***Image1***Over the years, Israel established a number of settlement points in and around the Old City of Hebron, which had traditionally served as the commercial center for the entire southern West Bank . Israeli law-enforcement authorities and security forces have made the entire Palestinian population pay the price for protecting Israeli settlement in the city. Read more about Report: Israel's Separation Policy and Forced Eviction of Palestinians from Hebron
In the early morning hours of Sunday, 13 May 2007, clashes ignited in different parts of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of gunmen and members of security forces, most of them masked, deployed in main and side roads around the compounds of security forces. Tens of streets and roads were closed to pedestrians and vehicles. Gunmen exchanged fire indiscriminately in streets, at intersections, and from the roofs of buildings. Read more about Four Palestinians Killed and 30 Injured in Internal Fighting
Over the course of the last three months, Al-Haq has documented four incidents, the facts of which are summarised below, involving the extrajudicial executions of eight Palestinians in the Jenin area. The number of incidents, all of which involved disturbingly similar facts, indicates that, far from being isolated acts, the extrajudicial execution of Palestinians continues to be a widespread practice. Indeed, during the last year, Al-Haq has documented numerous other deaths attributable to Israeli extrajudicial executions. Read more about Investigation: Israel executed 8 Palestinians in Jenin in past 3 months
During the reporting period, three Palestinians were extra-judicially executed by IOF in the West Bank. Thirteen civilians, including six children and a girl, were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. IOF conducted 37 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and arrested four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and at various checkpoints and border crossings in the West Bank arrested six Palestinian civilians. Read more about Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations
PCHR strongly condemns the bloody incidents that took place on Sunday noon in Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, which took the life of a bodyguard of Majed Abu Shammala, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and wounded seven others, including three children. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to effectively investigate these incidents, which are part of the state of security chaos plaguing the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and bring the perpetrators to justice. Read more about Palestinian killed and seven wounded in Rafah fighting
On May 2, 2007, a federal judge dismissed the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case against senior Israeli official Avi Dichter for his role in dropping a one-ton bomb on a Gaza City apartment building, killing 15 Palestinians and injuring more than 150 others. The lawsuit, Matar v. Dichter, was filed against Avi Dichter, the former Director of Israel’s General Security Service (GSS), on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in the bombing. Read more about US Judge Dismisses War Crime Case Against Avi Dichter
In recent years, Israel has openly admitted that ISA (formerly the General Security Service) interrogators employ “exceptional” interrogation methods and “physical pressure” against Palestinian detainees in situations labeled “ticking bombs”. B’Tselem and HaMoked - Center for the Defence of the Individual have examined these interrogation methods and the frequency with which they are used, as well as other harmful practices. The report’s findings are based on the testimonies of 73 Palestinian residents of the West Bank who were arrested between July 2005 and January 2006 and interrogated by the ISA. Read more about Report: Majority of surveyed Palestinian prisoners subjected to ill-treatment
DAMASCUS, 3 May 2007 (IRIN) - Over 1,000 Iraqi-Palestinian refugees stranded in camps on the Syrian-Iraqi borders are sinking into despair as their situation continues to deteriorate and a solution to their plight remains elusive. “We are losing hope,” one refugee in the Al-Tanf camp, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. “There are problems between husbands and wives because of the situation and we are afraid for the future of our children. We are searching for a solution, but it does not exist.” Read more about Palestinian refugees despair after year marooned between Iraq and Syria
During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian and a member of the Palestinian Presidential Guard were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, respectively. Three Palestinian civilians were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A French solidarity activist was wounded by IOF gunfire in Bal’ein village, west of Ramallah. IOF conducted 28 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. IOF arrested 55 Palestinian civilians, including six children and a woman. IOF arrested a Palestinian civilian in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations
The Israeli authorities should immediately lift a travel ban on Shawan Jabarin, the general director of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, a group of leading international human rights organizations said today. Jabarin was unable to attend the annual Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in Lisbon on April 19, 2007 because Israeli authorities would not allow him to leave the occupied West Bank. Read more about HRW Calls for Lifting of Travel Ban on Human Rights Defender
