7 june 2019
Israeli forces continued with systematic crimes, in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), for the week of 3 – 29 May, 2019.
Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against the peaceful protesters in the Gaza Strip. 11 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, a paramedic, and a journalist, were injured. A Palestinian child was wounded in the West Bank.
Shooting:
Incursions:
During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 54 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 7 other incursions into Jerusalem and its suburbs. During those incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 47 Palestinians, including 4 children, from the West Bank, while 25 other civilians, including 8 children and a woman, were arrested from Jerusalem and its suburbs.
Israeli authorities continued to create a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem.
Despite their claims to provide facilities for Palestinian civilians in Ramadan and allow them to perform prayers in al-Aqsa Mosque yards in occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli forces continued to impose restrictions on them, including the city residents. During this week, and for the second consecutive week, large forces of Israeli soldiers raided al-Aqsa Mosque after al-‘Isha and al-Taraweeh prayers and forcibly ordered al-Mo’takefeen, who are staying in the al-Aqsa Mosque for a certain number of days to perform prayers, to leave the mosque.
Israeli Forces continued their settlement activities, and the settlers continued their attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property
Use of Force against Demonstrations in Protest against the U.S. President’s Decision to Recognize Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel:
Israeli forces continued its excessive use of lethal force against peaceful demonstration organized by Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and it was named as “The Great March of Return and Breaking Siege.” The demonstration was in protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration to move the U.S. Embassy to it. According to PCHR fieldworkers’ observations, the border area witnessed large participation by Palestinian civilians as the Israeli forces continued to use upon highest military and political echelons excessive force against the peaceful demonstrators, though the demonstration were fully peaceful. The demonstration was as follows during the reporting period:
During the 58th week of the March of Return and Breaking Siege activities, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian and wounded 48, including 11 children, two women, two journalists, and two paramedics. The incidents were as follows:
Gaza Strip:
Israeli forces’ attacks:
PCHR warns of the escalating settlement construction in the West Bank, the attempts to legitimize settlement outposts established on Palestinian lands in the West Bank and the continued summary executions of Palestinian civilians under the pretext that they pose a security threat to the Israeli forces. PCHR reminds the international community that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been rendered homeless and lived in caravans under tragic circumstances due to the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that has been under a tight closure for almost 11 years. PCHR welcomes the UN Security Council’s Resolution No. 2334, which states that settlements are a blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions and calls upon Israel to stop them and not to recognize any demographic change in the oPt since 1967.
PCHR hopes this resolution will pave the way for eliminating the settlement crime and bring to justice those responsible for it. PCHR further reiterates that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are still under Israeli occupation in spite of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan of 2005. PCHR emphasizes that there is international recognition of Israel’s obligation to respect international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law. Israel is bound to apply international human rights law and the law of war, sometimes reciprocally and other times in parallel, in a way that achieves the best protection for civilians and remedy for the victims.
Detailed document available at the official website of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).
Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against the peaceful protesters in the Gaza Strip. 11 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, a paramedic, and a journalist, were injured. A Palestinian child was wounded in the West Bank.
Shooting:
- In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces continued to use lethal force against the participants in the peaceful protests organized along the Gaza Strip borders, which witnessed the peaceful protests for the 59th week along the eastern and northern border area of the Gaza Strip. They also continued to use force as well during the incursions into the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces wounded 11 civilians, including 3 children, a paramedic, and a journalist, while participating in the Return March. Moreover, 2 Palestinian civilians were wounded after being targeted in the border area of the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, Israeli forces wounded a Palestinian child.
- In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces wounded 11 civilians, including 3 children, a paramedic and a journalist, while participating in the 59th Friday of the Return March.
- As part of targeting the border areas, on 26 May 2019, Israeli forces opened fire and fired an artillery shell at 2 Palestinian civilians, who were about 250 meters into the east of Um al-Mahd area, east of ‘Abasan al-Jadidah village, east of Khan Younis. As a result, they sustained shrapnel wounds. The injured civilians stayed in the area for an hour after which a number of farmers arrived and transferred them to Gaza European Hospital.
- In the West Bank, Israeli forces wounded a Palestinian child during the reported period.
Incursions:
During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 54 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 7 other incursions into Jerusalem and its suburbs. During those incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 47 Palestinians, including 4 children, from the West Bank, while 25 other civilians, including 8 children and a woman, were arrested from Jerusalem and its suburbs.
Israeli authorities continued to create a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem.
