3 mar 2020
A Palestinian official report has showed an increase in the number of Israeli violations against Gaza fishermen in February, compared to previous months.
The report, which was released by the agricultural work committees in Gaza, said that 19 different violations were committed last month by the Israeli occupation navy and their gunboats against fishermen.
Those violations included pursuits, attacks with live ammunition and water cannons, and attempts to capsize fishing boats.
Three fishermen moderately injured when Israeli naval forces used water cannons and live ammunition against them during the reporting period.
The violations also included the detention of three fishermen after their exposure to attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza waters.
In addition, the Israeli navy confiscated one boat, damaged two others partially, and ruined seven fishing nets during the same period.
In a related context, the report pointed out that the Israeli occupation army had reduced or expanded the fishing zone in Gaza waters eight times last month and completely prevented fishing activities along the Gaza coast for three days during the last military tension.
The report, which was released by the agricultural work committees in Gaza, said that 19 different violations were committed last month by the Israeli occupation navy and their gunboats against fishermen.
Those violations included pursuits, attacks with live ammunition and water cannons, and attempts to capsize fishing boats.
Three fishermen moderately injured when Israeli naval forces used water cannons and live ammunition against them during the reporting period.
The violations also included the detention of three fishermen after their exposure to attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza waters.
In addition, the Israeli navy confiscated one boat, damaged two others partially, and ruined seven fishing nets during the same period.
In a related context, the report pointed out that the Israeli occupation army had reduced or expanded the fishing zone in Gaza waters eight times last month and completely prevented fishing activities along the Gaza coast for three days during the last military tension.
2 mar 2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) included in its January report on health access for patients in the occupied Palestinian territory published today an “In Focus” report on 3-year-old Jana’s efforts to leave the besieged Gaza Strip through Erez/Beit Hanoun crossing with Israel in order to get treatment for cancer in a qualified hospital outside Gaza.
Gaza patients have to apply for special exit permit Following is the report:
Three-year-old Jana from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip has cancer, but she hasn’t been able to access the treatment she needs since October last year. Jana and her mother’s applications for Israeli-issued permits, required for her to access health facilities outside the Gaza Strip, have been repeatedly delayed or denied. Jana’s mother, Maysa, was increasingly concerned, “Jana was in a very critical condition. Doctors in Gaza told us that if she didn’t get treatment in time, she would need to undergo kidney dialysis.”
On the evening of Saturday 15 February, the day before Jana’s appointment, Jana and Maysa received a text message informing them they had been approved permits to travel to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem. Maysa talked about her relief, “I jumped up from the bed to the floor and started shouting, I was so happy as if I’d won a 1000-dinar prize!” At 6am on Sunday 16 February, Jana and Maysa began the journey from their home to Erez checkpoint. Up to the last minute, Maysa was anxious and afraid they might be turned back.
Jana’s family discovered she had a tumor in 2018 when she was unable to pass urine and her family took her to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. A CT scan showed a tumor in her bladder and she underwent surgery to have it removed in January 2019. Initially the doctors at Al-Shifa had thought the tumor was benign. However, a biopsy in May 2019 confirmed that Jana had a cancer called a rhabdomyosarcoma.
From July 2019, Jana underwent a course of chemotherapy. Due to the size of her tumor, Jana then needed radiotherapy treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip. She was referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem in October 2019, which required travel out of Gaza and an Israeli-issued permit. However, her permit application to Israeli authorities was delayed, remaining 'under study’ by the time of her hospital appointment, and her mother’s application was denied.
Jana’s family discovered she had a tumor in 2018 when she was unable to pass urine and her family took her to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. A CT scan showed a tumor in her bladder and she underwent surgery to have it removed in January 2019. Initially the doctors at Shifa had thought the tumor was benign. However, a biopsy in May 2019 confirmed that Jana had a cancer called a rhabdomyosarcoma.
From July 2019, Jana underwent a course of chemotherapy. Due to the size of her tumor, Jana then needed radiotherapy treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip. She was referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem in October 2019, which required travel out of Gaza and an Israeli-issued permit. However, her permit application to Israeli authorities was delayed, remaining 'under study’ by the time of her hospital appointment, and her mother’s application was denied.
Since October 2019, Jana and Maysa applied three times for permits to exit Gaza so Jana could access the radiotherapy treatment she needs to have the best chance of recovery. Jana’s applications were delayed, remaining 'under study’ by the time of her hospital respective appointments. Maysa’s applications to accompany Jana were once denied and twice delayed.
