Violations Bulletin
October 2012
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Six-year-old Saleh - injured in drone
strike – Gaza, 13 Six children injured in Israeli air October 2012. strikes on Gaza
Boy attacked by settlers during olive harvest
Boy fired upon and detained while fishing off the coast of Gaza
U pdated Urgent Appeal on Settler Violence (UA – 3/11)
DCI and WCLAC submit joint
report to UN Fact Finding
Mission on Settlements
October 2012 - Overview
New report by leading In October, six children were injured in In the West Bank, there were multiple
European organisations: Israeli air strikes on Gaza. On 7 October, incidents of settler violence during the
Trading Away Peace - How four children were injured when drones olive harvest season. According to
Europe helps sustain illegal targeted a motorcycle in Rafah, south OCHA, approximately 7,500 olive trees Israeli settlements Gaza. Later, on 13 October, a six-year- were damaged or destroyed by old boy was injured in another drone settlers between January and mid- strike on Jabalia, north Gaza, and a 12- October 2012. DCI documented a year-old boy was wounded in an F16 case where a 12-year-old boy and his
IN THE NEWS strike on Al Bureij refugee camp, central family were pelted with stones by
Gaza. settlers as they picked olives from their land near Ramallah. The Guardian - EU urged to re-
think trade deals with Israeli Fishermen continue to be targeted as settlements in West Bank they try to work. On 22 October 2012, a Finally, on 25 October, DCI and 17-year-old boy was fishing with his WCLAC lodged a joint submission with The Telegraph - 'Inconsistent' father and other relatives within the the UN International Fact-Finding Europe imports 15 times more three nautical mile limit, when they Mission on Israeli Settlements. The goods from West Bank than were fired on by an Israeli patrol boat, submission examines the impact of from Palestinians detained and interrogated. Their boat settlements on women and children,
was confiscated, leaving them focusing on two main themes: child The Guardian - Israel urged to unemployed. detention and settler violence. protect West Bank olive trees after settler attacks
Number of Palestinian children killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the OPT
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 TOTAL
94 98 192 130 162 52 124 50 112 315 8 15 7 1,359
Page 1 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 25 ● October 2012
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
Urgent Appeals Case summary
UA 3/12 – Children of the Sea
UA 3/11 – Settler Violence Name: Thabet J. Date of incident: 7 October 2012 UA 2/12 – Forcible transfer Location: Beitillu village, West Bank UA 1/12 – Solitary confinement Age: 12 Nature of incident: Settler violence UA 6/11 – Children of Beit Ummar
UA 4/11 – Children of Azzun On 7 October 2012, a 12-year-old boy and his family are attacked by Israeli settlers as they harvest olives near the village of Beitillu, in the occupied West Bank.
Voices from the Occupation Thabet lives with his family in the West Bank village of Beitillu, Bisan and Naseem M. - On 7 near Ramallah. “We have a October 2012, a one-month- piece of land east of the old girl and her two-year-old brother are injured in an Israeli village, about one kilometre
drone strike on Rafah, in the from the Israeli settlement of Gaza Strip. Nehali‟el,” he explains. “The settlers often attack people Saleh N. - On 13 October 2012, picking olives near the a 6-year-old boy is injured in an Israeli drone strike on North settlement. They want to scare Gaza. us and make us leave our lands so they can take it,” he Bayan B. - On 22 October 2012, adds. a 17-year-old boy, his father and other relatives are fired “On Sunday, 7 October, I went with my family to our land to pick olives. We got upon by an Israeli patrol boat there at around 8:30 a.m., organised everything, and my brother's wife put her and later detained whilst two-month old baby girl, Lujein, in her cradle on the ground. Suddenly we saw fishing within Israel‟s three nautical mile limit. a settler standing about five metres away from us. He had his face covered. He More started shouting and throwing stones at us and one of the stones hit Lujein's cradle. It could have killed her or caused her a serious injury,” says Thabet.
