Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (14 20 January 2016)
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Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (14 20 January 2016) Israeli forces continue systematic crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) (21 –27 January 2016) Hebron – Group of Palestinian Civilians at Israeli Checkpoint. Israeli forces continued to use excessive force in the oPt 3 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were killed in theWest Bank. 22 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces continued to open fire at areas along the Gaza Strip borders, but no casualties were reported. Israeli warplanes conducted 2 airstrikes in the central and southern Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported. Israeli forces conducted 73incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. 47 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children, were arrested. 11 of them, including 4 children, were arrested in occupied Jerusalem. Among the arrested were the PLC member Hatem Qafisha and former Minister Essa al Ja’bari. Israeli forces continued to target Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip sea. 4 fishermen, including a child, were arrested and their fishing boat was confiscated. Jewish majority efforts continued in occupied East Jerusalem. A family selfdemolished its house in Sour Baher village and more demolition notices were issued against houses in Silwan. The Israeli municipality demolished an underconstruction house in alMukaber Mount. A house in Shu’fat village was demolished in favour of establishing Road 21. Settlement activities continued in the West Bank. An agricultural room and a well in Beit Oula village, west of Hebron, were demolished. Israeli forces turned the West Bank into cantons and continued to impose the illegal closure on the Gaza Strip for the 9th Dozens of temporary checkpoints were established in the West Bank and others were re established to obstruct the movement of Palestinian civilians. 6 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were arrested at military checkpoints. Summary Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law in theoPt continued during the reporting period (21 – 27 January 2016). Shooting: Israeli forces have continued to commit crimes, inflicting civilian casualties. They have also continued to use excessive force against Palestinian civilians participating in peaceful protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the majority of whom were youngsters. Occupied East Jerusalem witnessed similar attacks. During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian civilians, including two children, in the West Bank. Moreover, they wounded 22 civilians, including three children; 12 of whom, including a child, were wounded in the Gaza Strip while the remaining others were wounded in the West Bank. Concerning the nature of injuries, 11 civilians were hit with live bullets and 11 others were hit with rubbercoated metal bullets. In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian civilians, including two children, and wounded 11 others, including two children also. Five of the wounded persons were hit with live bullets and five others were hit with rubbercoated metal bullets. In the West Bank, killings committed by Israeli forces were as follows: In one of the most heinous crimes committed by Israeli settlers, on 23 January 2016, a security guard of”Anatot” settlement, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, killed Ruqaya Abu Tabeekh (13), from Anata village, northeast of occupied Jerusalem. Israeli forces claimed that the girl had fought with her family and went out of the house with a knife in her hand to carry out a stabbing and put end to her life. However, her family said that the Israeli forces killed the girl in cold blood, as she was not holding a knife and had never thought about carrying out any attacks in spite of the fight they had with her soon before she was killed. On 25 January 2016, security officers shot dead two persons who carried outa stabbing in “Beit Horon” settlement in Beit Our alFouqa village, southwest of Ramallah. The two persons were identified as Ibrahim Allan (23), from Beit Our alTahta, southwest of Ramallah, and Hussein Abu Ghosh (17), from Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces wounded 12 Palestinian civilians, including a child, who participated in peaceful protests near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Six of them were hit with live bullets and the six others were hit with rubbercoated metal bullets. As part of Israeli attacks along the border area in the Gaza Strip, on 24 January 2016, Israeli forces stationed at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fire at agricultural lands, east of alFokhari and Khuza’a villages to the west of the said fence. However, no casualties were reported. Concerning Israeli airstrikes, on 25 January 2016, Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at areas of evacuated settlement, northwest of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. Moreover, a warplane fired a missile at a military training site of Palestinian armed groups, southwest of Deir alBalah, in the central Gaza Strip. The missiles rocked the targeted area causing material damage, but no casualties were reported. In the context of Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip Sea, on 27 January 2016, Israeli gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats sailing off alWaha shore, northwest of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip. A gunboat approached a fishing boat that was sailing 1.5 nautical miles off the shore and boarded by four fishermen. Israeli naval forces arrested the four fishermen and confiscated the boat. At approximately 21:00, on the same day, Israeli forces released the fishermen while kept the boat in their custody. Incursions: During the reporting period,Israeli forces conducted at least 73 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and four ones in occupied East Jerusalem.During these incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 47Palestinian civilians, including seven children. Elevenof these civilians, including four children,were arrested in East Jerusalem. Among the arrested were Hatem Qafisha (56), PLC member representing the Change and Reform Bloc of Hamas movement, and engineer Essa alJa’bari (49), a leader in Hamas movement and former Minister in the 10th Palestinian Government. Both of them were arrested from their houses in Hebron. Efforts to create Jewish Majority In the context of house demolitions and demolition notices issued on grounds of non licensing construction works, on 22 January 2016, Dabash family was obliged to selfdemolish their house in sour Baher village, southwest of occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext of non licensing. They selfdemolished the house to avoid paying the fine demolition costs to the Israeli municipality. It should be noted that the 80squaremeter house was built 20 years ago. The Israeli forces imposed fines on the family several times for building without a license, but a final decision was taken to the Israeli court to oblige the family selfdemolish the house on 24 January 2016. On 23 January 2016, Israeli forces accompanied by special forces and police officers moved into a number of neighbourhoods in Silwan village, south of the Old City in East Jerusalem. They distributed notices to owners of a number of residential buildings and commercial facilities to refer to the municipality. On 27 January 2016, Israeli municipality vehicles demolished an underconstruction house in al Sal’ah neighbourhood in alMukaber Mount village, southeast of occupied Jerusalem. The house belongs to Mousa Surri, who was finishing the house to move in along with his family within the coming weeks. The house cost him NIS 130,000. On the same day, Israeli municipality vehicles demolished a house belonging to the family of Kefaya alResheq, north of occupied Jerusalem. The house sheltering 19 family members was demolished in favour of establishing Road 21 that has been planned for since the 90s. Restrictions on movement: Israel continued to impose a tight closure of the oPt, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. The illegal closure of the Gaza Strip, which has been steadily tightened since June 2007 has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities impose measures to undermine the freedom of trade, including the basic needs for the Gaza Strip population and the agricultural and industrial products to be exported. For 9 consecutive years, Israel has tightened the land and naval closure to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and other countries around the world. This resulted in grave violations of the economic, social and cultural rights and a deterioration of living conditions for 1.8 million people. The Israeli authorities have established Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shaloum) as the sole crossing for imports and exports in order to exercise its control over the Gaza Strip’s economy. They also aim at imposing a complete ban on the Gaza Strip’s exports. The Israeli closure raised the rate of poverty to 38.8%, 21.1% of which suffer from extreme poverty. Moreover, the rate of unemployment increased up to 44%, which reflects the unprecedented economic deterioration in the Gaza Strip. Settlement activities: On 21 January 2016, Israeli forces demolished an agricultural room, a wells and pillars to establish a livestock barrack, west of Beit Oula village, west of Hebron. The demolition was carried out under that no permit was obtained from the competent authorities in the Israeli Civil Administration and the abovementioned utilities are located in area (C). On 22 January 2016, Israeli forces informed the residents of Karma village, east of Doura, southwest of Hebron, of levelling a road under the pretext that it was located in area (C).