The process has been a difficult and stressful one for Jana’s family, especially for Maysa: “I am Jana’s mother. I should have priority to accompany my daughter for such significant treatment. In any case, my daughter is a small child and she would have been distressed to be away from me for this amount of time.” Jana has four other siblings at home, two sisters and two brothers. Her oldest sister is a first-year student at university and youngest sister is in fourth grade.
Jana’s mother is waiting to find out the full treatment plan for her daughter at Augusta Victoria Hospital, which will depend on the test results. She is waiting to hear how long they will need to stay in Jerusalem and whether they will be able to go back to Gaza between treatments. The Palestinian Ministry of Health covers treatment costs, but the family has to pay for the transportation and other needs. The process can become a costly one, placing strain on the families of patients from the Gaza Strip, which has some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world, with nearly half (46%) of people living below the poverty line
Hundreds of children like Jana in the Gaza Strip continue to face barriers and delays to health access, as well as potential separation from their parents. In 2019, more than a quarter (28%) of the 7,566 permit applications for children to exit the Gaza Strip for healthcare were unsuccessful – either denied (5%) or delayed (23%), with families receiving no definitive response to their permit applications by the time of their hospital appointments. In the vast majority of cases, Israeli authorities provide no explanation for why permit applications are not successful. For children receiving permits to travel for healthcare, almost two-fifths (38% or 2,068 of the 5,459 approved permits for children) were approved for exit without the accompaniment of their parents.
The benefit of family support to children is not only critical for emotional support of pediatric patients, but close involvement in a child’s healthcare improves family understanding of the child’s illness and needs for longer-term care. Non-approval of permits for patient companions represents a major barrier to ensuring effective care for children and others who are strongly dependent on families for longer-term care and recovery.
Gaza patients have to apply for special exit permit Following is the report:
Three-year-old Jana from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip has cancer, but she hasn’t been able to access the treatment she needs since October last year. Jana and her mother’s applications for Israeli-issued permits, required for her to access health facilities outside the Gaza Strip, have been repeatedly delayed or denied. Jana’s mother, Maysa, was increasingly concerned, “Jana was in a very critical condition. Doctors in Gaza told us that if she didn’t get treatment in time, she would need to undergo kidney dialysis.”
On the evening of Saturday 15 February, the day before Jana’s appointment, Jana and Maysa received a text message informing them they had been approved permits to travel to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem. Maysa talked about her relief, “I jumped up from the bed to the floor and started shouting, I was so happy as if I’d won a 1000-dinar prize!” At 6am on Sunday 16 February, Jana and Maysa began the journey from their home to Erez checkpoint. Up to the last minute, Maysa was anxious and afraid they might be turned back.
Jana’s family discovered she had a tumor in 2018 when she was unable to pass urine and her family took her to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. A CT scan showed a tumor in her bladder and she underwent surgery to have it removed in January 2019. Initially the doctors at Al-Shifa had thought the tumor was benign. However, a biopsy in May 2019 confirmed that Jana had a cancer called a rhabdomyosarcoma.
From July 2019, Jana underwent a course of chemotherapy. Due to the size of her tumor, Jana then needed radiotherapy treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip. She was referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem in October 2019, which required travel out of Gaza and an Israeli-issued permit. However, her permit application to Israeli authorities was delayed, remaining 'under study’ by the time of her hospital appointment, and her mother’s application was denied.
Jana’s family discovered she had a tumor in 2018 when she was unable to pass urine and her family took her to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. A CT scan showed a tumor in her bladder and she underwent surgery to have it removed in January 2019. Initially the doctors at Shifa had thought the tumor was benign. However, a biopsy in May 2019 confirmed that Jana had a cancer called a rhabdomyosarcoma.
From July 2019, Jana underwent a course of chemotherapy. Due to the size of her tumor, Jana then needed radiotherapy treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip. She was referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem in October 2019, which required travel out of Gaza and an Israeli-issued permit. However, her permit application to Israeli authorities was delayed, remaining 'under study’ by the time of her hospital appointment, and her mother’s application was denied.
Since October 2019, Jana and Maysa applied three times for permits to exit Gaza so Jana could access the radiotherapy treatment she needs to have the best chance of recovery. Jana’s applications were delayed, remaining 'under study’ by the time of her hospital respective appointments. Maysa’s applications to accompany Jana were once denied and twice delayed.
