Updates

Early on the morning of 7 May 2018, soldiers came with attack dogs to Jenin R.C. and entered two homes. The soldiers used the dogs to assault four of the occupants, including a teenaged boy and a man over 70. Military night raids on homes have long since become part of the violent routine of occupation. In this case, the soldiers even used attack dogs, and then exhibited marked indifference to those injured. This conduct is not a local initiative. It is part of the Israeli military’s policy in the West Bank. Therefore, as in other cases, no one will be called to account.

On 17 June, a new military order removing any option for Palestinians to challenge demolition orders against their homes will go into effect. This is a new phase in Israel’s planning and building policy in the West Bank, which is aimed at denying Palestinian development and taking over land for Israeli needs. Removing the façade of judicial review over demolitions indicates Israel’s plan to accelerate dispossession and a conviction that it will not be called to task over this either internationally or locally.

Over 300 elected officials, legal scholars, academics, artists, faith leaders, and activists from around the world and Israel published an open letter voicing opposition to Israel’s plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians living in farming-shepherding communities in the West Bank. The letter focuses on Khan al-Ahmar in particular, a community under imminent threat of demolition and forcible transfer.

B’Tselem sharply criticizes Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG) Corps for its decision to withdraw the indictments in the case of 16-year-old Palestinian Samir ‘Awad, killed by soldiers when they shot him in the back and head while he was caught between barbed wire fences. No crime against Palestinians lies beyond the ability of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and MAG Sharon Afek to whitewash.

On 14 May 2018 at 11:40 P.M., soldiers entered the home of the extended Da’na family (40 people in total) in the al-Hariqah neighborhood of Hebron and woke the inhabitants. They demanded the children be woken and claimed to be seeking stone-throwers. The soldiers left at midnight. About an hour later, another force arrived and took up a position on the roof until 6:00 A.M. With the settlement of Kiryat Arba nearby, the Da’na family and other area residents suffer frequent harassment by settlers and security forces.

Soldiers entered four homes in al-Mughayir, Ramallah District, on two nights in March and April, waking the entire household, including little children, and kept people confined for hours in their home for hours, monitoring their every movement. They also confined anyone who came to the door. At gunpoint, the soldiers forced a resident to carry out the “neighbor procedure.” Testimonies indicate a severe violation of residents’ privacy and rights. These objectionable actions show how easily Israeli soldiers can disrupt the lives of Palestinians who remain defenseless even in their own homes.

Yesterday, 4 June 2018, around midday, Israeli Civil Administration officials arrived at the community of Khirbet Humsah in the northern Jordan Valley and handed temporary evacuation orders to five Palestinians families who were already displaced from their homes three times in the last two months. The families were ordered to vacate their homes today, 5 June, from 6 o’clock in the morning until noon, allegedly for the purpose of military training nearby. This morning, Civil Administration officials and a military detail came to the community and accompanied the families, who evacuated on their own – some by car and others on foot. All 29 family members – 19 of whom are minors, including an infant and a child with Down syndrome – had to again go with some of their livestock to a secluded area about ten kilometers from home and wait there, maintaining the Ramadan fast with no shelter, until receiving permission to return home.

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.