The government of Israel once again expressed its disregard for international law and the United Nations system during the 33rd Session1 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which oversees the implementation of the UN Convention on Women. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, at its thirty-third session in New York, offered strong criticisms of Israel and its policies, particularly concerning the treatment of Palestinian women. Israel’s - almost predictable - response was simply that the UN Women’s Convention, which it ratified in 1991, “only extended to Israel” and not the Occupied Territories. Jeff Handmaker offers a brief assessment. Read more about UN’s Committee on Women criticizes Israel
Israeli settlers have escalated their attacks against Palestinian civilians across the OPT - in one incident a number of Palestinian civilians were shot and killed by Settlers. In other incidents Palestinians have been attacked and injured while in others settlers have attacked the property of Palestinian civilians. Israeli settlers attacked greenhouses belonging to Palestinian farmers in Tal Ziedan area in al Mawasi west of Khan Younis. Palestinian civilians in many communities remain under a state of complete siege and severe restrictions on freedom of movement remain in place. A report live from the field by PCHR’s fieldworkers in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Read more about Settler Attacks Escalate
The Israeli military has begun to move Israeli settlers from their illegal settlements inside the Gaza Strip. At the same time settlers have attacked Palestinian civilians while the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) continue to arbitrarily arrest and detain Palestinian civilians. The Israeli military have continued to detain Palestinian civilians, imprison them and place communities under siege across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. At the same time they
have prevent human rights defenders from gaining access. Settlers have been present near the main roads and have obstructed the movement of vehicles. Palestinian ambulances have not been able to move between the two parts of al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis and Rafah. Read more about Settler attacks, arrests and denial of access in the Gaza Strip
Israeli settlers have been given a forty-eight hour grace period (beginning midnight 14th August), within which to leave their illegal settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Meanwhile the IOF is imposing increased closures across the OPT, severely restricting Palestinian civilians’ freedom of movement, while Palestinian civilians are also coming under attack from militant settlers. Israel is removing 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip, corresponding to only 2 percent of the total settler population (425,000) currently living in the OPT, including East Jerusalem, and this year alone Israel is building housing for 30,000 more settlers in the West Bank. The removal of settlers from Gaza must be viewed within this broader context of ongoing settler activity in the West Bank. Read more about Despite Israeli disengagement, Palestinians continue to endure closures, arrests and attacks
At the edge of the Khan Yunus refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, crumbling refugee homes face off with the red-roofed seafront villas of the Neve Dekalim settlement. The settlement, one of 21 chosen for evacuation in coming months, has been the source of much grief - and now speculation - for Palestinians here. Abo Ahmed’s home stands directly across from Neve Dekalim, the largest and most ideologically extreme of the Gush Katif settlements, a bloc established in 1970 - three years after Gaza was captured and occupied by Israel. Not far from the settlement is an Israeli sniper tower, stationed along with hundreds of soldiers, to protect the illegal settlers from their Palestinian neighbours and original inhabitants of the land. Read more about Gazans cautious, but eager for pullout
As the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) begin to remove illegal Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and redeploy their military forces along the border areas - Palestinian civilians are being affected by closures, arrests and attacks across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Fieldworkers of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights report from Al Sayafa, a sealed Palestinian enclave between the Dogit and Elli Sinai settlements and from southern Gaza, Al Mawasi, a sealed Palestinian enclave inside the Gush Katif settlement bloc. Over the next three weeks, Israel plans to remove all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. Read more about Israel seals off Gaza, marks begin of disengagement
Amnesty International is gravely concerned at the mounting loss of civilian lives, frequent abductions and other abuses, as violent clashes between Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and armed groups have escalated in recent weeks. With lawlessness becoming more entrenched, civilians are left vulnerable to abuses. Endemic power struggles and in-fighting between rivalling PA factions and a multitude of armed groups have significantly increased in the lead-up to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, due later this month. PA security forces have so far proved unable or unwilling to control the activities of armed groups and to hold them accountable for their crimes. Read more about Amnesty is concerned at growing lawlessness in Gaza
Israeli forces have notified Palestinians living near a Gaza settlement of a month-long closure of their community, just days prior to the upcoming withdrawal from the area. Abdullah Maani, a local leader of the al-Ma’ani area in the Central Gaza Strip town of Dair al-Balah, told Aljazeera.net that Israeli forces notified him on Friday of a closure that would seal off his community from the rest of the Gaza Strip for three to four weeks, starting this coming Wednesday. “The soldier told us there will be a complete closure, and that he is giving us advance notification so we can stockpile water and food, adding that no one will be allowed in or out, except in extreme cases and with prior coordination,” Maani said. Read more about Gaza town to be closed during pullout
This week, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a child. Israeli forces conducted a number of incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested at least 45 Palestinians. Israeli forces turned ten Palestinian homes into military posts. Israeli forces continue to use Palestinian civilians as human shields during military operations. Israel continues to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel closed al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip and Israeli forces prevent Palestinians aged 16-35 from traveling through the Rafah border. Israeli forces arrested at least 8 Palestinians at military checkpoints in the West Bank and Israel continues to construct the Wall in the West Bank. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
The United Nations is expected to adopt a sweeping series of principles today that urge governments everywhere to ensure all refugees and persons displaced due to conflict and natural disasters are entitled to return to, recover and reside in their original homes, lands and properties. Prepared by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Housing and Property Restitution, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil, the ‘Pinheiro Principles’ will provide the first consolidated global standard on the housing, land and property rights of the displaced. “The best solution to the plight of millions of refugees and displaced persons around the world is to ensure they attain the right to return freely to their countries and to have restored to them housing and property of which they were deprived,” said Pinheiro. Read more about UN to adopt pathbreaking new global standard which demands return of confiscated refugee land and housing
