The Israeli army should immediately cease deliberately endangering Palestinian civilians by forcing them to assist military operations, Human Rights Watch said today. During recent military operations in the Old City of Nablus, Israeli soldiers forced at least three Palestinians at gun point, two of them children, to assist in searching apartments for suspects. International humanitarian law prohibits a party to a conflict from using the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military operations. “The soldiers’ actions fly in the face of the Geneva Conventions, an Israeli high court decision, and the IDF’s own prior commitments,”said Joe Saunders. Read more about HRW: "Israel: Stop forcing civilians to assist military operations"
On 18 March 2007, Al-Haq fieldworker and human rights defender, Ziyad Hmeidan, was dropped off by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) at the Dahiriya (Meitar) checkpoint, south of Hebron, at around 14:15, marking the end of almost two years of detention without charge or fair trial. From the checkpoint Ziyad travelled to the village of Sa’ir, where he met briefly with a number of Al-Haq’s staff, before heading on to Bethlehem, where he was reunited with his wife and two young children. Ziyad’s release, similar to the entire process which arbitrarily deprived him of his freedom for 20 months, was marked by obstructions from the Israeli authorities. Read more about Al-Haq Fieldworker Released from Administrative Detention
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns yesterday’s assault on Mr. John Ging, UNRWA’s Chief of Operation. The attack took place in the northern Gaza Strip and targeted his convoy. The Centre calls for serious legal action against the perpetrators of this attack, which is a continuation of security chaos that undermines the rule of law and tarnishes the Palestinian people and their just struggle for freedom and independence. Read more about UNRWA convoy attacked in Gaza
Two days ago [9 February], I went with my brother Salah to our fields to prune the grapevines. My children, who are six and eleven years old, and Salah’s children, who are four, six, and twelve years old, came with us. We reached the vineyards at nine in the morning and began the pruning. We finished working around three in the afternoon and left. We walked two kilometers to the north, toward ‘Ein al-Qasis, to land belonging to my cousins, Samer and ‘Imad Salah. They had asked us to plant sage in their field. Their plot is close to the part of the Neve Daniel settlement that has nine caravans. A settler named Hananya lives there. Everybody knows him because he attacks Palestinian farmers. Read more about Testimony: Settlers attack Palestinian farmers, including small children
BAGHDAD, 18 March 2007 (IRIN) - The United Nations has reiterated its call for the protection of Palestinian refugees in Iraq after Iraqi security forces killed one and detained dozens in raids last week, causing a number of Palestinian families to flee to the border. “One Palestinian, [who was] a guard at a mosque, was killed with at least one gunshot to the head during the raid on Wednesday,” said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva on Friday. The agency called for the immediate protection of Palestinians in Iraq. Read more about Police raids spread panic among Palestinians in Iraq
During the reporting period a Palestinian boy was killed by IOF when he attempted to infiltrate into Israel to search for a job. The Israeli police beat a Palestinian to death in occupied East Jerusalem. 15 Palestinian civilians, including three children, and an Israeli solidarity activist were wounded by IOF gunfire. The IOF conducted 40 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. And land confiscation in Qalqilya continues as the IOF confiscated another 17 donums of agricultural land. Read more about Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations
In the latest of a long series of expressions of alarm over the fate of Palestinian refugees in Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the United Nations refugee agency today voiced deep concern over a raid by Iraqi security forces this week in Baghdad, which left at least one Palestinian dead and nine others reportedly still in detention. “The violence reportedly broke out when the Palestinians tried to resist the raid,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva. Read more about Palestinian refugee killed in Iraq raid
The state of insecurity witnessed serious escalation across the Gaza Strip where killings of women augmented under mysterious conditions and armed clashes renewed. According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 6pm on 14 March 2007 a woman was found dead in north Gaza beach. She was identified as a resident of Gaza City who was kidnapped and killed on the same day. The identity of the perpetrators remains unknown. On 12 March 2007, another woman was found on Beit Lahia beach after being shot in her legs. Three women had faced the same fate during March, raising to five the number women who were killed in 2007. Read more about Woman kidnapped and killed in Gaza
On 12 March 2007, Adalah wrote to the President of Tel Aviv University and the Dean of the School of Medicine, demanding that new conditions which limit the entry of students into the school to those over twenty years of age be cancelled. As Adalah stressed, this restriction does not apply to students who wish to study before performing military service. This is a new requirement announced in a bulletin regarding registration at the university for the 2007-2008 academic year. Read more about Israeli university's age restrictions discriminates against Arab students
On 9 March 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its Concluding Observations, following its review last month of Israels implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD or the Convention). In its Concluding Observations, the Committee emphasized 25 areas of concern and recommendations regarding Israels compliance with the Convention concerning the rights of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Read more about UN Committee urges Israel to abandon racist practices