Thabet and his brothers started chasing the settler while his family packed Media Archive everything to leave the land. “Suddenly we saw around 10 settlers wearing
white clothes, with their faces covered and carrying slingshots. They appeared
BBC documentary – Ultra from behind some olive trees. They started throwing stones at us with their Zionists (settlers) slingshots. One stone hit me in the left knee, and another one hit Hassan in the The Independent – Jewish leg. We rushed back to our land, but they followed us.” settlers are terrorising
Palestinians, says Israeli General Thabet reports that the settlers chased them up to the village, and then they The Guardian video – Gaza started throwing stones at some houses and burning olive trees. “My two Fishermen brothers tried to stop them, but more settlers came down from the settlement.
The Guardian - Jewish settler Many people from the village came to help us, and we confronted the settlers attacks on Palestinians listed as for about two hours. At some point, one of the settlers fired live ammunition at 'terrorist incidents' by US us. Then Israeli soldiers arrived and started firing bullets and tear gas canisters, Al Jazeera – Palestinian child prisoners abused so I fled the place to avoid being shot. While I was running, I fell down and hurt The Guardian - Former Israeli my left foot.” When Thabet went to the hospital he found out his foot was soldiers disclose routine broken. He had to miss school due to the injury. mistreatment of Palestinian Children 18 October 2012
More
Page 2 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 25 ● October 2012
For information on Palestinian Child In the spotlight Prisoners read: Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted: Children held in military detention Europe’s continuing support for illegal Israeli settlements
On 30 October, a coalition of 22 leading European organisations released a report on the EU‟s economic relationship with Israeli settlements – Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps to sustain illegal Israeli settlements. The report highlights the disparity between what the EU says in regards to the
settlements, and what it actually does in practice. For information on child recruitment read: Recruitment and Use of Although the EU insists that “Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Palestinian Children in Armed territory are „illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to Conflict peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible,‟” each year, the EU imports approximately EUR 230m (US$300m) worth of goods from the settlements, or 15 times the value of EU imports from Palestinians. According to the report, “despite its firm position that settlements are not part of Israel, Europe has been accepting imports of these settlements products with origin designated as „Israel‟, thus acquiescing to Israel‟s
extension of its sovereignty over the occupied territory. […] As a result,
For information on the situation of many European consumers are unwittingly supporting the settlements and children in East Jerusalem read: the attendant violations of human rights.” Voices from East Jerusalem: The Situation facing Palestinian Children. In addition, “the EU has failed to fully exclude settlements from the benefits of its cooperation programmes and bilateral agreements with Israel.” In the latest example of closer economic ties between Israel and the EU, in spite of unrelenting settlement activity, the EU ratified the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) with Israel in October.
For information on settler violence DCI/WCLAC submission to UN on settlements against Palestinian children read:
Under Attack: Settler Violence against Palestinian Children in the In October, DCI and the Women‟s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Occupied Palestinian Territory (WCLAC) responded to a call for submissions by the UN Fact Finding Mission on Settlements. The purpose of the DCI/WCLAC submission is to examine some of the impacts of Israeli settlements and their associated infrastructure on the neighbouring Palestinian civilian population, and in particular, their impact on women and children. The submission focuses on two main themes:
The mass arrest of Palestinian men, women and children as a means of
Lawyers and fieldworkers for DCI- control in order to facilitate continued settlement activity; and Palestine collect sworn affidavits from The direct impact of settler violence on Palestinian women and victims and/or eye witnesses of human rights violations against Palestinian children. children. These affidavits are reviewed by trained staff to determine The submission concludes that the ultimate objective of successive Israeli appropriate follow up action. Additional case summaries are governments is to annex as much Palestinian territory as possible, without available on request. For further taking legal responsibility for the Palestinian population. This strategy aims information contact us through our to avoid any claim to equal civil and political rights, whilst denying the website: www.dci-palestine.org Palestinian people their right to genuine self-determination.
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