Although the army states that filming in the Occupied Territories is permitted, B'Tselem's staff and volunteers have been harassed, and even assaulted, by soldiers and officers while filming in the West Bank. Repeated complaints to military officials have been to no avail.
The report, submitted to the UN on 3 Feb. '10 following the Goldstone report, includes groundless claims that the armed Palestinian groups aimed the rocket fire at Israeli military objects and harmed civilians only due to technical failure, and that they cannot be required to comply with international law, as they do not have advanced weaponry.
On 12 Feb. '10, an altercation took place in Hebron between soldiers and Faiz Faraj, a local. When Faraj walked away, the soldiers shot and wounded him. B'Tselem's investigation raises the suspicion that they then shot him again, although he no longer posed a threat to their lives, and delayed his evacuation.
Israel is effectively pressuring Palestinians to leave al-Hadidiyeh, a Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley, by denying building permits, repeatedly demolishing structures, and severely restricting movement. The community also reports harassment by settlers.
An investigation by B'Tselem has revealed a few cases in which minors aged 12-15, residents of Silwan, East Jerusalem, were unlawfully arrested in the middle of the night and taken, their hands cuffed, for interrogation on suspicion of stone throwing. Testimonies given to B'Tselem indicate that, during the interrogation, the interrogators beat and threatened the minors.
Following the intervention of Yesh Din and B'Tselem, the Chief Military Police Officer announced that the Military Police will improve the treatment of Palestinians arriving in military courts in Israel to testify in trials of security forces charged with committing offenses.
In October '09, the Israeli HCJ ruled that prohibiting 45,000 Palestinians from travelling on a road in order to protect 150 settlers living nearby was disproportionate, and gave the army three months to find an alternative. Palestinians are now allowed to travel on the road during the week, but not on the Sabbath, and are prohibited from walking on it.
B'Tselem joined with six Middle East peace and human rights organizations today to send a letter to President Obama, urging him to ask Israel to lift its Gaza closure in order to relieve the humanitarian suffering there. The full text of the letter can be viewed here
The report praises the military's investigative and judicial systems, ignoring essential flaws in their operation. To date, only one soldier who participated in Operation Cast Lead has been prosecuted - for stealing a credit card. B'Tselem again urges Israel to immediately establish an independent, non-military investigative apparatus.
Thirteen Israeli human rights organizations sent an urgent letter to the president, the Knesset speaker and the prime minister, protesting the increasing and systematic campaign against human rights organizations in Israel.
B'Tselem has written urgently to the judge advocate general demanding that he immediately order a Military Police investigation into the circumstances of the firing of phosphorus shells at the UNWRA compound in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. This is a particularly severe incident, and disciplinary hearings are clearly not an adequate punitive measure.
According to testimonies given to B'Tselem, on 1 Jan. '10, a soldier fired a rubber-coated metal bullet at the head of 10-year-old Mu'ataz al-Hawaja from Ni'lin, while chasing him during a demonstration against the Separation Barrier. B'Tselem demanded a criminal investigation of the incident.
Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.