The process has been a difficult and stressful one for Jana’s family, especially for Maysa: “I am Jana’s mother. I should have priority to accompany my daughter for such significant treatment. In any case, my daughter is a small child and she would have been distressed to be away from me for this amount of time.” Jana has four other siblings at home, two sisters and two brothers. Her oldest sister is a first-year student at university and youngest sister is in fourth grade.
Jana’s mother is waiting to find out the full treatment plan for her daughter at Augusta Victoria Hospital, which will depend on the test results. She is waiting to hear how long they will need to stay in Jerusalem and whether they will be able to go back to Gaza between treatments. The Palestinian Ministry of Health covers treatment costs, but the family has to pay for the transportation and other needs. The process can become a costly one, placing strain on the families of patients from the Gaza Strip, which has some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world, with nearly half (46%) of people living below the poverty line
Hundreds of children like Jana in the Gaza Strip continue to face barriers and delays to health access, as well as potential separation from their parents. In 2019, more than a quarter (28%) of the 7,566 permit applications for children to exit the Gaza Strip for healthcare were unsuccessful – either denied (5%) or delayed (23%), with families receiving no definitive response to their permit applications by the time of their hospital appointments. In the vast majority of cases, Israeli authorities provide no explanation for why permit applications are not successful. For children receiving permits to travel for healthcare, almost two-fifths (38% or 2,068 of the 5,459 approved permits for children) were approved for exit without the accompaniment of their parents.
The benefit of family support to children is not only critical for emotional support of pediatric patients, but close involvement in a child’s healthcare improves family understanding of the child’s illness and needs for longer-term care. Non-approval of permits for patient companions represents a major barrier to ensuring effective care for children and others who are strongly dependent on families for longer-term care and recovery.
by Kathryn Shihadah
Israeli occupation authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children, a Hebrew University professor disclosed in a recent lecture series.
An Israeli professor disclosed in a recent lecture series at Columbia University that Israeli authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at Israel’s Hebrew University, also presented in Amsterdam in January on the same topic.
Promotional material for the events describe her lecture as illustrating through “the voices and writings of Jerusalemite children who live under Occupation” that Israel’s practices of “surveying, imprisoning, torturing, and killing can be used as a laboratory for states, arms companies, and security agencies to market their technologies as ‘combat proven.’”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s presentation was based on data she gathered for a research project for the university. The work, titled Arrested Childhood in Spaces of Indifference: The Criminalized Children of Occupied East Jerusalem, was published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law in 2018 and co-authored by Shahrazad Odeh, who is also on the Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology at Hebrew University.
In the article, the authors demonstrate how Israel’s policy of targeting Palestinian children and childhood through the criminal justice system is fundamental to the state’s mechanism of colonial dispossession. They shed light on the critical role that the Israeli legal system plays in the state’s “racist project.”
Drug experiments on Palestinian prisoners
Shalhoub-Kevorkian revealed in her lecture at Columbia University that Israeli occupation authorities issue permits to large pharmaceutical firms, which then carry out tests on Palestinian prisoners.
Telesur recalls that as far back as July 1997,
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported remarks for Dalia Itzik, chairman of a parliamentary committee, acknowledged that the Israeli Ministry of Health had given pharmaceutical firms permits to test their new drugs of inmates, noting that 5,000 tests had already been carried out.
The recent, well-publicized incident of the death of an Israeli prison inmate, Palestinian Fares Baroud, raised suspicions that he may have been a test subject. Israeli authorities refused to relinquish the body. Baroud suffered from a number of illnesses.
Weapons testing for profit
Shalhoub-Kevorkian also pointed out that Israeli military firms test weapons on Palestinian children in the Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.
“Palestinian spaces are laboratories,” she explained. “The invention of products and services of state-sponsored security corporations are fueled by long-term curfews and Palestinian oppression by the Israeli army,” and “Israeli security industry [is] using them as showcases” to boost security technologies and weapon sales in the global market.
Hebrew University response
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem distanced itself from Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s claims, releasing a statement,
The views expressed by Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian don’t represent or express in any way the views of the Hebrew University or the university administration, but are her personal opinion that reflect only her views.
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at the Faculty of Law-Institute of Criminology and the School of Social Work and Public Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on law, society, and crimes of abuse of power.
She studies the crime of femicide and other forms of gendered violence, crimes of abuse of power in settler colonial contexts, surveillance, securitization and social control, and children, trauma, and recovery in militarized and colonized zones. Dr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a criminologist and specialist in human rights and women’s rights.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s most recent book is entitled: Security Theology, Surveillance and the Politics of Fear,” published by Cambridge University Press. She also authored “Militarization and Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: The Palestinian Case Study” published by Cambridge University Press, 2010.
