Violations Bulletin

January 2013

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

 New report by B’Tselem analyses Israel’s use of crowd control weapons in OPT  15 Israeli and Palestinian NGOs warn of far reaching consequences of Israel’s obstruction of UN Human Rights mechanisms

 Britain lists Israel next to Iran as nation with human rights record 'of concern'  Israeli settler charged in 2007 shooting of 13-year- Israeli settler, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian man near Yanun, West Bank. Credit: EAPPI old boy January 2013 - Overview

In January, two Palestinian children On 23 January, a 17-year-old boy IN THE NEWS from Kufr Qaddum was stopped by were killed by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition. On 15 January, Sameer Israeli forces at Huwwara The Guardian – Palestinian Awad (16) was shot near the Wall in checkpoint near Nablus and deaths raise concerns over Budrus, Ramallah, and died shortly physically and verbally assaulted. Israeli army use of live fire after. Salah Amarin (15) died five days He was threatened with arrest if he after having been shot in the head is found participating in weekly The Telegraph – Israeli army near Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. demonstrations, which are ‘provoked Palestinian According to OCHA, six Palestinian organised by individuals in his teenager and then shot him’ civilians have been killed by Israeli village.

forces in 2013. A report issued by the UN Fact- Haaretz – Stop killing innocent citizens Palestinian children living in villages Finding Mission on Israeli Settlements located near Israeli settlements found that Israeli settlements violate BBC – Israel boycotts UN rights continue to be exposed to settler and international law and suggests that council in unprecedented soldier violence. On 1 January, Israeli settlements represent a „creeping move soldiers injured two Palestinian boys as annexation‟ of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. On 25 October Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees and The Guardian – UN calls clashed with Palestinians near Qusra, 2012, DCI and WCLAC submitted a Israel's West Bank settlements Nablus. A 16-year-old was struck with a joint report to the UN FFM that 'creeping annexation' and rubber bullet and a 17-year-old boy examined the impact of suggests it jeopardises a future was hit in the head by a tear gas settlements on women and Palestin ian state canister. children, specifically child detention and settler violence.

Al Jazeera – Witness: When the Boys Return - Palestinian youths try to come to terms Number of Palestinian children killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the OPT with being jailed by Israel. 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 TOTAL

94 98 192 130 162 52 124 50 112 315 8 15 43 2 1,397

Page 1 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 28 ● January 2013 Urgent Appeals Case summary

 UA 3/12 – Children of the Sea

 UA 3/11 – Settler Violence Name: Sameer Awad Date of incident: 15 January 2013  UA 2/12 – Forcible transfer Location: Budrus, Ramallah Age: 16  UA 1/12 – Solitary confinement Nature of incident: Fatality, Soldier Violence  UA 6/11 – Children of Beit Ummar On 15 January 2013, a 16-year-old boy from Budrus is killed by an Israeli soldier  UA 4/11 – Children of Azzun near the Wall after leaving school. Sixteen-year-old Sameer lived in Voices from the Occupation Budrus, Ramallah, a community

located near the Wall. M.A. (18) was  Ibrahim J. – A 17-year-old boy Sameer‟s best friend and was an eye from Kafr Qaddum is physically witness to his death. assaulted and threatened by three policemen at Huwwara On 15 January 2013, M.A. went to checkpoint. Sameer‟s school to meet him; It was the last day of his final exams. Sameer  Imran H. – A 17-year-old boy had left the school with his classmates from Qusra, Nablus, struck by a and walked to the Wall nearby, a teargas canister fired by an section comprised of fencing, about Israeli soldier. 300 to 400 metres from his school. M.A. joined him at the Wall.  Raed O. – A 16-year old boy from Qusra, Nablus, was stuck “When I reached the fence, I saw Sameer touching and shaking it. I was about in the leg by a rubber bullet ten metres away from him. Two of his classmates had gone to the other side of fired by an Israeli soldier. the fence and come back. Sameer approached it and touched it and started shaking it,” M.A. recalls.  Mohammad S. – A 17-year-old boy from Beit Lahiya, Gaza is They started to run when gunshots were fired at them and they saw Israeli struck in the leg by a bullet soldiers approaching from the other side of the Wall. M.A. noticed Sameer was fired by Israeli soldiers near the limping: “I asked him what's wrong and he said his left leg was hurting. I border fence in Gaza. grabbed his leg and found it bleeding. I realized that he had been shot.” More M.A. recalls soldiers approaching and throwing a sound grenade at them. The grenade landed near Sameer and exploded. Sameer jumped because he Media Archive was close to the grenade and then kept running towards the village as four  BBC documentary – Ultra soldiers emerged from near the Wall. Zionists (settlers) “A short soldier shot at Sameer several times. I saw him while I was still hiding  The Independent – Jewish behind the rock. He stood up, shot at Sameer and started chasing him. Sameer fell and I ran away because I was too scared to stay. The short soldier chased settlers are terrorising Palestinians, says Israeli General me for a few metres but then stopped and went back to Sameer. I stopped to see what happened to Sameer. I saw the shooter running back to the soldiers,”  The Guardian video – Gaza M.A. says. Fishermen M.A. recalls seeing the other soldiers approach Sameer and shake him. Then  The Guardian – Jewish settler one of the soldiers started performing CPR. The soldier who had shot Sameer attacks on Palestinians listed as was relieved of his gun, grabbed by two soldiers, and put into a jeep and 'terrorist incidents' by US taken away. People from the village arrived by car and drove Sameer to a  Al Jazeera – Palestinian child hospital. Sameer sustained bullet wounds to his head, chest and leg and died prisoners abused shortly after.

