21 June 06

 
   Peretz: Reassess the Route of the Barrier  


On 15 June 2006, the High Court of Justice ordered that the eastern part of the Barrier surrounding the settlement Tzufin be dismantled. The judgment stated that a previous petition in the matter had been rejected after "the High Court had not been provided with the whole picture" and that "the Court rejected the petition on the basis of information that had only a partial foundation in fact." The ruling indicates that the state lied when it claimed that the Barrier route was based solely on security considerations. In light of this ruling, the Minister of Defense Amir Peretz has ordered a reassessment of the route of the Barrier.

In the report published by B'Tselem and Bimkom in December 2005, eleven other cases were revealed in which the route of the Separation Barrier was determined in order to expand settlements, and at the expense of security.

 
A section of the Separation Barrier next to the A'yda refugee camp. Photo: B'Tselem
A section of the Separation Barrier next to the A'yda refugee camp. Photo: B'Tselem

   
 
   IDF Air Force Attack on Gaza: Grave Suspicion of War Crime  


In last night's Israeli Air Force attack on a car in Gaza three Palestinian minors were killed. In a separate incident, on June 13, 2006, the Air Force launched missiles into a residential neighborhood in Gaza City. The attack killed eleven Palestinians, ten of them civilian passersby, and two of them children. According to the IDF, the target was a van containing "Grad" rockets and members of the Islamic Jihad on their way to fire the rockets at Israel.

B'Tselem's investigation indicates that the first missile killed one of the passengers in the van. The driver was wounded. Rescue forces and physicians went to the site along with a large group of people. A short time later, two more missiles were fired at the van. These missiles killed ten Palestinians.

The circumstances in which the incident took place raise grave concern that the attack was disproportionate. Attacks of this kind are classified as a war crime under international humanitarian law.

 
A girl wounded from the attack in Gaza. Photo: Reuters
A girl wounded from the attack in Gaza. Photo: Reuters

   
   
   
 
   Human Rights Organizations: End Killing of Civilians  


On 10 June 2006, B'Tselem and four other Israeli human rights organizations made an urgent appeal to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense that they take action to end the killing of Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territories and eradicate the factors contributing to these killings.

According to B'Tselem's data, since the onset of the second Intifada, at least 3,448 Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have been killed by Israeli security forces. Of those, 700 were minors under eighteen years old. At least 1,651 of those killed were not taking part in the fighting at the time they were killed.

 
The letter sent by the organizations
The letter sent by the organizations

   
   
 
   Firing of Qassam Rockets at Civilian Population  


In recent weeks, Palestinian organizations in Gaza have intensified the firing of Qassam rockets at population centers in Israel. Attacks aimed at civilians undermine all rules of morality and law. The willful killing of civilians is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime that cannot be justified, whatever the circumstances, under international humanitarian law. Qassam rockets are themselves illegal weapons, even if aimed at legitimate targets, because they are so imprecise and endanger civilians in the area they are launched and where they land. As such, they violate the prohibition on indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks set forth in the laws of war (IHL).

 
A house in the Israeli city of Sderot after hit by Palestinian Qassam missile. Photo: Reuters
A house in the Israeli city of Sderot after hit by Palestinian Qassam missile. Photo: Reuters

   
 
   The Economic Crisis Exacerbates the Water Shortage  


The water shortage in the West Bank will intensify during the summer months due to the economic crisis in the Occupied Territories. Some 215,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, in 220 communities, live without a central system that supplies water to their homes through pipelines. In many of the communities in which a water system does exist, a rotation is set up among the different neighborhoods such that each neighborhood receives water every few days.

Israel, which controls the West Bank water sources, discriminates against Palestinians in its allocation of water. The average water consumption in Palestinian West Bank communities connected to a central system is 60 liters of water per day. Within Israel, in contrast, the average consumption is 280 liters per day - more than 4.5 times that amount. Israel's water supply policy in the West Bank is illegal and tainted with racial discrimination, in violation of international humanitarian law.

 
Children fill water containers in the village of 'Anin. Photo: B'Tselem
Children fill water containers in the village of 'Anin. Photo: B'Tselem

   
   
   
 
   High Court Approves Racist Amendment to Nationality Law  


On 14 May 2006, the High Court of Justice rejected petitions filed by Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel against the amendment to the Nationality Law that the Knesset enacted in July 2005. The amendment is intended to restrict family unification of citizens and residents of Israel and East Jerusalem with Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories. The amendment constitutes racial discrimination and violates the principle of equality.

The amendment forces the separation of spouses. Couples wanting to live inside Israel or East Jerusalem, in violation of the law, live in constant fear and apprehension, and are unable to live normal lives. If the couples decide to go and live together in the Occupied Territories, the Israeli spouse will be considered to have violated the law since Israelis are forbidden by military order to enter areas in which the Palestinian Authority controls security matters.

 
Israeli ID (Illustration)
Israeli ID (Illustration)

   
   
   
 
   B'Tselem Video: the Killing of 'Itaf Zalat in her Living Room  


In the early morning hours of 1 May 2006, soldiers from the IDF undercover Duvdevan unit carried out an operation to arrest a wanted person in Tulkarm. During the operation, the soldiers fired into an apartment, killing 'Itaf Zalat, 43, and wounding her three daughters. In a new video, B'Tselem presents its investigation of this event. The investigation indicates that the wanted person did not reside and was not present in the Zalat's apartment, and that at the time of the shooting the soldiers' lives were not under any threat.

 
From B'Tselem's video
From B'Tselem's video

   
 
   3 Palestinians Suspected of Collaborating with Israel Killed  


In recent weeks, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades killed, without trial, three Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. The taking of life on based on suspicion of an individual violates the most fundamental rules of law and morality. It violates the four Geneva conventions, and is classified in the statue of the International Criminal Court as a war crime. The prohibition applies under international humanitarian law to every state, organization, and person, whether or not a signatory to these instruments.

B'Tselem called on Palestinian organizations to immediately stop killing suspected collaborators, and to unequivocally disassociate themselves from those who commit these acts in their name.

   
The killings violate the four Geneva Conventions

   
   
   
 
   Police Officer Beats Palestinian at Hebron Checkpoint  


On 9 May 2006, a twenty-six-year-old Palestinian who had been beaten by police went to the police station to file a complaint, but found himself under arrest after the policeman who beat him filed a counter-complaint against him. In his testimony to B'Tselem, Ra'id Fatafteh said, "…Suddenly, he came over to me, grabbed my shirt and dragged me over to the plastic fence. He bent me over it, so that my chest was touching it and my head facing the ground... I was angry and felt humiliated... He jumped over the fence, put my hands behind my back, pushed me, and the right side of my head hit the fence, injuring me... I saw that I was bleeding badly."

 
Ra'id Fatafteh. Photo: B'Tselem
Ra'id Fatafteh. Photo: B'Tselem

   
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