Updates

“Since the Israeli navy confiscated my hasake (boat) I’ve been out of work and can’t support my family. Things in the Gaza Strip are very bad because of the blockade, and there are no other jobs available. I used to make about 20 shekels a day fishing. That enabled me to buy food and drink for my family. Now our lives are very hard.” Tamer Zayed, Beit Lahiya, 27 August 2018

As of 5 Dec. 2018, for more than a month, the military closed off a road that links Ramallah with villages northwest of the city and the entire area with the Ni’lin checkpoint, which thousands of laborers and businesspeople cross daily into Israel. This forced tens of thousands of Palestinians to use a treacherous alternate road. Israel’s arbitrary closure of roads has a particularly disruptive impact on daily life. The closure was unlawful and constituted deliberate collective punishment of residents whose only “crime” was living there.

Over the course of nine days in December, Israeli security forces shot and killed three Palestinians in the West Bank, alleging that they had attempted to attack Israelis by car - incidents that never occurred. All three victims were shot although they were not endangering the lives of the security forces or of anyone else. Their death is a direct outcome of the reckless and illegal open-fire policy that permits, and retroactively supports, lethal fire in situations that do not justify it.

40,000 Palestinians and 800 Israeli settlers live in the city center of Hebron, where Israeli authorities impose a regime of legal and physical segregation. While Palestinians are subjected to extreme restrictions on movement by car or on foot, including the closure of main streets, settlers are free to go where they wish. These restrictions impact every aspect of life, preventing Palestinian residents from maintaining a normal routine and making their lives intolerable. Below are testimonies collected by B'Tselem in recent months, in which Hebron residents describe how the checkpoints affect their daily lives:

The olive harvest was once a joyful time for Palestinian families. Yet for many years now, it has been taking place under the shadow of landgrab, restrictions on access to land, attacks on harvesters and vandalization of trees. This reality, which forces farmers to abandon their lands, is no accident. It is the outcome of Israeli policy, facilitating the takeover of land to expand settlements or advance other Israeli interests. This year, B’Tselem recorded 2 physical assaults on harvesters and 9 cases of vandalization or crop theft in the Nablus and Ramallah Districts.

In Sept. and Oct. the Israeli military blocked the entrances to three Palestinian communities (Kafr a-Dik, ‘Azzun, al-Jalazun R.C.) for 11-24 days, citing the throwing of stones or Molotov cocktails on nearby roads. Blocking roads on this pretext is unlawful and constitutes collective punishment of people whose only “crime” is that they happen to live nearby. The roadblocks severely disrupt residents’ lives, harming their ability to simply maintain a normal routine. There is absolutely no moral or legal justification for inflicting this harm.

On 15 Aug. 2018, at about 2:00 A.M., soldiers with dogs entered 10 homes in the village of ‘Azzun. They woke the inhabitants, kept some confined to rooms in their homes, intimidated children and conducted violent searches. Raids on homes in the dead of night, in which soldiers wake families and ransack their houses, are by now a routine part of the occupation in the West Bank. These actions, which are clearly intended to intimidate the population, are unjustified. This is yet another example of daily Palestinian life under occupation.

Since 7 Dec. 2017, soldiers have patrolled daily near the main gate to the al-‘Arrub campus of the Palestinian Technical University and detained students. Therefore, students – including those from the nearby al-‘Arrub R.C. – now take detours to enter the campus via other gates and so avoid the soldiers. This harassment infringes upon students’ rights to move freely, study and maintain ordinary social ties. For the hundreds of students on campus, basic rights are subject to the whims of the military, which views them as privileges that can be revoked at random, with no accountability.

Since 30 March 2018, at protests near the Gaza fence, over 3,600 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli live gunfire, and dozens – incl. at least 12 minors – have been killed. Gaza’s healthcare system, already failing after a decade under Israeli blockade, cannot provide them the care they need. Rehabilitation options are also few and too expensive for most. Israel is responsible for this situation: it ordered the unlawful shooting, brought the Gazan healthcare system to the verge of collapse and is denying rehabilitation, in or out of Gaza. These are the stories of three boys who were injured. Two have lost a leg. Their lives will never be the same.

Over the last year, the Civil Administration revoked permits to work in Israel or settlements from hundreds of Palestinians who share the family name of an attack perpetrator. The workers and their families depend upon these permits, which were revoked months ago and have not been returned. This is yet another example of Israel’s arbitrary actions in the West Bank, which governs the Palestinians’ lives and form part of organized state violence aimed at perpetuating Israeli control over a civil population that is denied political rights.