PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 16:30 on Wednesday, 21 February 2007, Adham Atallah Sha’ath, a 25-year resident of Gaza City, was killed by a bullet in the back. Ahmad Khader El-Shamali (23) was injured by a bullet in the right foot. They were hit when bullets were accidentally fired from a firearm they mishandled in Johr El-Deek village, southeast of Gaza City. They were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where Sha’ath was pronounced dead upon arrival and transferred to the forensic medicine department in Shifa Hospital. El-Shamali’s injury was listed as moderate. Read more about Death and injuries in weapons misuse
As a Palestinian organisation dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq would like to call your attention to the severe travel restrictions that have been imposed on its General Director, and longstanding human rights defender, Shawan Jabarin. Mr. Jabarin’s case is illustrative of the numerous difficulties faced by human rights defenders who volunteer or work with non-governmental organisations in the OPT. The Israeli authorities have refused to grant Mr. Jabarin permission to travel abroad. Read more about Travel restrictions imposed on human rights advocate
As a human rights organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq is gravely concerned by the killing of two Palestinian security officers in the Bitouniya neighbourhood of Ramallah on 2 February 2007. After thorough investigation, Al-Haq has learned that at approximately 2:45 am on that morning, a resident of al-Dik building heard someone attempting to open the door of his fourth-floor apartment. Upon receiving no reply when he inquired as to the identity of the intruders, the resident called the Palestinian Preventative Security Forces. Read more about Palestinian Security Forces Under Attack
PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 8:50 on Wednesday, 21 February 2007, Mahmoud Awad El-Sumeiri (34) from Wadi El-Salqa village (east of Deir El-Balah) was killed by shrapnel throughout his body. The shrapnel was the result of the explosion of a homemade bomb that exploded when the victim handled it in a farm near his house. El-Sumeiri was taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. He was transferred to the forensic medicine department at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Read more about PCHR: Palestinian killed, 2 wounded, in weapons misuse
At this moment the Israeli government is plowing the crops, in order to destroy them, of Bedouins in the Negev. 500 dunams (120 acres) of Halil al-Zarqan’s lands, of the small village Al-Mazraa in the Eastern Negev are being destroyed this morning by governmental tractors. Israel does not recognize the traditional ownership of its Bedouin citizens over land in the Negev. Since 1948, Israel has used one method or another to confiscate 98 percent of the lands that were owned and used by the Bedouins prior to the establishment of the State. Now the government is battling its poorest citizens over the last 2 percent of their traditional lands. Read more about Israeli authorities destroy crops of Bedouin citizens
On 13 February 2007, Adalah sent an urgent letter to Interior Minister Roni Bar-On and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, demanding the cancellation of warning notices issued against approximately 100 homes in the unrecognized village of al-Nasasara in the Naqab (Negev) (located to the South-West of Kesseife). These notices, which were affixed to homes on 19 January 2007 demand that the homeowners appear before the Building Monitoring Unit in order to present explanations for “unlicensed building.” However, based on past experience, the sending of such warning notices constitutes the first step towards the issuing of orders to demolish homes and evacuate the village of its inhabitants. Read more about Warning notices affixed to 100 homes in unrecognized Bedouin village
The application of an Arab couple, Fatina Ebriq and Ahmed Zubeidat, to live in the community town of Rakefet in the Misgav area of the Galilee was refused in March 2006 by the regional selection committee. Selection committees monitor, accept and reject applications for housing units in community towns, and often operate according to vague and arbitrary criteria. On 11 April 2006, Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara filed an appeal on behalf of the couple to the Israel Land Administration (ILA) against the decision to refuse their application to live in Rakefet. Read more about Arab couple refused residency in exclusively Jewish town
I live with my family near the Pisgat Ze’ev settlement. The Separation Barrier separates my house from the rest of the village of Hizmeh. I go to school in a-Ram and am in the eleventh grade. Last Tuesday [23 January 2007], around 7:00 P.M., I left home to go and visit my uncle ‘Abd al-Wali ‘Askar, who lives in Hizmeh. I went by foot, crossed the Hizmeh checkpoint and continued along the Hizmeh-‘Anata road. From my house to my uncle’s house is about one and a half kilometers. I walked slowly, and got to the road leading to his house at about 7:30. Read more about Settlers abuse Ra'fat 'Askar, 16, imprison him and beat him
Gabriel Ashkenazi, a 2004 graduate of Harvard Business School who was appointed chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces this weekend, has come under fire from activists at Harvard who say Ashkenazi was responsible for human rights abuses before his arrival in Cambridge. [*] In e-mails to The Crimson, the activists alleged that Ashkenazi was responsible for abuses during Israel’s 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon and for his role in overseeing the construction of the barrier separating Israel and several of its settlements from the rest of the West Bank. Read more about Controversy at Harvard after appointment of alum to Israeli army chief of staff
Tasting the food that Suzi Hazahza cooked for him on that first Thursday in November, Reza Barkhordari couldn’t have been more joyful. He went to Suzi’s house every night after work, to sit with her whole family. And each night, the wedding drew a day closer. The first Friday of November, however, found Reza driving to the Dallas offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in search of the love of his life. Suzi and her entire family had been rounded up at gunpoint. Like two other Palestinian families in Dallas, all of them had been rousted from bed at gunpoint and marched out the door in their bedclothes. Read more about Suzi Hazahza Imprisoned in Texas: Why Her Family Must be Freed
