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Weekly report on human rights violations

21 October 2004


IOF have perpetrated more violations of human rights against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). This week, 10 Palestinians, 5 of whom were civilians, including 2 elderly people, were killed, and at least 20 civilians were wounded by Israeli troops. Human rights violations perpetrated by IOF included willful killings, incursions into Palestinian areas, indiscriminate shelling, land leveling and total closure imposed on Palestinian communities. Also this week, settlers, who were fully supported by Israeli troops, attacked Palestinian farmers, who have started to cultivate their olives, and prevented many of these farmers from reaching their agricultural land. 

Palestine takes centre stage at the European Social Forum

Victor Kattan 21 October 2004


“End the oppression, end the occupation” was the rallying cry at the European Social Forum in London last weekend, where thousands of delegates from all walks of life descended on Alexandra Palace united in the belief that “another world is possible.” Dennis Brutus, a poet, professor and former political prisoner who spent time on Robin Island with Nelson Mandela “breaking stones”, said it was “encouraging to see the crowds that have attended on each occasion to discuss the issue of the Palestinian people and their struggle for social justice.” He urged the audience to build a “global movement in support of the Palestinian people” just like was done in South Africa. “We can do this by boycotts, divestments, embargoes and sanctions” he said. 

Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes

Derek Summerfield 20 October 2004


Does the death of an Arab weigh the same as that of a US or Israeli citizen? The Israeli army, with utter impunity, has killed more unarmed Palestinian civilians since September 2000 than the number of people who died on September 11, 2001. In conducting 238 extrajudicial executions the army has also killed 186 bystanders (including 26 women and 39 children). Two thirds of the 621 children (two thirds under 15 years) killed at checkpoints, in the street, on the way to school, in their homes, died from small arms fire, directed in over half of cases to the head, neck and chest—the sniper’s wound. Clearly, soldiers are routinely authorised to shoot to kill children in situations of minimal or no threat. These statistics attract far less publicity than suicide bombings, atrocious though these are too. Derek Summerfield comments. 

Guava in Jabalia: First Bite, Last Breath

Sami Abu Salem Jabalya refugee camp 20 October 2004


The seeds of guava were still between 13-year-old Saber Assaliya’s lips when an Israeli tank shot him in the waist. The boy was playing in a nearby orchard at the southern tip of the Jabalia Refugee Camp, in the north of Gaza. Saber’s father Ibrahim recalls, “After eight years [of attempting to have children], Saber’s first scream filled the hospital. I was extremely happy; I distributed sweets for all medical staff and patients in the hospital and the to those in the neighbourhood. I followed all the details of raising Saber. And in just seconds, the Israeli tanks turned him into a memory.” 

IPI Intifada Report Says Press Freedom Deteriorating: Heavy Media Casualties, Perpetrators Go Unpunished

20 October 2004


The International Press Institute (IPI) today published the IPI Intifada Report, a chronicle and statistical analysis of 562 press freedom violations during the first four years of the Palestinian Uprising. At least 478 press freedom violations were carried out by the Israeli state, including the government, the judiciary, and even the legislators. Sixteen violations were committed by Israeli settlers and civilians. Three were perpetrated jointly by Israeli soldiers and settlers. As a result, at least 497 abuses, or 88.4 per cent of all violations, were perpetrated by Israelis. Another 29 violations were carried out by the Palestinian authorities, 15 by Palestinian militants, 7 by Palestinian civilians, and one jointly by Palestinian authorities and civilians. 

UNICEF starts distribution of 40,000 school bags in Gaza Strip

19 October 2004


UNICEF today began distribution of more than 40,000 school bags to children in the Gaza Strip, starting with schools damaged by the recent military incursions into the North. “The school bags are a token of support that give a sense of normalcy in the lives of children, a sense of no matter the circumstance, education must continue” said Dan Rohrmann, the UNICEF Special Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory. “Children’s right to education must be upheld.” The distribution of the bright blue school bags is timed to coincide with the resumption of classes at the end of a 2 week disruption - and with the cessation of military activity in the Northern Gaza Strip. 

Razing Rafah: Mass home demolitions in the Gaza Strip

18 October 2004


Over the past four years, the Israeli military has demolished over 2,500 Palestinian houses in the occupied Gaza Strip. Nearly two-thirds of these homes were in Rafah, a densely populated refugee camp and city at the southern end of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt. Sixteen thousand people - more than ten percent of Rafah’s population - have lost their homes, most of them refugees, many of whom were dispossessed for a second or third time. It is difficult to reconcile the IDF’s stated rationales with the widespread destruction that has taken place, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. 

The "Days of Penitence": Gaza Sinks in a Sea of Blood

Mohammed Omer Gaza Strip 18 October 2004


It smells unbelievably bad here. To walk down any street, if you dare to, you skirt, or sometimes unavoidably walk through, pools of blood. There are shreds of human flesh, some of them unrecognizable as human remains — all over, on rooftops, plastered to broken windows, on the street. The stench of rotting blood mixes with the more acrid odor of flesh burnt to black char by the rockets fired by the Israeli Army’s American-made Apache helicopters. Volunteer crews are gathering these human fragments and bringing them to Jabalya’s two hospitals but the ambulances cannot possibly keep up with the flood of newly dead and injured. 

The First Day of Ramadan

Samia A. Halaby Jerusalem, Palestine 18 October 2004


Today (October 15) I planned to go photograph a new discovery of the visual art of Al Quds (Jerusalem). The Coptic Church in the old city is filled with two rows of murals on all of its walls, executed in 1961 by a Palestinian artist who had experienced the Nakbe. A friend stopped me, saying go run now or else I’d would be stuck in the crush of people going to pray the noon prayer at Al Aqsa. Not only is it Friday, but it’s also the first day of Ramadan. And oh, she added, the place will also be full of Israeli soldiers and police — they will seem to number as many as the worshipers, she said. 

Gaza Daily Update, 7.00 PM

14 October 2004


Since the wide-scale Israeli military assault on the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 133 Palestinians have been killed, including 31 children and 24 Palestinians in other parts of Gaza. At least 432 Palestinians, including 139 children were injured. Numerous homes and private property have also been destroyed as IOF utilize air force and heavy tanks in this military operation. In addition, as the incursion continues, the civilian population of the area suffer shortage in food and water supply. In the areas which IOF occupy civilians lack the most basic needs. Al Mezan is still receiving plights from people who have been in urgent need for medicine and water.