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B'Tselem in the media

19 Apr 2013

Producer Nancy Updike goes to the West Bank to investigate why Israeli soldiers routinely wake up Palestinian families in the middle of the night, to take photos of the teen boys in the house. Based on video footage by B'Tselem volunteer.

12 Apr 2013

Abed Al-Karim a-Saadi, a field researcher for B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, and from there drove to the hospital to hear the testimony of the wounded Abu Assal. A-Saadi says the four reached a distance of several dozen meters from an army watchtower, apparently tossed one fire bomb at it and began to flee. A soldier immediately descended and began firing at them with live ammunition. Amer was wounded first, fell on the road and died. Fadi managed to run to the side of the road, where he was shot in the arm. He continued running and managed to get to a nearby house, whose residents took him to the hospital.

21 Mar 2013

B'Tselem, a human rights group in Israel, have obtained footage of IDF soldiers arresting 27 Palestinian children, some as young as eight years old, for throwing stones.

7 Mar 2013

Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed by a tear gas canister fired by soldiers during a demonstration in 2009, but the investigation into his death has not been completed. In the petition, which was filed jointly with the Bil’in village council, B’Tselem and Yesh Din, Subhiya Abu Rahmah demands an urgent hearing in view of the fact that almost four years have passed since her son was killed.

6 Mar 2013

And Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, which monitors conditions in the Palestinian areas, called the arrangement “an attempt to use security and convenience as a cover for racism.”
“We know from experience that you can’t have separate but equal,” she added. “Separation by definition is discriminatory.”

6 Mar 2013

Road leading to Cave of Patriarchs separated by fence: paved side for Jews, unpaved for Arabs. A video by B'Tselem shows the fence being erected and police preventing the passage of Palestinian pedestrians on the road. A Border Guard officer is seen directing a Palestinian man to the path, claiming that the paved road is intended "for Jews only".
"This side is for Jews and that's for Arabs," he is heard saying. Asked about the separation, the officer replied, "Those are the rules." In another instance, a Border Guard officer told a Palestinian that "The law says you have to go to the other side. This side's for Jews and that's for Arabs."

26 Feb 2013

Qurd was reported in serious but stable condition at Beit Jala Hospital. According to human rights group B’Tselem, citing hospital doctors, the boy was hit by two bullets. One hit him in the leg and one in the torso, causing bleeding in his lungs and liver.
In a B’Tselem report last month on dispersing demonstrations, the IDF repeated that “the use of Ruger rifles or weapons of similar caliber (0.22 inch) are not considered crowd-dispersal methods but rather lethal weapons. As such, they are to be used only in cases where open-fire regulations permit the use of live fire.”

25 Feb 2013

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said complaints by Palestinian prisoners of mistreatment by Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency are common, but rarely prosecuted. Between 2001 and 2011, 700 complaints were filed by prisoners, but none resulted in a criminal investigation, said Sarit Michaeli, the group’s spokeswoman.

Common complaints include sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement in a foul-smelling cell, dim light designed to cause disorientation, and extreme cold. “These are systematic practices that make up the norm,” she said. “It isn’t a coincidence, a malfunction or accident. It’s a system.”

24 Feb 2013

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem called on Sunday for a full probe into the circumstances of the death of Arafat Jaradat (framed photo, pictured above). He died suddenly on Saturday at the Megiddo detention center in northern Israel. A prison services official blamed cardiac arrest.

29 Jan 2013

Israel's army has been criticised for its use of live fire against Palestinians, as concern mounts among human rights organisations over the civilian death toll since the start of the year. The army's use of "non-lethal crowd control measures" is also being questioned, with the release of a report that says since 2005 six Palestinians have been killed by rubber-coated metal bullets, another two died when hit by tear-gas canisters fired directly at them, and at least two other Palestinians have been killed with 0.22-calibrebullets used to disperse demonstrations.