Human Rights

Arrest and detention: A measure of first resort for Palestinian children

Defence for Children International-Palestine Section 31 May 2003

This international children’s day, DCI draws the world’s attention to the plight of the Palestinian child, particularly those deprived of their liberty and locked away in Israeli prisons, which comprises an increasing number of under-18’s in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

On Israel's separation fence (part 2)

Meron Rappaport 31 May 2003



Alfei Menashe and Matan’s success was a catastrophe for Kalkilya. The city became an island surrounded by fences on four sides, cut off from the villagers that bring it goods and do their shopping and depend on it for civil services. But, as Uzi Dayan says, “The fence isn’t supposed to make everybody happy. There was no choice.” Meron Rappaport reports in Yedioth Ahronoth. 

On Israel's separation fence (part 1)

Meron Rappaport 31 May 2003



Something strange has been happening in recent months to the separation fence. What began thanks to a campaign of the Israeli Left and Center under Barak-style slogans of “we are here, they are there,” it has become the baby of the Sharon government. The same Sharon who during the unity government opposed building the fence and was dragged into it almost against his will, on any given day has 500 bulldozers at work, paving and building one of the largest projects in the history of the country, perhaps the largest. Meron Rappaport reports in Yedioth Ahronoth. 

UN Committee: "Excessive emphasis upon the State as a 'Jewish State' encourages discrimination"

Badil 31 May 2003

A recent review by the UN of Israel’s performance under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed concern that “excessive emphasis upon the State as a “Jewish State” encourages discrimination and accords a second-class status to its non-Jewish citizens. 

The President, the Dean, and the Historiography of 1948 Palestine

Ilan Pappe 30 May 2003

“On May 22, at 2 P.M., the lectures and the audience arrived at hall 715 in the university. The doors were locked. In the corridor stood the university’s chief of security forces and ten of his henchmen, all armed with pistols and walkie-talkies. I was pushed into a side room by the chief and his lieutenant and handed a personal letter from the president, Yehuda Hayut. This was done in front of my wife and my colleagues, who watched helplessly as the macabre scene unfolded. Outside the corridor, my wife heard two other lieutenants of the chief informing the president over their walkie-talkies, ‘We caught him!’ They also said to each other, ‘High time! They should do the same to all the leftist lectures in the university!’” Dr. Ilan Pappe, a professor at Haifa University, prevents a chilling account in clinical detail of heavy-handed repression of academic speech at his university. 

Peace is a long way off

Nick Pretzlik 30 May 2003

Nick Pretzlik, now in Jenin, reports on local responses to the Road Map, noting that Palestinians “have suffered too much and too long to accept a plan which permits the apartheid walls and electrified fences to remain, a plan which leaves settler roads and key settlements in place, and allows Palestinian water resources, airspace and borders to remain under Israeli control. Even if the current generation can accept that, I doubt that their children will.” 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 29 May 2003

This week Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinians, including three children and a mentally disabled man. Israeli forces demolished 15 homes and razed large areas of agricultural land in Beit Hanoun. Israeli forces conducted a number of raids on Palestinian towns and indiscriminately shelled Palestinian residential areas. Israeli forces continued retaliatory attacks against families of wanted Palestinians, demolishing 7 homes. Israeli forces arrested more Palestinians and continued to impose a tight siege on Palestinian communities. 

CESCR deeply concerned about inequality between Israeli and Palestinian citizens

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) 23 May 2003

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded today its three-week spring session, adopting its final conclusions and recommendations on reports of Luxembourg, New Zealand, Iceland, Brazil and Israel. The Committee said it was particularly concerned, among other things, about information received concerning the construction of a “safety fence” around the occupied territories. Among its recommendations, the Committee requested that the State party provide more extensive information on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by those living in the occupied territories. 

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