Human Rights

PA uses force to disperse peaceful Bush protest in Ramallah

12 January 2008


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns the use of excessive force by Palestinian security forces in order to disperse a peaceful demonstration held in Ramallah on 10 January 2008. The Centre calls on the government in Ramallah to investigate the attack on peaceful demonstrators, during which the crowd was attacked by tens of Palestinian policemen and security forces, who beat them with batons and threw tear gas grenades. 

Gaza suffering severe fuel shortages

10 January 2008


The Gaza Strip continues to witness a dramatic decline in the fuel and power supplies since 16 October 2007. The Israeli high court upheld the decision of Israeli authorities to reduce the amount of fuel, including industrial fuel that is used for electricity generation, into the Strip on 13 November 2007. Under this decision, the Israeli Occupation Forces reduced the amount of fuel necessary for operating the power station to 250,000 liters per day. 

Pilgrims' progress breaks Gaza siege

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 9 January 2008


CAIRO, 9 January (IPS) - More than 2,000 pilgrims have finally returned to the Gaza Strip via Egypt’s Rafah crossing after being stuck on the border for five days. The repatriation followed their staunch refusal to return home via alternate, Israeli-controlled border crossings. “The pilgrims’ insistence to cross via Rafah forced the Egyptian government to bring a quick resolution to the problem,” Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of Egypt’s frozen Socialist Labour Party and leader of the unofficial Committee to Break the Gaza Siege, told IPS. 

Closure forces two women to give birth in cars

6 January 2008


The village of ‘Azzun ‘Atmah is cut off from the rest of the West Bank by the separation barrier. State officials say the village was made into an enclave primarily to place the Sha’are Tikva settlement on the “Israeli” side of the barrier. The only way the residents can get to the rest of the West Bank is through a gate in the barrier that is open only part of the day. When it is closed, soldiers remain in the guard tower by the gate. When residents need to leave the village for any purpose, including medical treatment, they have to call to the soldiers and beg them to open the gate. 

Eight Gazans killed, 17 injured in ongoing Israeli attacks

3 January 2008


Israeli occupation forces (IOF) escalated their offensive against the Gaza Strip, killing eight Palestinians and injuring 17 others in various attacks throughout the Strip. The IOF carried out air strikes in different areas. It carried out an artillery attack on a house belonging to the Fayad family in Khan Younis, killing three brothers, their mother, and a fifth family member. Two civilian cars in northern and middle Gaza Strip were also bombarded, but no injuries were reported. 

Fatah-Hamas violence claims seven in Gaza

3 January 2008


Violence erupted after the government in Gaza banned celebrations to mark the 1 January anniversary of the establishment of the Fatah movement, in what appears to have been a response to the ban imposed by the government in Ramallah on Hamas marking the 14 December anniversary of the establishment of Hamas in the West Bank. In the lead up to the Fatah anniversary, police and Hamas gunmen in Gaza launched a campaign of arrests of Fatah activists and searched Fatah offices and the homes of people affiliated with Fatah. 

Border politics leaves Palestinians stranded

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 1 January 2008


CAIRO, 2 January (IPS) - Hundreds of Palestinians still remain stranded on the Egyptian side of the border following last summer’s closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Their uncertain circumstances have come to reflect the complex politics between Cairo, Tel Aviv, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Palestinian resistance faction Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Rights org: Israeli soldiers escape indictment

2 January 2008


A report released by Yesh Din reveals Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) failure to investigate and indict its soldiers involved in criminal offenses against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories. IDF statistics, provided to Yesh Din at the organization’s demand, on results of Military Police investigations of criminal offenses in which IDF soldiers harmed Palestinians and their property since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000 until June 2007, show that some 90 percent of these investigation files were closed with no indictment. 

B'Tselem: 373 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2007

30 December 2007


B’Tselem today releases its year-end report. According to B’Tselem data, the number of Israelis and Palestinians killed in clashes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip dropped. However, there has been deterioration in many other measures of the human rights situation in the occupied territories. The primary one is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has declined to an all time low, following Israel’s siege on the area. 

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