The Jerusalem Legal Aid Center (JLAC), on December 11, petitioned the Israeli Civil Administration and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to reinstate the processing of visitor permit renewal requests and to reinstate those whose permits have lapsed. JLAC attorney, Sliman Shahin, presented the petition on behalf of spouses and children of Palestinians who submitted their applications in 2006 and whose permits subsequently expired during processing, were stamped “last permit”, were not renewed, or whose holders are now forced to overstay their three-month permit. On November 19, all 100 renewal requests returned to the Palestinian MoI, were either rejected or marked as ‘last permit’. Read more about Petition challenges Israeli exclusions
Today, 12 December 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision invalidating amended article 5c of the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law that releases the State of Israel from all liability for compensation for any damages caused to Palestinians by Israeli Occupation Forces in areas designated as “conflict zones” in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The decision came in response to a petition submitted in September 2005 by nine human rights organizations in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. However, the Supreme Court also decided not to strike down another provision (5b) of the law, which provides that Israel does not have to pay compensation for damages caused in military operations since September 2000, for “a citizen of an Enemy State” and “an activist or member of a Terrorist Organization.” Read more about PCHR plans to respond to Israeli Supreme Court's ruling on the Civil Wrongs Law with cases and actions
The Catholic and Anglican bishops of Jerusalem have welcomed the announcement by UK church leaders of their pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Moderator of the Free Churches the Revd David Coffey, and the Primate of the Armenian Church of Great Britain Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian are to undertake a four-day visit to the Holy Land from the 20th-23rd December. The focal point of their visit will be a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The visit has also been welcomed by Open Bethlehem, which campaigns to keep the city open to the world at a time when the Israeli wall and land annexations are causing hardship for its inhabitants. Read more about Bethlehem Welcomes Church Leaders' Visit
Palestinian Center for Human Rights13 December 2006
PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 7:40 on Wednesday, 13 December 2006, gunmen in two vehicles shot and killed Bassam Abdel Malek Abdel Salam El-Farra, a 32-year old resident of Khan Yunis. The victim worked as the Director of Family Counseling in Sharia Courts in the southern Gaza Strip. And he was a commander in Izzedeen El-Qassam Battalions, the armed wing of Hamas. The incident took place near the Bani Suhaila Sharia Court to the east of Khan Yunis. El-Farra was killed by several bullets to the head and chest. In another incident at approximately 19:00 on Tuesday, 12 December 2006, gunmen intercepted the vehicle of Ibrahim Jamil Mohammad Asabna (43-year old resident of Fahma village southeast of Jenin), who is a Hamas activist. Read more about Human Rights Updates on Security Chaos and Proliferation of Small Arms
Israel’s Supreme Court has overturned a controversial Israeli law banning Palestinians from claiming compensation for harm suffered at the hands of soldiers. Citizens of “enemy states and members of terrorist organisations”, however, would not be permitted to file for compensation, according to the court’s ruling. Palestinians will also have to prove that the Israeli military operations in question did not take place as part of a clearly defined ‘war’. Hassan Jabareen, the general director of Adalah, a body championing Arab rights in Israel, said he expected more legal wrangling over what is and what is not a combat situation. “We foresee in the future another legal battle on the question of what is the scope of combat operations,” he said. Read more about Court overturns Israel's intifada law
The killing of three young brothers in Gaza City yesterday has shocked the Palestinian community across the political divide and exposed, once again, the plight of children living in the volatile region. “I am shocked by the tragic event,” stated UNICEF’s Special Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Dan Rohrmann. “This is another event highlighting the serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory - and with tragic consequences for civilians, including children.” Masked gunmen shot at a car carrying the three boys, between the ages of four and nine, on their way to school. No one has claimed responsibility for the killings. Read more about UNICEF speaks to memory of boys killed in Gaza
Today, 12 December 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel, in a unanimous ruling delivered by nine justices, decided that the State of Israel cannot exempt itself from paying compensation to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who have been harmed by the Israeli military. The decision invalidates a provision of a recent amendment to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law (popularly known as “the Intifada law”). This provision was intended to release the state from all liability for compensation for any damages caused to Palestinians by the Israeli military or other security forces in areas designated as “conflict zones” (nearly all of the West Bank and Gaza) by the Ministry of Defense. Read more about Ruling: Israel cannot exempt itself from compensating Palestinians harmed by military
On December 11, a number of NGO’s sent a letter to Riyadh Mansour Head of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations. The letter includes a response to the Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution ES-10/15 on the establishment of the UN register of damage in connection with paragraphs 152 and 153 of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 9 July 2004. Palestinian civil society welcomes the UN register as a step towards the implementation of the International Court of Justice advisory opinion, but serious concerns remain over the working of the Register. Read more about NGO's concerned over the working of the UN Register of Damage caused by the Wall
The 10th of December 2006 marks the 58th anniversary of International Human Rights Day, the date which was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global enunciation of human rights. This anniversary is being commemorated while the Palestinian people continue to live under Israeli belligerent occupation, which has continued for almost 40 years. Under this occupation, the Palestinian people are subject to many forms of human rights violations that contradict the basic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the rights to life, liberty and security of person, through willful killings, extra-judicial executions, torture, collective punishment, and cruel and degrading treatment. Read more about On the 58th anniversary of Human Rights Day, Palestinian civilians suffer
Israel’s lack of cooperation has prevented a fact-finding mission from the United Nations Human Rights Council from visiting Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where an Israeli attack last month killed 19 Palestinian civilians, the head of the team, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, said today. “This is a time in our history that neither allows for indifference to the plight of those suffering, nor a refusal to search for a solution to the present crisis in the region,” Mr. Tutu told reporters in Geneva, describing Israel’s action as “very distressing.” Read more about Lack of Israeli cooperation prevents UN fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun
