19 dec 2019
The UN Mideast envoy said Wednesday that Israel advanced or approved plans for over 22,000 housing units in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem in the three years since the Security Council adopted a resolution condemning settlements on lands the Palestinians want for their future state.
Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council that in addition, Israel issued tenders for some 8,000 housing units since the December 2016 resolution, which also declared that the settlements have “no legal validity.”
He said the numbers “should be of serious concern to all those who continue to support the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.”
Mladenov was reporting to the council on implementation of the 2016 resolution.
The resolution was approved by the council when the UN, in the final weeks of the Obama administration, abstained rather than using its veto to support longtime ally Israel as it had done many times previously.
US ambassador Kelly Craft told the council that she would have vetoed the resolution, which the Trump administration opposes.
In this regard, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report to the Security Council circulated Wednesday that the settlements have “no legal effect.”
He declared that construction and approvals “must cease immediately and completely.”
“The existence and expansion of settlements fuel resentment and hopelessness among the Palestinian population and significantly heighten Israeli-Palestinian tensions,” the UN chief said. “In addition, they continue to undermine the prospects for ending the (Israeli) occupation and achieving the two-state solution by systematically eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous and viable Palestinian state.”
Guterres said he regrets the Trump administration’s announcement on November 18 that it no longer views “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank” as “per se, inconsistent with international law.”
Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council that in addition, Israel issued tenders for some 8,000 housing units since the December 2016 resolution, which also declared that the settlements have “no legal validity.”
He said the numbers “should be of serious concern to all those who continue to support the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.”
Mladenov was reporting to the council on implementation of the 2016 resolution.
The resolution was approved by the council when the UN, in the final weeks of the Obama administration, abstained rather than using its veto to support longtime ally Israel as it had done many times previously.
US ambassador Kelly Craft told the council that she would have vetoed the resolution, which the Trump administration opposes.
In this regard, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report to the Security Council circulated Wednesday that the settlements have “no legal effect.”
He declared that construction and approvals “must cease immediately and completely.”
“The existence and expansion of settlements fuel resentment and hopelessness among the Palestinian population and significantly heighten Israeli-Palestinian tensions,” the UN chief said. “In addition, they continue to undermine the prospects for ending the (Israeli) occupation and achieving the two-state solution by systematically eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous and viable Palestinian state.”
Guterres said he regrets the Trump administration’s announcement on November 18 that it no longer views “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank” as “per se, inconsistent with international law.”
18 dec 2019
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Israel should grant Palestinians in the West Bank rights protections at least equal to those afforded Israeli citizens, Human Rights Watch said in a report released, on Tuesday, citing Israel’s 52 years of occupation with no end in sight, Palestine News Network reported.
The law of occupation permits occupiers to restrict some civil rights in the early days of an occupation based on limited security justifications, but sweeping restrictions are unjustified and unlawful after five decades. 52 Years Into Occupation, Rights Suspension Unlawful, Unjustifiable The 92-page report, “Born Without Civil Rights: Israel’s Use of Draconian |
Military Orders to Repress Palestinians in the West Bank,” evaluates Israeli military orders that criminalize nonviolent political activity, including protesting, publishing material “having a political significance,” and joining groups “hostile” to Israel.
Human Rights Watch examined several case studies to show that Israel unjustifiably relies on these sweeping orders to jail Palestinians for anti-occupation speech, activism, or political affiliations; outlaw political and other nongovernmental organizations; and shut down media outlets.
“Israel’s efforts to justify depriving Palestinians of basic civil rights protections for more than half a century based on the exigencies of its forever military occupation just don’t fly anymore,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
“Given Israel’s long-term control over Palestinians, it should at minimum allow them to exercise the same rights it grants its own citizens, regardless of the political arrangement in place.”
Human Rights Watch conducted 29 interviews, primarily with former detainees and lawyers who represented them, reviewed military court indictments and decisions, and examined eight illustrative cases of activists, journalists, and other Palestinians detained under restrictive Israeli orders in the last five years. The report also reflects substantive responses to the findings from the Israeli army and police.
In the lead-up to the report release, the Israeli government, rather than substantively responding to the Human Rights Watch report, has chosen instead to deport a Human Rights Watch staff member.
“Other governments and international organizations concerned with the rights of Palestinians should endorse a civil rights framework to highlight the impact of Israel’s restrictive military orders in the West Bank, and press Israel to grant Palestinians full civil and other rights, at least equal to what it grants Israeli citizens,” Human Rights Watch said. Those should supplement such protections under the law of occupation as the prohibition against building settlements, which remain in place so long as the occupation persists.
