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Israeli forces kill 4 Palestinians, including a physically handicapped

2 February 2004


On Monday morning, the second day of the Eid, Israeli occupying forces killed 4 Palestinians during a military incursion into Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in the west of Rafah.  Israeli occupying forces claimed the reason for the incursion into the neighborhood was to arrest an allegedly wanted Palestinian.  Two of the victims were brothers, one of whom was physically handicapped and allegedly wanted by Israeli occupying authorities. Three Palestinian civilians were also wounded. PCHR believes that international silence encourages Israel to continue to perputuate war crimes and unlawful conduct. 

44 countries file statements to International Court

2 February 2004


The United Nations, 44 of its Member States, Palestine, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have filed written statements within the time-limit fixed by the International Court of Justice by an Order of 19 December 2004 in the case concerning Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The time-limit fixed was 30 January 2004. On 8 December 2003, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution in which, referring to Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, it requested the International Court of Justice. 

The bittersweet lives of Palestine's children

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 2 February 2004


At the teacher workshop about diary writing the participants say that nowadays Palestinians here are less strict in observing customs like not holding, for a period of up to one year, a wedding party after somebody in the family has passed away. In the past it was unthinkable not to comply but the negative events are so frequent and overwhelming these days that it is simply too unpractical to let one’s social life be prescribed by them. As Mary says, one has to live. Toine van Teeffelen writes from occupied Bethlehem. 

Photostory: The Wall in Abu Dis, 18 January 2004

Musa Al-Shaer 2 February 2004


The Wall in Abu Dis has existed in one form or another since summer 2003. From late December to early January 2004, Israel built a larger 27ft (8m) wall that cuts off Abu Dis from Jerusalem, separating thousands of residents from the Palestinian capital, and dividing the village itself. Photographer Musa Al-Shaer visited Abu Dis on 18 January 2004 as the final stages of construction had been completed and Israel had renamed the Wall the “terror prevention fence”, a laughable phrase given the number of Palestinians trapped on the Israeli side of the Wall. 

Photostory: The Wall in Abu Dis, 25 January 2004

2 February 2004


As the building of Israel’s Apartheid Wall continues, Palestinians living in its path are being cut off from their agricultural lands, their schools and hospitals, and sometimes even from their next door neighbours. In Abu Dis, on the edge of Jerusalem, the Wall has been built right in the center of Palestinian neighbourhoods with no consideration for the residents, creating what one piece of graffiti on the Wall dubbed, “Ghetto Abu Dis”. The following photos of the Wall’s passage through Abu Dis were taken by the Handala Cultatal Center on 25 January 2004. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

27 January 2004


This week, Israeli forces killed 9 Palestinians, including 4 children. Eight were killed during an Israeli invasion on Gaza City. Israeli forces invaded a number of other areas in the occupied Palestinian territories. More agricultural land was razed and homes demolished. Israel continues to use Palestinian civilians as human shields. The construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier continued and more Palestinian land was confiscated for this purpose. Israel continued indiscriminate shelling of Palestinian residential areas. Israeli forces demolished a five-floor building in Nablus. 

Israeli forces target PCRS ambulance in Gaza

27 January 2004


At dawn, Israeli tanks and military vehicles coming from the colony of Netzarim penetrated the area of Zeitoun on the south-eastern outskirts of Gaza. Towards 7.30 a.m. an ambulance at the PRCS base in Gaza was called to the scene to provide aid for the wounded. The team of ambulance workers attempted to take care of two wounded people situated a dozen metres from armoured Israelis. But as they approached the victims, the ambulance was fired at by shots originating from the Israeli military vehicles. The shots pierced the middle of the ambulance’s windscreen. 

Humanitarian consequences of Israel's military operation in Rafah

28 January 2004


The Israeli Defence Forces have carried out a campaign of demolition and land leveling in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip. During its three most recent incursions, between 16 and 22 January, a 31 year old Palestinian woman was killed and 8 other Palestinians were injured. Since the beginning of January, the IDF has totally or partially demolished 72 homes making 584 people homeless. The result of the house demolitions has been to create a buffer zone that stretches from Rafah passenger terminal in the east down to the Mediterranean coast. It is several kilometers in length and in places up to 200 metres deep. 

Israeli army in Hebron uses PRCS ambulance as shield

28 January 2004


A PRCS ambulance was used by Israeli soldiers as shield entering Aroub refugee camp. Israeli soldiers stopped the ambulance at the entrance of the refugee camp and initially denied it permission to continue. Israeli soldiers began searching the ambulance, and one of the soldiers threatened the crew that they would be shot if they did not follow orders. The soldier then ordered the ambulance driver to drive into the camp very slowly without turning on the siren. The driver was obliged to continue driving further into the camp when suddenly the soldiers began to fire at the direction of camp residents. 

Right of Return: Two-State solution again sells Palestinians short

George Bisharat 28 January 2004


SAN FRANCISCO - It is a tragic irony that, more than 55 years ago, one desperate people seeking sanctuary from murderous racism decimated another - and continue to oppress its scattered survivors to this day. In 1948, about 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland, their land and possessions taken by the new Jewish state of Israel. This included the Jerusalem home of my grandparents, Hanna and Mathilde Bisharat, which was expropriated through a process tantamount to state-sanctioned theft. George Bisharat comments.