 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 Army destroys 2 Palestinian homes
Occupation settlers set fire to West Bank village crops
Israel Army raids 2 UN refugee camps at night and at dawn
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in refugee camp and 4 villages
11 raids including home invasions
1 abducted (aged 17)
3 acts of agricultural/economic sabotage
12 taken prisoner – 1 detained Home invasions: 08:00, Silwan - 01:00, Anata - dawn, Jabal al-Mukabir - 01:45, Kharis. Peace disruption raids: dawn, the Qalandiya UN refugee camp - 08:20, Bardala - 22:15, Ein al-Bayda - 16:00, Bethlehem - 19:50, Wadi Shahin - 02:50, Surif - 03:25, the al-Arub UN refugee camp. Palestinian missile attacks: none. Home destroyed: Jerusalem – 08:00, the Israeli Army destroyed a home in the Bi'er Ayoub area of Silwan. Home invasion and abduction: Jerusalem – 01:00, Israeli forces raided Anata, searched several homes and abducted a 17-year-old youth, Malik Ibrahim Ajjaj. Home destroyed: Jerusalem – dawn, the Israeli Army destroyed the home of a resident, Musa Obiyat, in the Jabal al-Mukabir neighbourhood. Economic sabotage: Gaza — the Israeli Navy continues to enforce an arbitrary fishing limit. Israeli Army mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, Israeli police officers raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and raised the Israeli flag. Israeli Army destruction and economic sabotage: Jerusalem – 08:00, Israeli forces destroyed a car-wash facility and a lock-up in the Beir Ayoub area of Silwan. Israeli Army mosque violation: Jerusalem – 11:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli troops, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers. Israeli Army rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 16:55, Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Aida UN refugee camp residents. Israeli Army rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 19:35, Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Teqoa residents. Occupation settler violence: Tubas – 18:35, a gang of Israeli settlers pursued and terrorised two Palestinian men, Rafe' Fuqaha and Khalil Fuqaha, in the North Jordan Valley area of Khilat Hamad. Occupation settler arson attack – agricultural sabotage: Nablus – 15:50, a gang of Israeli settlers set fire to crops on Burin village agricultural land. Raid – UN refugee camp: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli forces raided the Qalandiya UN refugee camp and took prisoner two people. Raid – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 16:00, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, raided the Jabal Handaza area. Raid – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 19:50, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, raided the Wadi Shahin area. Raid – UN refugee camp: Hebron – 03:25,Israeli forces raided the al-Arub UN refugee camp and took prisoner four people. [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: We for Gaza: ‘Gaza has to live in order for Palestine to live’. Over 1,000 individuals and 60 associations and networks from across the world have come together to call for an end to Israel’s policies which are leading to “the slow extermination of a population already affected by several military attacks” in the Gaza Strip. The campaign, “Gaza alive is life for Palestine“, has received support from Professor Noam Chomsky, Ann Wright, former US Army colonel and peace activist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire, among others. The groups call for long-term development plans in order to stop the recent crises in the Strip, including the shortage of electricity and the ongoing problems with water shortages. Every day, children and adults are dying because they cannot receive the necessary care due to the lack of adequate medication and equipment. Please sign petition: http://we4gaza.org/2017/07/12/signatories/ Open questions on Middle East policy for Gerry Brownlee and the National Party On 4 January 2017, the New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade (MFAT) website carried the following announcement that began: UN Security Council adopts historic resolution on Israeli settlements “The United Nations Security Council has reaffirmed that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. In passing Resolution 2334, the Security Council reiterated its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard.” The announcement ended with a comment by New Zealand’s Permanent Representative, Gerard van Bohemen: “every settlement creates false hope for the settlers that the land will one day be part of a greater Israel. Every settlement takes land away from Palestinians needing homes or farmland or roads.” In anger at the UN Security Council approval of Resolution 2334, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has announced a determination to withhold US$6m from payments due to the United Nations. On 14 June, in an interview on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report, New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister, Gerry Brownlee, was asked about his view on the legality of Israel's Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land. His