The international law governing military occupation requires Israel as the occupier to restore “public life” for the occupied Palestinian population. That obligation increases in a prolonged occupation such as Israel’s, as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Israeli Supreme Court have said, and the Israeli government itself has acknowledged.
The Palestinian population’s needs have increased over the decades while Israel has done far too little to develop more narrowly tailored responses to countering security threats that minimize rights restrictions.
Suspending rights for a short period may temporarily disrupt public life, but long-term, indefinite suspension cripples a community’s social, political, and intellectual life. The longer an occupation, the more military rule should resemble an ordinary governing system that respects the standards of international human rights law that apply at all times.
In cases of indefinite occupation, such as Israel’s, the rights granted to an occupied population should be at least equal to the rights afforded the occupier’s citizens.
British Mandate-era regulations that remain in force in the West Bank and military orders that Israel has issued since it captured the West Bank in 1967 allow the Israeli army to strip Palestinians of basic civil rights protections. The regulations, for example, allow Israel to declare unlawful groups that advocate “bringing into hatred or contempt, or the exciting of disaffection against” local authorities and to arrest Palestinians for affiliation with such groups.
The military orders impose prison terms of up to 10 years on civilians convicted by military courts for influencing public opinion in a way that could “harm public peace or public order.” A 10-year sentence can also be imposed on Palestinians who participate in a gathering of more than 10 people without a military permit on any issue “that could be construed as political” or if they display “flags or political symbols” without army approval.
These sweeping restrictions apply only to the 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, but not to the more than 400,000 Israeli settlers in the same territory, who fall under Israeli civil law. That law, which also applies in East Jerusalem – annexed by Israel, but still occupied territory under international law – and in Israel, much more robustly safeguards the rights to free expression and assembly.
“Nothing can justify today’s reality where in some places people on one side of the street enjoy civil rights, while those on the other side do not,” Whitson said.
According to data it provided to Human Rights Watch, the Israeli army between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2019 prosecuted 4,590 Palestinians for entering a “closed military zone,” a designation it frequently attaches on the spot to protest sites, 1,704 for “membership and activity in an unlawful association,” and 358 for “incitement.”
In one example, the Israeli army detained Farid al-Atrash, 42, who works for the Independent Commission of Human Rights, a quasi-official body of the Palestinian Authority, for participating in a peaceful demonstration in Hebron in February 2016, that called for reopening a major downtown street to Palestinians. Military prosecutors cited provisions of military law that prohibit political gatherings, pointing to his “waving Palestinian Authority flags” and holding a sign that read “Open Shuhada Street.”
They also accused him of entering a “closed military zone,” and “assault of a soldier,” but furnished no evidence of this offense. The authorities released him after five days, but continue to prosecute him more than three years later.
Israeli authorities also rely on military orders to ban 411 organizations, including all the major Palestinian political movements, and to detain people affiliated with them. Israel’s association-based claims against one banned organization, al-Hirak al-Shababi, appear to focus on its protests against the Palestinian Authority, based on a review of an indictment against Hafez Omar, an artist in Israeli detention since March 2019. Military law affords no appeal of such bans.
Prosecutors have cited the broad definition of incitement under Israeli military law to criminalize speech advocating resistance to the occupation, even when it does not call for violence. For example, they used the charge to justify detaining a 43-year-old activist, Nariman Tamimi, over a livestream she posted to Facebook of an encounter between her then-16-year-old daughter Ahed and Israeli soldiers in her front yard in December 2017.
“Israeli military law in place for 52 years bars Palestinians in the West Bank from such basic freedoms as waving flags, peacefully protesting the occupation, joining all major political movements, and publishing political material,” Whitson said. “These orders give the army carte blanche to prosecute anyone who organizes politically, speaks out, or even reports the news in ways that displease the army.”
Human Rights Watch examined several case studies to show that Israel unjustifiably relies on these sweeping orders to jail Palestinians for anti-occupation speech, activism, or political affiliations; outlaw political and other nongovernmental organizations; and shut down media outlets.
“Israel’s efforts to justify depriving Palestinians of basic civil rights protections for more than half a century based on the exigencies of its forever military occupation just don’t fly anymore,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
“Given Israel’s long-term control over Palestinians, it should at minimum allow them to exercise the same rights it grants its own citizens, regardless of the political arrangement in place.”
Human Rights Watch conducted 29 interviews, primarily with former detainees and lawyers who represented them, reviewed military court indictments and decisions, and examined eight illustrative cases of activists, journalists, and other Palestinians detained under restrictive Israeli orders in the last five years. The report also reflects substantive responses to the findings from the Israeli army and police.