She has published articles in multi-disciplinary fields including British Journal of Criminology, International Review of Victimology, Feminism and Psychology, Middle East Law and Governance, International Journal of Lifelong Education, American Behavioral Scientist Journal, Social Service Review, Violence Against Women, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy: An International Forum, Social Identities, Social Science and Medicine, Signs, Law & Society Review, and more.
As a resident of the old city of Jerusalem, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a prominent local activist. She engages in direct actions and critical dialogue to end the inscription of power over Palestinian children’s lives, spaces of death, and women’s birthing bodies and lives.
Kathryn Shihadah is staff writer for If Americans Knew. She blogs at Palestine Home.
Israeli occupation authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children, a Hebrew University professor disclosed in a recent lecture series.
An Israeli professor disclosed in a recent lecture series at Columbia University that Israeli authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at Israel’s Hebrew University, also presented in Amsterdam in January on the same topic.
Promotional material for the events describe her lecture as illustrating through “the voices and writings of Jerusalemite children who live under Occupation” that Israel’s practices of “surveying, imprisoning, torturing, and killing can be used as a laboratory for states, arms companies, and security agencies to market their technologies as ‘combat proven.’”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s presentation was based on data she gathered for a research project for the university. The work, titled Arrested Childhood in Spaces of Indifference: The Criminalized Children of Occupied East Jerusalem, was published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law in 2018 and co-authored by Shahrazad Odeh, who is also on the Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology at Hebrew University.
In the article, the authors demonstrate how Israel’s policy of targeting Palestinian children and childhood through the criminal justice system is fundamental to the state’s mechanism of colonial dispossession. They shed light on the critical role that the Israeli legal system plays in the state’s “racist project.”
Drug experiments on Palestinian prisoners
Shalhoub-Kevorkian revealed in her lecture at Columbia University that Israeli occupation authorities issue permits to large pharmaceutical firms, which then carry out tests on Palestinian prisoners.
Telesur recalls that as far back as July 1997,
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported remarks for Dalia Itzik, chairman of a parliamentary committee, acknowledged that the Israeli Ministry of Health had given pharmaceutical firms permits to test their new drugs of inmates, noting that 5,000 tests had already been carried out.
The recent, well-publicized incident of the death of an Israeli prison inmate, Palestinian Fares Baroud, raised suspicions that he may have been a test subject. Israeli authorities refused to relinquish the body. Baroud suffered from a number of illnesses.
Weapons testing for profit
Shalhoub-Kevorkian also pointed out that Israeli military firms test weapons on Palestinian children in the Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.
“Palestinian spaces are laboratories,” she explained. “The invention of products and services of state-sponsored security corporations are fueled by long-term curfews and Palestinian oppression by the Israeli army,” and “Israeli security industry [is] using them as showcases” to boost security technologies and weapon sales in the global market.
Hebrew University response
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem distanced itself from Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s claims, releasing a statement,
The views expressed by Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian don’t represent or express in any way the views of the Hebrew University or the university administration, but are her personal opinion that reflect only her views.
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at the Faculty of Law-Institute of Criminology and the School of Social Work and Public Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on law, society, and crimes of abuse of power.
She studies the crime of femicide and other forms of gendered violence, crimes of abuse of power in settler colonial contexts, surveillance, securitization and social control, and children, trauma, and recovery in militarized and colonized zones. Dr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a criminologist and specialist in human rights and women’s rights.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s most recent book is entitled: Security Theology, Surveillance and the Politics of Fear,” published by Cambridge University Press. She also authored “Militarization and Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: The Palestinian Case Study” published by Cambridge University Press, 2010.
She has published articles in multi-disciplinary fields including British Journal of Criminology, International Review of Victimology, Feminism and Psychology, Middle East Law and Governance, International Journal of Lifelong Education, American Behavioral Scientist Journal, Social Service Review, Violence Against Women, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy: An International Forum, Social Identities, Social Science and Medicine, Signs, Law & Society Review, and more.
As a resident of the old city of Jerusalem, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a prominent local activist. She engages in direct actions and critical dialogue to end the inscription of power over Palestinian children’s lives, spaces of death, and women’s birthing bodies and lives.
Kathryn Shihadah is staff writer for If Americans Knew. She blogs at Palestine Home.
