Israel continued to destroy Palestinian territories through deforestation and the expropriation and erosion of agricultural lands, as well as by seizing lands, harvests and livestock in the occupied Syrian Golan, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard this afternoon as it concluded its debate on permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian and Syrian peoples over their natural resources in the occupied Arab territories. Read more about "Israel still destroying occupied territories", says Second Committee delegates
Amnesty International is adding its voice to worldwide protests (Starting Sunday) against Israel’s construction of the fence/wall in the Occupied West Bank. The organization calls on the Israeli authorities to stop the construction of the fence/wall in the West Bank that is affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Read more about Amnesty: Israel must immediately stop construction wall
A newly published map by B’Tselem and an analysis of the ramifications of the current route and statistics on the magnitude of the violation of Palestinian human rights that will result from construction of the separation barrier. It shows that 875,000 Palestinians are directly harmed by the wall, 263,000 Palestinians imprisoned in enclaves, including 115,000 between the barrier and the Green Line. Read more about B'Tselem: 875,000 Palestinians directly harmed by Israel's wall
Israel’s Supreme Court issued an interim order today compelling the government the explain its decision to amend the citizenship and prevent the unification of families by prohibiting the granting of residency or citizenship status to Palestinians who are married to Israeli citizens. Read more about Israel's Supreme Court orders state to explain amendment to citizenship law
In February last year, Gili and Sagi, a young Israeli couple, were “married” at sea - a marriage that was not legally recognised by the State of Israel. Although they are both Jewish, the couple objected to the only marriage option open to them in Israel: an Orthodox Jewish ceremony. Instead, they chose a marriage contract that they drew up themselves, together with a lawyer, thus rendering their union illegal. Israel’s marriage laws have been criticised by both Israelis and Palestinians alike for being discriminatory. Suraya Dadoo takes a look. Read more about Love and marriage in Israel
This week Israeli forces killed a Palestinian resident of Askar refugee camp in Nablus. Israeli forces conducted a number of raids on Palestinian homes and towns. Israeli construction of the internationally condemned separation wall in the West Bank. Indiscriminate shelling of Palestinian residential areas continued. Despite an announcement that it would ease the closure, Israel continued its tight siege on Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps. Travel at the Rafah terminal was restricted, Israeli forces restricted the movement of ambulances and medical personnel in the West Bank. Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian civilians crossing military roadblocks. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing of the Commission on Human Rights said today that the Israeli army has destoyed an estimated 4,000 homes over the past three years, leaving thousands of people homeless, many of whom are women, children and elderly persons. The Special Rapporteur urges the international community to act decisively to protect Palestinians by taking urgent steps to remove the impunity that Israel enjoys. Read more about Special Rapporteur on adequate housing urges the international community to protect Palestinians and remove Israeli impunity