In the lead-up to the report release, the Israeli government, rather than substantively responding to the Human Rights Watch report, has chosen instead to deport a Human Rights Watch staff member.
“Other governments and international organizations concerned with the rights of Palestinians should endorse a civil rights framework to highlight the impact of Israel’s restrictive military orders in the West Bank, and press Israel to grant Palestinians full civil and other rights, at least equal to what it grants Israeli citizens,” Human Rights Watch said. Those should supplement such protections under the law of occupation as the prohibition against building settlements, which remain in place so long as the occupation persists.
The international law governing military occupation requires Israel as the occupier to restore “public life” for the occupied Palestinian population. That obligation increases in a prolonged occupation such as Israel’s, as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Israeli Supreme Court have said, and the Israeli government itself has acknowledged.
The Palestinian population’s needs have increased over the decades while Israel has done far too little to develop more narrowly tailored responses to countering security threats that minimize rights restrictions.
Suspending rights for a short period may temporarily disrupt public life, but long-term, indefinite suspension cripples a community’s social, political, and intellectual life. The longer an occupation, the more military rule should resemble an ordinary governing system that respects the standards of international human rights law that apply at all times.
In cases of indefinite occupation, such as Israel’s, the rights granted to an occupied population should be at least equal to the rights afforded the occupier’s citizens.
British Mandate-era regulations that remain in force in the West Bank and military orders that Israel has issued since it captured the West Bank in 1967 allow the Israeli army to strip Palestinians of basic civil rights protections. The regulations, for example, allow Israel to declare unlawful groups that advocate “bringing into hatred or contempt, or the exciting of disaffection against” local authorities and to arrest Palestinians for affiliation with such groups.
The military orders impose prison terms of up to 10 years on civilians convicted by military courts for influencing public opinion in a way that could “harm public peace or public order.” A 10-year sentence can also be imposed on Palestinians who participate in a gathering of more than 10 people without a military permit on any issue “that could be construed as political” or if they display “flags or political symbols” without army approval.
These sweeping restrictions apply only to the 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, but not to the more than 400,000 Israeli settlers in the same territory, who fall under Israeli civil law. That law, which also applies in East Jerusalem – annexed by Israel, but still occupied territory under international law – and in Israel, much more robustly safeguards the rights to free expression and assembly.
“Nothing can justify today’s reality where in some places people on one side of the street enjoy civil rights, while those on the other side do not,” Whitson said.
According to data it provided to Human Rights Watch, the Israeli army between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2019 prosecuted 4,590 Palestinians for entering a “closed military zone,” a designation it frequently attaches on the spot to protest sites, 1,704 for “membership and activity in an unlawful association,” and 358 for “incitement.”
In one example, the Israeli army detained Farid al-Atrash, 42, who works for the Independent Commission of Human Rights, a quasi-official body of the Palestinian Authority, for participating in a peaceful demonstration in Hebron in February 2016, that called for reopening a major downtown street to Palestinians. Military prosecutors cited provisions of military law that prohibit political gatherings, pointing to his “waving Palestinian Authority flags” and holding a sign that read “Open Shuhada Street.”
They also accused him of entering a “closed military zone,” and “assault of a soldier,” but furnished no evidence of this offense. The authorities released him after five days, but continue to prosecute him more than three years later.
Israeli authorities also rely on military orders to ban 411 organizations, including all the major Palestinian political movements, and to detain people affiliated with them. Israel’s association-based claims against one banned organization, al-Hirak al-Shababi, appear to focus on its protests against the Palestinian Authority, based on a review of an indictment against Hafez Omar, an artist in Israeli detention since March 2019. Military law affords no appeal of such bans.
Prosecutors have cited the broad definition of incitement under Israeli military law to criminalize speech advocating resistance to the occupation, even when it does not call for violence. For example, they used the charge to justify detaining a 43-year-old activist, Nariman Tamimi, over a livestream she posted to Facebook of an encounter between her then-16-year-old daughter Ahed and Israeli soldiers in her front yard in December 2017.
“Israeli military law in place for 52 years bars Palestinians in the West Bank from such basic freedoms as waving flags, peacefully protesting the occupation, joining all major political movements, and publishing political material,” Whitson said. “These orders give the army carte blanche to prosecute anyone who organizes politically, speaks out, or even reports the news in ways that displease the army.”
16 dec 2019
An increase in Israeli settlers’ aggression against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank compared to recent years, Alray reported.