Despite their claims to provide facilities for Palestinian civilians in Ramadan and allow them to perform prayers in al-Aqsa Mosque yards in occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli forces continued to impose restrictions on them, including the city residents. During this week, and for the second consecutive week, large forces of Israeli soldiers raided al-Aqsa Mosque after al-‘Isha and al-Taraweeh prayers and forcibly ordered al-Mo’takefeen, who are staying in the al-Aqsa Mosque for a certain number of days to perform prayers, to leave the mosque.
Israeli Forces continued their settlement activities, and the settlers continued their attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property
- As part of the Israeli house demolitions and notices, on 23 May 2019, Israeli bulldozers demolished an under-construction house in Khalyil al-Louz area near al-‘Abayyat village, east of Bethlehem, under the pretext of non-licensing. The house, which is comprised of 40 square meters belongs to a person from Surbaher village in occupied East Jerusalem.
- On 27 May 2019, Israeli forces destroyed an agricultural facility in Shoshahla village near al- Khadir village, south of Bethlehem, under the pretext of non-licensing. The 40-sqaure-meter agricultural room belongs to Mohamed Ahmed Salah.
Use of Force against Demonstrations in Protest against the U.S. President’s Decision to Recognize Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel:
Israeli forces continued its excessive use of lethal force against peaceful demonstration organized by Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and it was named as “The Great March of Return and Breaking Siege.” The demonstration was in protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration to move the U.S. Embassy to it. According to PCHR fieldworkers’ observations, the border area witnessed large participation by Palestinian civilians as the Israeli forces continued to use upon highest military and political echelons excessive force against the peaceful demonstrators, though the demonstration were fully peaceful. The demonstration was as follows during the reporting period:
During the 58th week of the March of Return and Breaking Siege activities, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian and wounded 48, including 11 children, two women, two journalists, and two paramedics. The incidents were as follows:
Gaza Strip:
- Northern Gaza Strip: The Israeli shooting, at Palestinian demonstrators resulted in the injury of Mos’ab Ahmed Mustafa Zaghloul (12), who was hit with a rubber bullet to the head, and Wala’a Ibrahim Nasser al-Najjar (15), who was hit with a rubber bullet to the shoulder
- Central Gaza Strip: The Israeli shooting at Palestinian demonstrators, which continued from 16:00 until 18:00, resulted in the injury of 2 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children. one of the children ( 15), who is from al-Nuseirat, was hit with a tear gas canister to the upper limbs while the other civilian (22), who is from al-Maghazi, was hti with a live bullet to the pelvis.
- Khan Younis: The Israeli shooting at the demonstrators, which continued from 16:30 until 19:00, resulted in the injury of 5 civilians, including a paramedic and a journalist. The wounded paramedic was identified as Dalia Bassam Ahmed Abu Raidah (20), a volunteer paramedic at El-Salam Medical Team, was hit with a tear gas canister to the foot; and the wounded journalist was identified as Fahed ‘Ata Basam Hadayed (24), who was wearing “a Blue Helmet and Vest clearly Marked Press”, was hit with a rubber bullet to the right hand.
- Rafah: The Israeli shooting at the demonstrators, which continued from 17:00 until 18:30, resulted in the injury of 2 civilians
- Settlement activities and attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians and property
Israeli forces’ attacks:
- On Thursday, 23 May 2019, Israeli bulldozers demolished an under-construction house in Khalyil al-Louz area near al-‘Abayyat village, east of Bethlehem, under the pretext of non-licensing. Hasan Barijiyah, Head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in Bethlehem, said that the Israeli bulldozers moved into Khalyil al-Louz area and demolished an under-construction house, which was comprised of 2 story. The house belongs to a person from Surbaher village in occupied East Jerusalem.
- On Monday, 27 May 2019, Israeli forces destroyed an agricultural facility in Shoshahla village near al- Khadir village, south of Bethlehem, under the pretext of non-licensing. Eyewitnesses said that at approximately 11:00, the Israeli forces accompanied with a bulldozer moved into Shoshahla village. The bulldozer demolished a 40-sqaure-meter agricultural room without a prior warning. The room belongs to Mohamed Ahmed Salah.
- Recommendations to the International Community
PCHR warns of the escalating settlement construction in the West Bank, the attempts to legitimize settlement outposts established on Palestinian lands in the West Bank and the continued summary executions of Palestinian civilians under the pretext that they pose a security threat to the Israeli forces. PCHR reminds the international community that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been rendered homeless and lived in caravans under tragic circumstances due to the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that has been under a tight closure for almost 11 years. PCHR welcomes the UN Security Council’s Resolution No. 2334, which states that settlements are a blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions and calls upon Israel to stop them and not to recognize any demographic change in the oPt since 1967.