answer to that question was: “What we’ve said is that the settlement issue is one that the parties that are in dispute need to sort out among themselves. And we will do what we can to assist in that process. But in the end, it’s something for them to determine.” Israel knew very well In 1967, Theodor Meron, the Israeli Government's chief legal adviser at the time, warned his Government that, according to international law, “a nation may not settle its citizens on land that it has gained by conquest to usurp the rights of the original residents”. To this day, Meron stands by his advice. Article 49 of the Geneva Convention on the protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War prohibits an Occupying power to transfer parts of its own population into the territory it Occupies. Confiscation of land to build or expand settlements is similarly prohibited. Article 49 also prohibits the forced removal of citizens from land gained by war and this is exactly what Israel is doing in the settlement areas. New Zealand's sponsoring of UNSC Resolution 2334 was based upon these binding principles of international law. They are non-negotiable. Therefore, any requirement that the defenceless victims of Israel's violations of these principles of international law should negotiate with their oppressor must be tantamount to condoning coercion. On 3 July, New Zealand MPs, including Mr Brownlee, were sent an email that drew attention to Israel's criminal behaviour towards Palestinian children. Does the Minister continue to stand by the view he expressed in the Morning Report interview? If so, we would appreciate it if he would explain his reasons for believing that these gross violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by New Zealand on 13 March 1993, are not also a matter for the world community to consider. In November 1947, New Zealand voted in favour of a non-binding UN General Assembly Resolution to partition Palestine, while ignoring the Palestinian people's protests. This policy demonstrated a view that Palestinians had no right to determine their own future in their own homeland. Continuing support by world leaders for Israel with the de facto granting of impunity for its violations of international law have thus inexorably led to mounting injustice and cruelty. World community concern – and naiveté Last year, the Netherlands Government donated dozens of solar panels and electrical equipment, comprising a hybrid power system of both diesel and solar power, to the West Bank Palestinian village of Jubbet al-Dhib. This gift had made life a little easier for 30 impoverished families. On Wednesday morning, 28 June this year, the Israeli Occupation Army raided Jubbet al-Dhib, plundering the village of 96 solar panels and destroying items that were less easy to remove. The New York Times reported that the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry was furious – but what did it expect? Had the Dutch Government forgotten that Israel had similarly plundered the village of a solar-powered public lighting system in 2009? The purpose of the Zionist state's military Occupation of the West Bank is not for the benefit of the Palestinian people, quite the reverse – Israel's presence there is plainly malevolent and self-serving. The Zionist project Jubbet al-Dhib lies in the shadow of two illegal Israeli settlement colonies, El David and Noqedim. The Noqedim settlement is home to Israeli Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman. On top of these oppressive settlements, the villagers have to cope with the fanatical presence of a number of additional Israeli colonial outposts that exist in violation of both Israeli and international law. But – take note of this – they still enjoy connection to the Israeli power grid and access to other Occupation infrastructure. Israel demolished more than 300 Palestinian buildings and infrastructure facilities in 2016. According to The Jerusalem Post, all of them had been installed with the support of international organisations or with the financial help of the European Union. The Israeli Government's decision to prevent the use of solar energy technology in Jubbet al-Dhib can have only one purpose, and that is to increase the villagers' suffering so that they will give up and leave their homes, thus making it easier to expand settlements. Can any government believe that Israel has respect for the Palestinian people and for a just outcome? Gerry Brownlee, please tell the world what you and the National Government believe is driving Israel's behaviour in these matters. Meeting intransigence with sanctions The United States abstained, rather than vote against, Security Council resolution 2334 but still it passed 14-0. Israel's reaction, however, was far from promising. Israeli PM Netanyahu expressed fury over UNSC 2334, threatening that: “If you continue to promote this resolution from our point of view it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences.” The Israeli PM also said defiantly: “We don't turn the other cheek. Countries of the world respect strong countries that stand up for themselves.” Netanyahu believes he can afford to be be scornful because UN Resolution 2334 has no