7 October 2003
Israeli occupying forces are continuing the third day of total internal and external closure of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have used this period to perpetrate additional violations of international humanitarian and human rights law against the Palestinian civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip. Read more about Israeli occupying forces continue internal and external closure of Gaza Strip
Gaza City, Palestine 7 October 2003
We were sitting outside a small shack at the edge of a Bedouin community in the Northern Gaza Strip region of Al-Sayafa. Abu Housa, one of the Bedouin elders, sat with us speaking in quick, expressive Arabic phrases, spreading his arms and flinging his hands about, the gestures adding emotional context to words that, for the most part, I could not understand. When we first arrived at the community we were quickly invited to sit in the shade of the shack and offered tea, as is customary here. Jacob Pace writes from Gaza City. Read more about Al-Sayafa: A Case Study in Dispossession
5 September 2003
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) firmly condemns the wave of targeted assassinations by the Israeli defence against suspected terrorists since August 21st in the Occupied Territories. Read more about OMCT condemns the recent wave of targeted assassinations in the Occupied Territories
18 September 2003
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), a member of OMCT network, that two Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons are being denied access to medical assistance in spite of their deteriorating health conditions and repeated requests for such assistance. Read more about Denial of access to medical care in Israeli prisons
5 October 2003
Israeli helicopter gunships launched missiles at a Palestinian house in Gaza city and a civilian facility in al-Boreij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. Israeli occupying forces also intensified internal closures, separating the Gaza Strip into four isolated zones. Read more about Israeli occupying forces shell civilian facilities in Gaza city and al-Boreij refugee camp
5 October 2003
Israeli forces killed a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and a 9 year old child in another assassinationa attempt in Tulkarem. PCHR is deeply concerned about the ongoing escalation of human rights violations, in particular, the policy of extra-judicial executions. Read more about Israeli forces kill two Palestinians, including a child, in latest assassination attempt
5 October 2003
The Security Council met in emergency session this afternoon, at the request of the Syrian Arab Republic. In a letter dated 5 October 2003 addressed to the President of the Council, Syria’s Permanent Representative, Fayssal Mekdad, requested the convening of the meeting to consider the violations of Syrian and Lebanese airspace committed the same day by the Israeli air force, and the missile attack carried out by the latter on the same day against a civilian site situated inside Syrian territory. Read more about Speakers in Security Council denounce Israeli attacks in Syria
5 October 2003
After a 2 October 2003 debate on “How to can peace be achieved between Israelis and Palestinians,” a local woman and her organization received a voice mail message saying: “Don’t be in your office Monday at 2 pm. Me and my buddies, trained by the Israeli army, are going to come in and kill you.” Read more about "If Americans Knew" advocacy group receives death threats
3 October 2003
“Last year, 20 years after the massacre, I returned to Beirut to be part of the commemorative events. I was there during Yom Kippur. I tried to find the remaining Jews of Beirut, but could not. I wanted to spend this day with them. Instead I went to the Khiam detention center — a place where Palestinians and Lebanese were held during the Israeli occupation of the south, many of them tortured. It was fitting to be in a place where one could ask for forgiveness for the sins committed in this horrendous chamber of horrors by my people.” Ellen Siegel, a registered nurse and an active member of the US Jewish peace movement, examines Yom Kippur’s meaning from a unique angle. Read more about Remembering Sabra and Shatila -- and Atoning
2 October 2003
There is a hole at the heart of Jenin camp. A hole where there once stood more than 400 refugee homes. Right now the site of the hardest-fought battle of Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield is still known as “ground zero” by locals, but within a year UNRWA hopes to transform several acres of mud into a community of modern shelters for almost 2,000 people. Read more about Rebuilding Jenin