PCHR hopes this resolution will pave the way for eliminating the settlement crime and bring to justice those responsible for it. PCHR further reiterates that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are still under Israeli occupation in spite of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan of 2005. PCHR emphasizes that there is international recognition of Israel’s obligation to respect international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law. Israel is bound to apply international human rights law and the law of war, sometimes reciprocally and other times in parallel, in a way that achieves the best protection for civilians and remedy for the victims.
- PCHR calls upon the international community to respect the Security Council’s Resolution No. 2334 and to ensure that Israel respects it as well, in particular point 5 which obliges Israel not to deal with settlements as if they were part of Israel.
- PCHR calls upon the ICC this year to open an investigation into Israeli crimes committed in the oPt, particularly the settlement crimes and the 2014 offensive on the Gaza Strip.
- PCHR Calls upon the European Union (EU) and all international bodies to boycott settlements and ban working and investing in them in application of their obligations according to international human rights law and international humanitarian law considering settlements as a war crime.
- PCHR calls upon the international community to use all available means to allow the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination through the establishment of the Palestinian State, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority, using all international legal mechanisms, including sanctions to end the occupation of the State of Palestine.
- PCHR calls upon the international community and United Nations to take all necessary measures to stop Israeli policies aimed at creating a Jewish demographic majority in Jerusalem and at voiding Palestine from its original inhabitants through deportations and house demolitions as a collective punishment, which violates international humanitarian law, amounting to a crime against humanity.
- PCHR calls upon the international community to condemn summary executions carried out by Israeli forces against Palestinians and to pressurize Israel to stop them.
- PCHR calls upon the States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC to work hard to hold Israeli war criminals accountable.
- PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligations under article (1) of the Convention to ensure respect for the Conventions under all circumstances, and under articles (146) and (147) to search for and prosecute those responsible for committing grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions to ensure justice and remedy for Palestinian victims, especially in light of the almost complete denial of justice for them before the Israeli judiciary.
- PCHR calls upon the international community to speed up the reconstruction process necessary because of the destruction inflicted by the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
- PCHR calls for a prompt intervention to compel the Israeli authorities to lift the closure that obstructs the freedom of movement of goods and 1.8 million civilians that experience unprecedented economic, social, political and cultural hardships due to collective punishment policies and retaliatory action against civilians.
- PCHR calls upon the European Union to apply human rights standards embedded in the EU-Israel Association Agreement and to respect its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights when dealing with Israel.
- PCHR calls upon the international community, especially states that import Israeli weapons and military services, to meet their moral and legal responsibility not to allow Israel to use the offensive in Gaza to test new weapons and not accept training services based on the field experience in Gaza in order to avoid turning Palestinian civilians in Gaza into testing objects for Israeli weapons and military tactics.
- PCHR calls upon the parties to international human rights instruments, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to pressurize Israel to comply with its provisions in the oPt and to compel it to incorporate the human rights situation in the oPt in its reports submitted to the relevant committees.
- PCHR calls upon the EU and international human rights bodies to pressurize the Israeli forces to stop their attacks against Palestinian fishermen and farmers, mainly in the border area.
Detailed document available at the official website of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).
4 june 2019
The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements pointed out, in its latest weekly report, the Israeli ignorance of international law and legitimacy resolutions (by annexing more occupied territories) as US President Trump’s chief adviser, Jared Kushner, on Thursday, handed over a new map to Netanyahu, which encourages the Israeli government to increase and speed up construction in the settlements, especially in occupied Jerusalem, where the Israeli Ministry of Housing has submitted a tender for the construction of 805 settlement units.
The building is divided between “Pisgat Ze’ev” settlement, with 460 housing units, and “Ramot” settlement, with 345 settlement units. Tender 156/2019, with 263 settlement units in Ramot, is about to be issued for the rural neighborhood; tender 157/2019: 82 settlement units in Ramot, Al-Nadi rural neighborhood; tender 158/2019: 210 settlement units in “Pisgat Ze’ev”; tender 159/2019: 250 settlement units in Pisgat Zeev. The settlement expansion in Pisgat Zeev and Neve Ya’akov will close the areas that were originally intended to be natural expansion areas for Palestinians.