 The Guardian – Former Israeli “I knew he was already dead and that I would not see him again. They could soldiers disclose routine have caught him easily. I mean his leg was injured and he could not walk that mistreatment of Palestinian easily. I just do not know why they shot him this way.” Children More 22 January 2013

Page 2 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 28 ● January 2013

For information on child rights violations during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza read DCI and Al Mezan’s report: Bearing the Brunt Again

*** For information on settler violence against Palestinian children read DCI-Palestine’s latest report: Under Attack: Settler Violence against Palestinian Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

*** For information on Palestinian Child Prisoners read DCI’s latest Detention Bulletin, or the report: Palestinian Child Prisoners, The systematic and institutionalised ill- treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities

For information on Palestinian Child In the spotlight Prisoners read: Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted: Children held in Use of live ammunition by Israeli forces military detention In January, OCHA Humanitarian Coordinator, James Rawley, and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, both raised concerns regarding the increase in casualties from the use of live ammunition by Israeli forces in the West Bank. According to OCHA, six Palestinian civilians, including two children, were killed by Israeli forces using live ammunition in January 2013. Additionally, For information on child recruitment read: Recruitment and Use of B‟Tselem has reported that since 2005, Israeli forces have killed at least

Palestinian Children in Armed 46 Palestinians in the West Bank by firing live ammunition at stone-

Conflict throwers.

The circumstances of these incidents raise concerns over Israeli forces‟ rules of engagement, which permit the use of live fire only in extreme

circumstances, whilst shooting to kill is only permitted in life-threatening situations. Israeli forces‟ regulations “explicitly state that live ammunition

may not be fired at stone-throwers” and “that in a case of violent

rioting by the Separation Barrier, when there appears to be a real For information on the situation of threat of damage to, or breaching of, the barrier, and when less severe children in East Jerusalem read: Voices from East Jerusalem: The methods have proved to be ineffective, the commander of the force Situation facing Palestinian Children. may, as a last resort, authorise the firing of single shots of live

ammunition at the legs of those people identified as central agitators.”

Crowd control weapons

A new report issued by B‟Tselem reiterates these concerns and details the crowd control weapons used by Israeli forces in the West Bank,

including East Jerusalem. Generally, crowd control weapons enable For information on settler violence security forces to maintain control without endangering human life. against Palestinian children read: Under Attack: Settler Violence However, if not used properly crowd control weapons can cause against Palestinian Children in the serious injury and death. The report identifies the crowd control Occupied Palestinian Territory weapons used by Israel forces in the West Bank, including tear gas, stuns grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets, live ammunition and water cannons with “skunk” water. The report also details their unlawful use on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The report finds that due to the ambiguous wording of Israeli military regulations, in some cases, the regulations cannot be properly

followed. Additionally, there is impunity even for systematic violations of Lawyers and fieldworkers for DCI- the regulations because there is no accountability for wrongful Palestine collect sworn affidavits from victims and/or eye witnesses of human conduct. rights violations against Palestinian children. These affidavits are reviewed The report concludes: “the unlawful use of crowd control weapons by by trained staff to determine Israeli security forces is accompanied by further restrictions on appropriate follow-up action. Additional case summaries are Palestinians‟ freedom of speech and their freedom to protest the Israeli available on request. For further occupation of the West Bank” increasingly worsening the ability of information contact us through our Palestinians to show their discontent. website: www.dci-palestine.org

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