Occupied East Jerusalem Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council Independent International Commission of Inquiry Investigating all Violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 13 June 2014 Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem [email protected] 1/31/2015 Occupied East Jerusalem Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council Independent International Commission of Inquiry Investigating all Violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 13 June 2014 Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem [email protected] Contact person: Zakaria Odeh, executive director Co-Authors, Editors and Contributors: Hady Matar, Assistant Program Director at Palestine Works Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem Justin Schwegel, Alice McBurney, Anji Manivannan, Emma Herman, Asma Peracha, Anan AbuSchanab, Samar Khan, Sara Ihmoud The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ) is an East Jerusalem-based union of Palestinian NGOs cooperating to protect and promote the human rights of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, including the right to self-determination. i TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 II. International Law Framework Governing East Jerusalem ................................ 2 A. Background History ................................................................................................................. 2 B. Israel’s Illegal Occupation and Annexation of East Jerusalem .................................. 2 1. Occupation .............................................................................................................................................. 2 a. Occupation does not confer sovereignty ............................................................................................... 3 b. Occupation is a form of trust ....................................................................................................................... 3 c. Occupation must be temporary ................................................................................................................. 4 2. Annexation ............................................................................................................................................. 4 C. Israel’s Occupation Constitutes a Denial of Palestinian Self-Determination ...... 5 D. Status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem ........................................................................... 5 E. Applicable Law ........................................................................................................................... 6 1. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) ...................................................................................... 6 2. International Human Rights Law (IHRL) ................................................................................... 7 3. Peremptory Norms (Jus Cogens) ................................................................................................... 7 F. Israeli Policy in occupied East Jerusalem ......................................................................... 8 1. Changing the Demographic Makeup of the City ...................................................................... 8 a. Forced Transfer of the Palestinian Population of East Jerusalem .............................................. 9 i. Israeli law in occupied East Jerusalem ............................................................................................. 9 ii. Permanent Residency for the Indigenous Population ............................................................. 10 iii. Restrictive Zoning/Inability to Build .............................................................................................. 10 b. Increasing the Population of Illegal Jewish-Israeli Settlers ........................................................ 11 2. Severing East Jerusalem from the Remainder of the West Bank .................................. 12 III. Israeli Violence Against Palestinians and State Attribution .......................... 13 A. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 13 B. Legal Framework for State Responsibility for Private Violence ........................... 14 C. Attribution of Private Acts of Violence to the State of Israel .................................. 15 1. Impunity ............................................................................................................................................... 15 2. Incitement ............................................................................................................................................ 17 a. Incitement to Genocide Under International Criminal Law ........................................................ 18 b. Incitement Under International Human Rights Law ...................................................................... 18 c. Incitement by Israeli State Actors .......................................................................................................... 20 3. Incidents of Israeli Violence Against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem ...... 22 a. Murder: The Kidnapping and Death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir .............................................. 22 b. Physical Attacks .............................................................................................................................................. 24 i. Physical Attacks on Children ............................................................................................................... 27 c. Attempted Kidnappings .............................................................................................................................. 29 i. Attempted Kidnappings of Children ................................................................................................ 29 d. Destruction of Palestinian Property ...................................................................................................... 31 e. Incitement to Racial Hatred and Discrimination ............................................................................. 32 IV. Excessive Use of Force by Israeli Security Forces in East Jerusalem ...... 34 A. Protests in East Jerusalem June-August 2014 ............................................................. 34 B. Israel's Obligations Regarding the Use of Force ......................................................... 34 1. International Humanitarian Law ............................................................................................... 34 ii 2. International Human Rights Law ............................................................................................... 35 C. Israeli Violations of Prohibitions on the Use of Excessive Force .......................... 36 1. Violent Suppression of Freedom of Assembly ...................................................................... 36 2. Excessive Use of Force Causing Serious and Lethal Injury .............................................. 37 a. Killing Of 16 Year-Old Mohammed Sunuqrut, Wadi al-Joz, 31 August 2014 ....................... 37 b. Beating of 15 Year-Old Tareq Abu Khdeir, Shuafat, 3 July 2014 ............................................... 39 c. Serious Injury of Tayseer Sandouka, Shuafat, 4 July 2014 .......................................................... 40 d. Extrajudicial Killing of Mohammed Jabis, West Jerusalem, 4 August 2014 ......................... 40 3. Collective Punishment of Palestinian Residents of Occupied East Jerusalem ......... 42 D. Systematic Racial Discrimination in Use of Force by Israeli Security Forces ... 43 1. Crowd Control Mechanisms ......................................................................................................... 44 2. Investigations and Indictments of Israeli Security Forces Personnel ........................ 45 3. Access to Emergency and Medical Services ........................................................................... 46 V. Arrests, Detentions and Home Invasions ............................................................. 47 A. Stifling Free Expression and Assembly By Arbitrary and Discriminatory Arrests ................................................................................................................................................. 47 1. Guarantees of Free Expression and Assembly ..................................................................... 47 2. Nondiscrimination in the Protection of Human Rights .................................................... 48 B. ISF Arrests and the Denial of Free Speech ..................................................................... 48 1. Guarantees of Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest .................................................................... 48 2. Israeli Violations of Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Detentions ........................ 49 3. Discrimination in Protecting the Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest ............................... 51 4. Transfer of Detainees from Occupied East Jerusalem to Interrogation and Detention Centers Inside Israel ............................................................................................................