On the other hand, a number of senior Israeli generals and security experts prepared a draft document to deal with successive regional developments surrounding Israel, to be used as the next guide to Israeli security theory. The draft document includes 14 recommendations that will be submitted via Israeli political channels. The document also emphasizes the need for settlement construction in Jerusalem as it is of “strategic and historical significance, and must be maintained uniformly.” The document called for “a halt to the continued construction of Palestinians in areas classified as C of the West Bank, and action must be taken to confront foreign entities that violate Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”
There are 6 regional councils in the West Bank, each of which oversees a number of settlements. Those councils are: the Southern Hebron Hills Regional Council, which runs a number of settlements in the south of the West Bank, the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the settlement bloc north of Hebron, and, to the south of the central area of the West Bank, the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, (Shomron) that manages northern West Bank, along with 2 regional councils which are Migilot, which runs the south-eastern part of the Dead Sea, and Erfut Herdin, which runs the area of the Ghor.
The investigations, including those carried out by Israeli organizations, indicate that those councils have placed their hands over some 200,000 dunams in the Southern Hebron Hills and about 800,000 dunams in the area of the regional council in the Jordan Valley.
Within the same context, Amnesty International called on Trip Advisor to stop promoting tourist sites in Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank, as this contributes to the expansion and legalization of settlements.
The Amnesty request came about as it knows how the tourist sector is important in the settlements, whereas its tourism website has the largest number of visits by foreign visitors, to Israel. The site provides lists of activities and real estate sites – at least 70- in 27 settlements.
In a dangerous development, Israeli police issued fines against Palestinian drivers on top of a title to the Judea and Samaria Governorate / Jerusalem District: “In addition, the Palestinian population can pay the fines in the post offices or via Cairo Amman Bank in the Palestinian territories, all of which may be a prelude to annex wider areas of the West Bank to Israel.” Moreover, the Israeli Defense Ministry is preparing to hold an auction next week for the sale of 2 halls donated by the European Union to 49 students in grades 1-6 in Khirbet Ibzig, in the northern West Bank.”
The building is divided between “Pisgat Ze’ev” settlement, with 460 housing units, and “Ramot” settlement, with 345 settlement units. Tender 156/2019, with 263 settlement units in Ramot, is about to be issued for the rural neighborhood; tender 157/2019: 82 settlement units in Ramot, Al-Nadi rural neighborhood; tender 158/2019: 210 settlement units in “Pisgat Ze’ev”; tender 159/2019: 250 settlement units in Pisgat Zeev. The settlement expansion in Pisgat Zeev and Neve Ya’akov will close the areas that were originally intended to be natural expansion areas for Palestinians.
On the other hand, a number of senior Israeli generals and security experts prepared a draft document to deal with successive regional developments surrounding Israel, to be used as the next guide to Israeli security theory. The draft document includes 14 recommendations that will be submitted via Israeli political channels. The document also emphasizes the need for settlement construction in Jerusalem as it is of “strategic and historical significance, and must be maintained uniformly.” The document called for “a halt to the continued construction of Palestinians in areas classified as C of the West Bank, and action must be taken to confront foreign entities that violate Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”
There are 6 regional councils in the West Bank, each of which oversees a number of settlements. Those councils are: the Southern Hebron Hills Regional Council, which runs a number of settlements in the south of the West Bank, the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the settlement bloc north of Hebron, and, to the south of the central area of the West Bank, the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, (Shomron) that manages northern West Bank, along with 2 regional councils which are Migilot, which runs the south-eastern part of the Dead Sea, and Erfut Herdin, which runs the area of the Ghor.
The investigations, including those carried out by Israeli organizations, indicate that those councils have placed their hands over some 200,000 dunams in the Southern Hebron Hills and about 800,000 dunams in the area of the regional council in the Jordan Valley.
Within the same context, Amnesty International called on Trip Advisor to stop promoting tourist sites in Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank, as this contributes to the expansion and legalization of settlements.
The Amnesty request came about as it knows how the tourist sector is important in the settlements, whereas its tourism website has the largest number of visits by foreign visitors, to Israel. The site provides lists of activities and real estate sites – at least 70- in 27 settlements.
In a dangerous development, Israeli police issued fines against Palestinian drivers on top of a title to the Judea and Samaria Governorate / Jerusalem District: “In addition, the Palestinian population can pay the fines in the post offices or via Cairo Amman Bank in the Palestinian territories, all of which may be a prelude to annex wider areas of the West Bank to Israel.” Moreover, the Israeli Defense Ministry is preparing to hold an auction next week for the sale of 2 halls donated by the European Union to 49 students in grades 1-6 in Khirbet Ibzig, in the northern West Bank.”
