Throughout 2008, B'Tselem prioritized work to pursue accountability of duty bearers for human rights violations that included the killing and injury of civilians, settler violence, and mistreatment by security force personnel. Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, launched on December 27th, eclipsed much of this ongoing work, given the devastating scope and impact of the fighting, and the disastrous consequences for the civilian population of Gaza. The humanitarian distress reached dire proportions. Preliminary figures estimate over 1,300 Palestinians killed, and at least 4,800 Palestinians injured. Tens of thousands were forced to abandon their homes, many without a place to return to.
During this period and in its aftermath, B'Tselem worked intensively, under extremely difficult conditions, to document and publicize the harm caused to civilians in the Gaza Strip as part of this fighting. Within a local public discourse centered on the military goals of the operation, B'Tselem's role as an Israeli organization speaking out against disproportionate harm to civilians has been crucial. The Gaza military campaign constituted a stark example of the failures of accountability in Israel's law enforcement system as well as among the general public, adding yet another urgent focus to B'Tselem's documentation, monitoring and advocacy work.
2008 was also marked by increased visibility of incidents of settler violence, reflecting not just the actions of a handful of extremist settlers, but rather the failure of the Israeli government and its security forces to enforce the law on the settlers perpetrating this violence.
Highlights of B'Tselem's work during the past year include:
- B'Tselem's camera distribution project continues to bear fruit, as evidenced in July 2008: B'Tselem publicized footage depicting a soldier firing a rubber coated steel bullet, from extremely close range, at a cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee in Ni'lin. As a result of the footage, charges were filed and the soldier convicted.
- B'Tselem launched its first U.S. office, with the goal of becoming the central clearinghouse for information about human rights conditions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for American policy makers, as well as to raise awareness among in the American Jewish community.
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B'Tselem addressed settlement expansion in "Access Denied," a report detailing how Israel continues to confiscate Palestinian land in the name of security needs. Israeli authorities have both barred Palestinian access to rings of land surrounding settlements, and have not acted to eliminate settlers' piratical closing of lands adjacent to settlements and blocking of Palestinian access to them.
- B'Tselem, together with Yesh Din released a report, on the settlement Ofra, concluding that the legal status of the 33-year-old Israeli settlement is identical to that of an unauthorized outpost.
- B'Tselem and al-Haq received the Geuzen Medal; awarded every year as a tribute to individuals or institutions that have devoted themselves to fighting for democracy or against dictatorship, discrimination, and racism.
- During 2008 B'Tselem filed 269 complaints to the Military Investigations Unit of the IDF and the Department of Investigations of the Israel Police, of those 72 investigations were opened. Complaints were filed on the subjects of settler violence, security force violence (not including shooting), Palestinian fatalities and causalities, and property damage.
The attached activity report highlights B'Tselem's efforts to bring about increased human rights protections within a climate of impunity on both an individual and policy level.
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