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Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations

6 July 2006


Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Escalate Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and Isolate the Gaza Strip from the Outside World - 9 Palestinians killed by the IOF, 6 by the IOF shelling in the Gaza Strip; two were extra-judicially executed by the IOF in the West Bank. 91 Palestinians, including 18 children, were wounded by the IOF gunfire. IOF warplanes launched a series of air strikes and mock air raids on the Gaza Strip; offices of the Palestinian Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior and a number of civilian facilities were destroyed or damaged. IOF conducted 81 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and reoccupied areas in the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli air strikes and incursions into Gaza kill at least nineteen Palestinians

6 July 2006


Widespread Israeli incursions and air strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least nineteen Palestinians in less than 24 hours. The latest strike on Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon has killed at least 12 Palestinians and injured over forty. At least three of the injured are said to be in a critical condition. With this, the number of Palestinians killed in the Strip in the last 18 hours has increased to 19, and the number of injuries is currently in the fifties. Many of these are civilians, women and children. Medical sources said that the casualties were transported to various hospitals in the Strip in spite of the current disruption of electricity which makes the treatment of these casualties critical and difficult. 

Israel's experiment in human despair

Jonathan Cook 6 July 2006


The Alice Through the Looking Glass quality of Israeli disinformation over the combined siege and invasion of Gaza — and its widespread and credulous repetition by the Western media — is successfully distracting attention from Israel’s real goals in this one-sided war of attrition. The current destruction of Gaza’s civilian and administrative infrastructure is reminiscent of the Israeli army’s cruel rampages through the streets of West Bank cities in the repeated invasions of 2002 and 2003, and the Jewish settlers’ malicious attacks on Palestinian farmers trying to collect their olive harvests. Three long-standing motives are discernible in Israel’s current menacing of Gaza. Jonathan Cook reports. 

Israeli Attacks on Educational Institutions in the Gaza Strip Violate International Law

6 July 2006


At around 1:00 am on Tuesday, 4 July 2006, an Israeli Apache helicopter fired one missile at the Islamic University in Gaza City. As a result of the attack, the target, a student council office, caught fire and was completely destroyed. At approximately 1:50 am on Wednesday, 5 July 2006, an Israeli aircraft dropped a bomb on the Dar al-Arqam School in al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, destroying a number of classrooms. These attacks came less than a week after the IAF fired a missile at the Islamic University, hitting a football field. 

Doublethinking Palestine

Zachary Wales 6 July 2006


Three weeks ago, U.S. Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) solicited a bill concerning the “persecution” of Palestine’s Christian communities. The initiative attempts to intervene in Palestinian-Israeli politics by presuming that the Palestinian Christian minority in the West Bank and Gaza is “systematically” oppressed by the Muslim majority-and that punitive sanctions should apply. It is founded on the sweeping assumption that because Muslims outnumber Christians in the Palestinian territories, and because the Muslim fundamentalist Hamas party now dominates the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Christians are necessarily under threat. 

UN expert: US, EU, Russia and other states ignore Israeli rights abuses

5 July 2006


John Dugard, a UN Special Rapporteur on Wednesday criticized the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations for ignoring countless Israeli violations of human rights, international law and other standards. Dugard, who is responsible for investigating alleged human rights abuses by Israel in Palestinian areas, said the United States and other international powers who make up the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators have done nothing to rein in Israel. Dugard was the keynote speaker at the first emergency session of the new UN Human Rights Council, called at the request Friday of Arab countries, who are seeking a resolution that would censure Israel for its behavior. 

Green Party MEP: EU 'imbalance' over Israel pushing Palestine to humanitarian brink, warns Lucas

5 July 2006


Dr. Lucas, who is a member of the EU’s delegation to the occupied Palestinian territories – and was an official election observer in Gaza last year – said a Finnish presidency statement on behalf of the EU Council on recent events in Gaza gave undue emphasis to the kidnapping of one Israeli soldier but was far less critical of Israel’s ‘completely disproportionate’ response. She said: “Contrary to international law and humanitarian principles, the Israeli government has systematically attacked civilian electricity and water supplies – and kidnapped and arrested fully 64 Palestinian elected representatives.” 

Crisis in US Media Coverage of Gaza

Patrick O'Connor 5 July 2006


One element fueling the current crisis in Gaza is the ongoing failure of US corporate media coverage of Israel/Palestine. US policy, public opinion and mainstream media coverage of Israel/Palestine are all dangerously biased towards Israel. Media coverage both reflects and influences policy and public opinion. Media coverage of events in Gaza again illustrates how the US mainstream media privileges the Israeli narrative, and frequently ignores both Palestinian experiences and international law, providing the US public and policymakers with only part of the story. 

Why It Rains: Hamas holding “Israeli” gas reserves hostage

Jake Bower 5 July 2006


An unexpected energy windfall on Israel’s doorstep promises to resolve Israel’s energy security concerns for years to come. Unfortunately for Israek, it is the Palestinian Authority that controls the licensing of these reserves. So, as Operation Summer Rains washes away the administrative and political structures in the occupied territories, has Israel decided to use Hamas as an excuse to dismantle the PA and seize its energy assets? After the Iranian Revolution cut-off energy supplies in 1979, and the loss of Sinai’s oil in 1982, Israel became dependent on expensive, long-distance energy imports. 

Israeli Occupation Forces Destroy the Ministry of Interior Building and a School in Further Aerial Attacks on the Gaza Strip

5 July 2006


The international community is required to fulfill its legal and moral obligations to immediately stop Israeli war crimes against Palestinian civilian property, and to enforce article 1 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. PCHR strongly condemns the targeting of the Palestinian Interior Ministry building by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for the second time this week. In addition, the Centre condemns the military escalation against civilian property and installations, including educational and governmental institutions.