On Tuesday afternoon, 19 December 2006, the bodies of Mohammed al-Harazin and Mohammed Kassab of the Palestinian General Intelligence were brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The two victims were shot dead, but the circumstances of their killing have not been clear. Earlier, at approximately 12:00, the bodyguards of the spokesman of Ministry of Interior, Khaled Abu Hilal, opened fire at a supply vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Military Intelligence that passed near Abu Hilal’s house in al-Jalaa’ Street in the center of Gaza City. As a result, two members of the Military Intelligence were killed: Shadi Mohammed Dhaher, 25; and ‘Omar Nader al-Wehaidi, 22. Additionally, 7 bystanders, including two school children, were wounded. Read more about PCHR Condemns Escalating Violence between Fatah and Hamas Movements
The undersigned Palestinian human rights NGOs express their grave concern over the deterioration in the internal security situation, which has mounted to the peak in the past few days due to the political tension between Hamas and Fatah movements resulted from the failure of the two movements to agree on the formation of a national unity government. Tension between the two movements has escalated since Thursday, 14 December 2006, in light of mutual accusations for responsibility for the failure to reach an agreement on the formation of a national unity government. Read more about Palestinian Human Rights Groups Call for National Dialogue
We are writing to you to express our reservations on the HRW news item of 22 November 2006 entitled: “OPT: Civilians Must Not Be Used to Shield Homes Against Military Attacks,” discussing HRW’s position on Palestinian civilians acting against the destruction of civilian homes by Israeli forces in Gaza. The HRW news item is self-contradictory and full of inconsistencies. While pointing that Israeli army destruction of civilian homes is illegal in the absence of concrete evidence indicating that these homes are legitimate military targets, HRW claims that unarmed civilian protest and action against these illegal Israeli activities is a “war crime!” Read more about When Human Rights Watch Equates Aggressor with the Aggrieved
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) that filed the petition against the assassinations policy of the State of Israel in January, 2002, regrets that that the ruling of the panel of High Court of Justice justices headed by former Chief Justice, Aharon Barak, did not outline a clear set of criteria that permit or forbid “targeted assassinations”, or extrajudicial executions, in a way that would prevent the killing of innocent civilians. According to PCATI’s data, since the beginning of the second Intifada, and following the first targeted assassination on 9 November 2000, approximately 500 Palestinians were killed during targeted assassinations, including 168 innocent civilians. Read more about PCATI comments on judicial approval of assassination policy
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) welcomes today’s ruling by the High Court of Justice which accepted the petition of the parents of Iman El Hams and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and ordered the judge Advocate General and the Military Attorney’s Office to open an investigation to determine whether illegal open fire orders were given in the area of the “Girit” military post which lead to the killing of Iman Al Hams on 5 October 2004. In addition, the Court ordered the respondents to pay the petitioners the sum of 15,000 NS for their court expenses. Iman El Hams, 13 years old, was killed by IDF fire while on her way to school. Read more about PCATI welcomes investigation into killing of Iman al-Hams
Today, the Supreme Court approved the use of the military criterion, which severely discriminates against Arab citizens. This ruling contradicts previous decisions of the Supreme Court which specify that the disparate impact test is the test which should be employed to determine the existence or otherwise of discrimination. Therefore, Adalah will request a second hearing before an extended panel of justices with regard to this ruling. On 13 December 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected a petition filed by Adalah on 29 December 2005 against the Ministry of Construction and Housing. Read more about Israeli Supreme Court states that military-only mortgage benefits don't discriminate
As a non-governmental organisation committed to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq would like to bring to your attention the current situation of the Arab Orphan School, a privately run charitable school in East Jerusalem with a long history of providing free vocational education for Palestinian children. As detailed in the attached study, the Arab Orphan School is now facing acute threats to its continuing existence. Located in ‘Atarot, which Israel illegally incorporated within its municipal boundary of Jerusalem, the school has been isolated from its students and staff, the majority of whom live in surrounding villages. Read more about The 'Atarot Arab Orphan School under Threat
During the reported period, a Palestinian couple were killed in Sa’ir village, northeast of Hebron, and their child was seriously wounded on 9 December 2006, when a mysterious object exploded in junks collected by the husband from an area used by IOF as a training site. On 12 December 2006, a 56-year-old Palestinian woman died from a heart attack when IOF detonated a sound bombs inside her house. On 10 December 2006, a Palestinian child was wounded in al-Fara’a refugee camp, southeast of Jenin, when IOF fired at a number of children who demonstrated against them. Read more about Weekly Report of Human Rights Violations
FAST, the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory, condemns the destruction of Tawil abu Jarwal, a Bedouin village in the Negev. FAST research shows that the destruction of the village is part of a larger land grab plan. Since 1948, the state of Israel developed policies to occupy the Negev. In the recent years, the Israeli government approved many plans and masterplans to build on top of these villages. The destruction of Tawil abu Jarwal is another step in the execution of these plans, and yet proves another series of basic human rights violation of the Bedouin population in the Negev. Read more about On-going Destruction in the Negev
The house of Munthir Mahmoud Hamad stood alone. Almost perfectly square in shape and made up of gray cement stone - it stood on a tiny hilltop among rubble - what was likely to have been a previously destroyed home. A makeshift water tank sat on the roof and wires led from the rooftop to a generator nearby. From his house you could see the Jewish settlement of Gilo. All settlements in Israel and the Occupied Territories are easy to point out - houses are obtrusively white in color, perfectly aligned next to one another, and built on a hilltop - like a perfect suburbia and another world. Read more about The Village of Al-Wallaja vs. the State of Israel