sanctions with which to call Israel to account. The Israeli Government did believe it had the right to impose sanctions of a sort upon New Zealand though because, after relenting a little following the withdrawal of its ambassador, the Israeli Embassy said, “until further notice" no more sanctions would be imposed against New Zealand. MFAT has the following to say about UN sanctions: “Sanctions apply pressure to countries that threaten peace, have harmful policies or don’t co-operate with international law.” [My emphasis – LB] MFAT also informs us that: “Sanctions are a common measure that the United Nations Security Council takes to enforce its decisions. As a UN member, New Zealand is bound to follow the Security Council's decisions. The United Nations Act 1946 means our Government can respond quickly where necessary and impose or remove sanctions when the Security Council makes a decision. While we don’t have standalone legislation to impose our own sanctions independently of the Security Council, we can impose other sanctions such as travel bans on people entering our country.” New Zealand has followed UNSC sanction decisions in the past, for example in 2008 against Lebanon, 2011 against Libya, 2015 against Syria and in 2016 against Iran. We ask the Minister, in view of Israel's determination to defy the world community, is the National Government willing to ask the Security Council to impose sanctions upon Israel until it ceases to violate international humanitarian law? And will the National Government consider the imposition of travel bans upon Israeli individuals responsible for committing such crimes? If not, please explain why not. Remember that MFAT also declares: “The protection of human rights is fundamental to achieving peace and stability, and New Zealand is known for its work to promote human rights internationally.” On 7 July an overwhelming vote by 122 UN member states, including New Zealand, for a treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was met with loud cheers at the United Nations. Israel refused to take part and as the only country to have introduced nuclear weapons to the Middle East, the Zionist state continues to refuse to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. As MFAT further declares: “We take our responsibility for helping create and maintain a peaceful world seriously. New Zealand participates actively in the international campaign against terrorism, initiatives to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction [my emphasis – LB] and peace support operations.” So we ask you, Mr Brownlee – please demonstrate the National Government's commitment and take action to end Israel's impunity. As you can see, included among the sources for the information provided for these Open Questions are The New York Times and Israeli newspapers Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. This is reality, not opinion. Do you defend Israel's behaviour, Minister? Or do you condemn it? Does the National Government believe that this oppression signals a sense of fair play on the part of the Israeli regime? Do you believe that the Palestinian people have reason to believe that Israel is well-intentioned? With reference to the above MFAT statements we ask the National Government to publish an MFAT Press Release in answer to the questions we have raised here and which are also summarised below. Summary of questions Does the National Government: 1. continue to stand by the view that the injustices outlined above, suffered by the Palestinian people, are solely a matter for negotiation between Israel, the Occupying power, and the Palestinian people? 2. agree that requiring the Palestinian people to negotiate with Israel while, at the same time, remaining subject to its belligerent, military Occupation, actually amounts to coercion? If the Government does not agree with this assertion, we ask that MFAT publicly release its reasoning in terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 3. accept that Israel's gross violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by New Zealand on 13 March 1993, are a matter for New Zealand and the world community to consider? 4. view Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes, wells, irrigation, olive trees and electricity networks as unacceptable? 5. intend to take steps regarding the imposition of UN and other sanctions upon Israel until such time as it conforms with Security Council Resolutions and the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention? Should the National Government response be that it has no intention of proposing UN sanctions against Israel, we ask MFAT to explain the reasons why not. The passing of UNSC Resolution 2334 is a timely reminder that the Israeli Occupation of Palestine lies at the epicentre of the growing Middle East crisis. The continuing failure to bring Israel to account puts at risk the very survival of international law, peace and stability. We look forward to clarification from the National Government and MFAT with regard to these questions. Leslie Bravery, Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand, Auckland. http://www.palestine.org.nz/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 |