The Israeli paper Haaretz published data from Israeli security institutions that documented 256 cases of Israeli settlers’ aggression against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli security services expressed their concerns regarding the increased level of settler violence, and the audacity of Israeli officials for destroying property and spraying racist slogans on the walls (activities known as “paying the price tag”).
Israeli security sources warned that the increase in settler violence during the last two weeks, and the increase in the destruction of Palestinian properties, must remind us of the incidents that preceded the arson attack against the Palestinian Dawabshe family in Douma village in 2015.
The security services noted that the 160 incidents of puncturing tires of Palestinian vehicles in the Shuafat neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem last Sunday, is a clear evidence to Israeli boldness in the destruction of Palestinian properties.
Security services explained that puncturing tires occurred in five areas of the neighborhood, which means a greater number of settlers participated in the aggression.
It was also noted that Israeli settler’s leadership did not denounce the attacks, on the contrary, they encourage the settlers act with violence, with the goal of forcing the Palestinians to leave.
Many slogans and sabotage of property occurred in the second half of 2019.
Israeli security sources estimated that those responsible for spraying slogans and destroying property are dozens of young settlers, most between 14 and 19 years old.
They say that they come from all over “Israel” once they have dropped out schools, and that many of them remain in settlement sites in the West Bank without parental authority.
Sources of the Israeli security services estimated that a quarter of the cases that were identified as “violent events” originated from Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
These sources have referred to Yitzhar as the beating heart of the extreme Israeli right, and the source of the perpetrators of many violent operations against Palestinians in the West Bank and the occupied territories in 1948.
The Israeli paper Haaretz published data from Israeli security institutions that documented 256 cases of Israeli settlers’ aggression against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli security services expressed their concerns regarding the increased level of settler violence, and the audacity of Israeli officials for destroying property and spraying racist slogans on the walls (activities known as “paying the price tag”).
Israeli security sources warned that the increase in settler violence during the last two weeks, and the increase in the destruction of Palestinian properties, must remind us of the incidents that preceded the arson attack against the Palestinian Dawabshe family in Douma village in 2015.
The security services noted that the 160 incidents of puncturing tires of Palestinian vehicles in the Shuafat neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem last Sunday, is a clear evidence to Israeli boldness in the destruction of Palestinian properties.
Security services explained that puncturing tires occurred in five areas of the neighborhood, which means a greater number of settlers participated in the aggression.
It was also noted that Israeli settler’s leadership did not denounce the attacks, on the contrary, they encourage the settlers act with violence, with the goal of forcing the Palestinians to leave.
Many slogans and sabotage of property occurred in the second half of 2019.
Israeli security sources estimated that those responsible for spraying slogans and destroying property are dozens of young settlers, most between 14 and 19 years old.
They say that they come from all over “Israel” once they have dropped out schools, and that many of them remain in settlement sites in the West Bank without parental authority.
Sources of the Israeli security services estimated that a quarter of the cases that were identified as “violent events” originated from Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
These sources have referred to Yitzhar as the beating heart of the extreme Israeli right, and the source of the perpetrators of many violent operations against Palestinians in the West Bank and the occupied territories in 1948.
15 dec 2019
Israeli occupation forces arrested 745 Palestinian children since the start of 2019, many of whom were subject to numerous rights violations, Days of Palestine reported.
According to a report published, on Thursday, by the NGO Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC), nearly 200 children were being held in various detention centres across Israel, as of Tuesday.
The figures were released ahead of World Children’s Day which was marked on Thursday.
The report said that Palestinian children arrested by Israeli occupation forces experience many forms of violations as soon as they are taken from their homes including being interrogated under very harsh conditions and without the presence of their parents or lawyers.
Some of the children, the report stressed, are denied family visits and proper medical treatment, are often deprived of food and water and are beaten, insulted, threatened and intimidated, the PPC report said.
As a result of severe coercion, many agree to give false confessions just to stop the abuse, while others are held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
According to a report published, on Thursday, by the NGO Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC), nearly 200 children were being held in various detention centres across Israel, as of Tuesday.
The figures were released ahead of World Children’s Day which was marked on Thursday.
The report said that Palestinian children arrested by Israeli occupation forces experience many forms of violations as soon as they are taken from their homes including being interrogated under very harsh conditions and without the presence of their parents or lawyers.
Some of the children, the report stressed, are denied family visits and proper medical treatment, are often deprived of food and water and are beaten, insulted, threatened and intimidated, the PPC report said.
As a result of severe coercion, many agree to give false confessions just to stop the abuse, while others are held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
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