Al-Quds Center for Palestinian and Israeli Studies has said that the Israeli occupation army killed 36 Palestinians in May 2019 in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Al-Quds Center explained that 34 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, including 6 in the Great March of Return, 3 of whom were children, and 28 in the latest military assault on the enclave.
Meanwhile, two Palestinian youths were killed in the West Bank. One was shot dead during an anti-occupation attack and the other while trying to reach Jerusalem to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan.
Based on statistics by al-Quds Center, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since the US president Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017 has reached 448.
Among the martyrs were 98 children, 18 women, 3 unborn babies, and 6 people with special needs.
Al-Quds Center added that 10 Palestinians died after detention by the Israeli forces during the same period, raising the number of Palestinians who died while in Israeli custody since 1967 to 220.
Al-Quds Center explained that 34 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, including 6 in the Great March of Return, 3 of whom were children, and 28 in the latest military assault on the enclave.
Meanwhile, two Palestinian youths were killed in the West Bank. One was shot dead during an anti-occupation attack and the other while trying to reach Jerusalem to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan.
Based on statistics by al-Quds Center, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since the US president Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017 has reached 448.
Among the martyrs were 98 children, 18 women, 3 unborn babies, and 6 people with special needs.
Al-Quds Center added that 10 Palestinians died after detention by the Israeli forces during the same period, raising the number of Palestinians who died while in Israeli custody since 1967 to 220.
1 june 2019
Canadian Law Professor, Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on the situation in the Palestinian territories, along with the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, whose article was featured on Australian News site, The Conversation.
The authors begin by stating that “While Israel rejects that it’s the occupying power, there is a virtual wall-to-wall consensus among the international community — including the United Nations, the European Union, the International Court of Justice, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Canada — that the laws of occupation, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, apply in full to the Palestinian territory.”
On May 9, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-85 — the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, which amends and updates the original 1997 free-trade agreement, and on May 27, it received royal assent.
Two fundamental provisions, Lynk says are missing in the updated agreement, a human rights provision, requiring both parties to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law.
The agreement allows goods and services produced in the illegal Israeli settlements to enter Canada on the same tariff-free terms as those originating in Israel. No distinction is made between Israel and its illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories encourages the economic growth of settlements.
This, the pair state, is not only contrary to Canada’s general duty to uphold international law, it expressly violates both international and Canadian law, as well as the direction of the UN Security Council.
Treating the Israeli settlements as part of Israel, and extending the benefits of our open market to settlements’ goods and services, ensnares Canada in the serious violations of both international human rights and humanitarian law that are part and parcel of the Israeli occupation.
The authors cite the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(6), which states that, the occupying power is prohibited against transferring its civilian population onto the occupied territory.
In direct violation of this, during its 52-year occupation of the Palestinian territory, Israel has built 240 Jewish only settlements in the West Bank, housing 630,000 illegal settlers.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, declared the Israeli settlements are “a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
Lynk and Neve affirm that at the heart of the illegal settlement enterprise, is a “discriminatory two-tier system of laws governing political rights, zoning laws, roads, water and natural resources, property, public services and access to courts — all based entirely on ethnicity.”
The report concludes “the Canadian government is knowingly extending economic benefits and political cover to an illegal enterprise at a time when these settlements are undermining the chances for peace and generating systematic human rights violations.”
The authors begin by stating that “While Israel rejects that it’s the occupying power, there is a virtual wall-to-wall consensus among the international community — including the United Nations, the European Union, the International Court of Justice, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Canada — that the laws of occupation, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, apply in full to the Palestinian territory.”
On May 9, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-85 — the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, which amends and updates the original 1997 free-trade agreement, and on May 27, it received royal assent.
Two fundamental provisions, Lynk says are missing in the updated agreement, a human rights provision, requiring both parties to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law.
The agreement allows goods and services produced in the illegal Israeli settlements to enter Canada on the same tariff-free terms as those originating in Israel. No distinction is made between Israel and its illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories encourages the economic growth of settlements.
This, the pair state, is not only contrary to Canada’s general duty to uphold international law, it expressly violates both international and Canadian law, as well as the direction of the UN Security Council.
Treating the Israeli settlements as part of Israel, and extending the benefits of our open market to settlements’ goods and services, ensnares Canada in the serious violations of both international human rights and humanitarian law that are part and parcel of the Israeli occupation.
The authors cite the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(6), which states that, the occupying power is prohibited against transferring its civilian population onto the occupied territory.
