While Palestinians have continued their preparations for holding the Palestinian presidential elections on 9 January 2005, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed 7 Palestinian children, including 2 brothers, by a tank shell in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia on Tuesday morning, 4 January 2005. This report from the Palestinian Centre for Human rights provides details of this incident. Read more about 7 Palestinian children killed by Israeli tank shell in northern Gaza
Despite claims by the Israeli military, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights report that Israeli occupation forces have continued positioning forces at stable military checkpoints erected at the entrances to the major towns, and have also erected a number of sudden military checkpoints at the main crossroads on the eve of the Palestinian presidential election. In Nablus, Israeli forces maintained their presence at Beit Eiba checkpoint, Hawara and Za’tara and Beit Furik. They also continued to close several roads. Israeli forces remained also in other areas of the West Bank. Read more about Election Irregularities: Israeli Claims of Military Withdrawal from West Bank a Fabrication
In an apparent effort to forestall gains by Hamas in Palestinian elections, the Israeli army has arrested a large number of potential candidates in the southern part of the West Bank. The arrests began shortly after midnight on Saturday in the town of Dura, nearly 50km south of Jerusalem, where the Israeli occupation army arrested an undisclosed number of Islamist leaders. Local sources in the Hebron area said the detainees included Shaikh Nayif Rajub, imam of the town’s Grand Mosque, and Shaikh Fathi Amr, a high-ranking official in Hebron’s Islamic endowments department. Rajub’s twin brother, Yasir, was also arrested. Read more about Israel arrests Palestinian candidates
At the Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel in May 1948 the country’s founders made an unequivocal pledge: the Israeli state, they wrote, “will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, education and culture” and “will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions.” Israel’s actions in the intervening 56 years, as this report will show, are evidence that, not only has this promise been ignored, but that in practice the authorities have intentionally and actively encouraged or supported the destruction and abuse of holy places belonging to the Christian and Muslim faiths. Read more about HRA releases report on Israeli violations against Christian, Muslim holy places
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including a child and a disabled young man, and injured 11 others, including three children and a woman. Israeli forces demolished a number of Palestinian homes. Israel continues to attack Khan Yunis refugee camp and al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Yunis. Palestinian rights group PCHR believes that the intensive presence of Israeli forces in these areas can cause more casualties among Palestinian civilians. This latest offensive has been the third of its kind against Khan Yunis in thirteen days, in which 19 Palestinians have been killed, dozens of others have been injured and at least 60 houses have been destroyed. Read more about Israel continues attacks on Khan Yunis, killing 5 Palestinians
Amid the fanfare surrounding Israel’s 27 December release of 159 Palestinian prisoners as a “goodwill gesture” to Egypt’s President Mubarak, the fate of Palestinian child detainees is all but forgotten. Some 350 Palestinian children currently remain in Israeli jails, detention centers, and interrogation centers. Under international law, their release should be a priority. As it is, not one child has released as part of this initiative. Read more about Release of children should be a priority
This week, Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians, including a child. Israeli troops conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces demolished 46 homes in Khan Yunis. Israeli forces razed 69 donums of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, Israeli forces demolished two homes. Israeli forces raided a number of Palestinian charitable institutions in the West Bank and confiscated some of their contents. Israel continued shelling of residential areas and civilian facilities; dozens of Palestinian civilians, including at least 30 children, were injured and a number of civilian facilities were destroyed. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
In the last four years, Israeli authorities have all but refused to issue permits for students from Gaza to travel to and from the West Bank. They have also made renewing permits increasingly difficult for students who began their degrees before the Intifada started. In 2000, 370 Gaza students enrolled at Birzeit University. Enrollment of Gaza students in 2005 is down to 39. Those who began their degrees in 2000 have been left with two stark choices: They can either drop out or stay and risk all that this entails. “We live a different life to students from the West Bank,” explains Abdel Rahim, one of the 35 Gaza students still studying at Birzeit. Read more about Gazan students' fugitive lives
This week, people around the world will sing “O little town of Bethlehem” and say “peace on earth, goodwill to all people.” However, in the land where Jesus was born, there is no peace and people suffer from daily violence. Imagine if, today, Joseph and Mary would leave from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Would they manage to arrive in time for their son’s birth? Would they be allowed to pass through various checkpoints and roadblocks? If Mary and Joseph were to arrive in Bethlehem, not only would they need permits to pass the roadblocks and checkpoints, but they would also have to make a detour to get into the town. Surrounded by Israel’s Wall on two sides, Bethlehem has become a prison. Read more about From Nazareth to Bethlehem, anno 2004
Since Friday morning, 17 December 2004, Israeli forces have launched a fierce offensive on Khan Yunis, in an act of retaliation against Palestinian civilians and property. During this offensive, Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians, including a child, and injured 40 others, including 18 children. Eight injured are in critical condition. The Israeli offensive has been focused on Khan Yunis refugee camp and al-Nimsawi neighborhood. Israeli forces destroyed at least 40 homes. Palestinian human rights group PCHR believes that the intensive presence of Israeli occupation forces poses a serious threat to the lives of Palestinian civilians. Read more about Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinians in Khan Yunis, many more wounded