In direct violation of this, during its 52-year occupation of the Palestinian territory, Israel has built 240 Jewish only settlements in the West Bank, housing 630,000 illegal settlers.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, declared the Israeli settlements are “a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
Lynk and Neve affirm that at the heart of the illegal settlement enterprise, is a “discriminatory two-tier system of laws governing political rights, zoning laws, roads, water and natural resources, property, public services and access to courts — all based entirely on ethnicity.”
The report concludes “the Canadian government is knowingly extending economic benefits and political cover to an illegal enterprise at a time when these settlements are undermining the chances for peace and generating systematic human rights violations.”
Palestinian children play at their home in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem al-Quds
The European Union has lambasted Israel for its apparent plans to sell humanitarian aid given to inhabitants of Bedouin villages in Palestine’s occupied West Bank.
Shadi Othman, EU’s spokesman in Jerusalem al-Quds, said on Friday that COGAT, a unit in Israel’s ministry of military affairs that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, would put up EU-donated aid for auction within days.
The supplies include “two school structures that had been consigned to Ibziq community, and two tents and three metal sheds to the al-Hadidiya community,” Othman said, adding that the aid, worth 15,320 euros ($17,100), had been confiscated by Israeli authorities in October and November last year.
On May 6, COGAT published an advertisement in the Maariv newspaper, detailing the sale of “seized property” from the occupied West Bank.
“In the case where the owners of these seized assets have not proceeded to request the return of their property within 30 days of the publication of this notice, the assets will be sold,” the advertisement said.
However, Othman said that the EU made an official request for the return of the structures but received no response from the Israeli authorities.
The “EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah had called on Israeli authorities to return the confiscated items to their intended beneficiaries without precondition as soon as possible” or provide compensation, the spokesman added.
The European body often finances humanitarian structures in Bedouin villages, which are frequently seized by Israeli authorities who claim the necessary authorization has not been provided.
Israeli authorities have been carrying out forced evacuations against Bedouins since 1949.
The demolition of Bedouin homes by Israeli authorities, claiming that the residential structures have been built without the relevant building permits, is also part of the Israeli regime’s massive land grab policy, which will forcefully displace thousands of people.
It is nearly impossible for Bedouin communities to obtain building permits in the occupied West Bank.
Tel Aviv has so far refused to recognize the rights of Palestinian Bedouins and denies them access to basic services.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Back in March, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report that Israel had until then occupied more than 85 percent, or some 27,000 square kilometers, of the historical territories of Palestine in an expropriation process that continues unabated.
The European Union has lambasted Israel for its apparent plans to sell humanitarian aid given to inhabitants of Bedouin villages in Palestine’s occupied West Bank.
Shadi Othman, EU’s spokesman in Jerusalem al-Quds, said on Friday that COGAT, a unit in Israel’s ministry of military affairs that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, would put up EU-donated aid for auction within days.
The supplies include “two school structures that had been consigned to Ibziq community, and two tents and three metal sheds to the al-Hadidiya community,” Othman said, adding that the aid, worth 15,320 euros ($17,100), had been confiscated by Israeli authorities in October and November last year.
On May 6, COGAT published an advertisement in the Maariv newspaper, detailing the sale of “seized property” from the occupied West Bank.
“In the case where the owners of these seized assets have not proceeded to request the return of their property within 30 days of the publication of this notice, the assets will be sold,” the advertisement said.
However, Othman said that the EU made an official request for the return of the structures but received no response from the Israeli authorities.
The “EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah had called on Israeli authorities to return the confiscated items to their intended beneficiaries without precondition as soon as possible” or provide compensation, the spokesman added.
The European body often finances humanitarian structures in Bedouin villages, which are frequently seized by Israeli authorities who claim the necessary authorization has not been provided.
Israeli authorities have been carrying out forced evacuations against Bedouins since 1949.
The demolition of Bedouin homes by Israeli authorities, claiming that the residential structures have been built without the relevant building permits, is also part of the Israeli regime’s massive land grab policy, which will forcefully displace thousands of people.
It is nearly impossible for Bedouin communities to obtain building permits in the occupied West Bank.
Tel Aviv has so far refused to recognize the rights of Palestinian Bedouins and denies them access to basic services.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Back in March, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report that Israel had until then occupied more than 85 percent, or some 27,000 square kilometers, of the historical territories of Palestine in an expropriation process that continues unabated.
Page: 27 - 26 - 25 - 24 - 23 - 22 - 21 - 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6
