Al Mezan has expressed concern to the Minister of Education regarding the type of questions directed to second-year secondary students in the 2006-2007 Arabic exam, in Gaza district, which included writing a letter to His Excellency the Prime Minister: students were expected to express their solidarity with the Palestinian cabinet and their resistance against the cruel siege imposed upon our people. In this respect, Al Mezan emphasizes that students were faced with severe restrictions in their freedom of expression. In other words, students might adapt different or neutral opinions, especially at this time of severe party [division] within Palestinian society. Read more about Ministry of Education must respect multiplicity, freedom and human rights
Calling to the international community to get mobilised and bring the Israeli occupation to an end, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights has launched an international campaign to demonstrate that the Gaza Strip remains under Israeli effective control despite its claims otherwise. The campaign comes one year after the completion of the Israeli Unilateral Disengagement from Gaza in September 2005. It aims to bring about more effective international public and government involvement in the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in an effort to repair the consequences of prolonged infringements of international law. Read more about Still Occupied: Campaign draws attention to Gaza's plight
On Thursday 16th November 2006, Al Mezan delivered a letter to the distinguished representatives of the European Union (EU) calling upon them to intervene and bring a halt to Israel’s continued violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in the Gaza Strip. In its letter to the EU, Al Mezan brought special attention to the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) violations of human rights in its most recent incursion into Beit Hanoun, in the continued Israeli siege of the entire Gaza Strip, and in the Israeli government’s almost complete denial of Palestinian’s right to free movement. Read more about Al Mezan requests urgent intervention from the EU
Following yesterday’s mass murder in Beit Hanoun, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued its attacks on Gaza. Four Palestinians have been killed and four others wounded from Israeli fire over the day in the Gaza Strip. The death toll has reached 80 in the north of the Gaza Strip (87 in the whole of the Gaza Strip) since the start of the IOF operations in Gaza on 1 November 2006. At 7.10pm Wednesday, 8 November 2006, IOF killed 32-year-old Rajab Awad and injured one person when an Israeli drone fired a missile at a car in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City. Read more about IOF violations continue in Gaza with four Palestinians killed
The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have committed an appalling act of mass murder in the town of Beit Hanoun today, one day after they redeployed around it. At dawn, the IOF fired eleven artillery shells on six homes in the town killing 18 civilians; seven of whom are children and six of whom are women. 53 others were wounded; of whom 25 are children and 12 are women. With this, the number of Palestinians who have been killed since the commencement of the IOF operation in Beit hanoun on 1 November 2006 has reached 77. Palestinian human rights organizations strongly condemn this outrageous crime and stress that it is but another example of the continued excessive use of force and the targeting of civilians and civilian objects that is carried out by IOF. Read more about Palestinian human rights groups denounce Beit Hanoun massacre
The IOF began redeploying their troops around the town of Beit Hanoun at 1am this morning, 7 November 2006. They left the town at 2am after inflicting serious damage against human life and property during their seven-day incursion. Initial field reports from Al Mezan’s fieldworkers who were deployed in the town state that IOF caused large damage to the town’s streets, water, sewage and electricity lines. The main bridge in the town was also destroyed. It was also reported that at least 200 homes were at least partially destroyed or damaged. Read more about IOF redeploy around Beit Hanoun, leaving serious damage
IOF’s continued offensive on north Gaza has left 45 Palestinians killed in (50 in the entire Gaza Strip) in its sixth day. Of the killed, nine are children, two are women and one is elderly. Some 190 have also been injured, including 46 children and 45 women. An IOF air strike hit near a school and a nursery bus children. In addition, IOF have destroyed 64 homes, 11 of which completely, seized 34 others, and demolished five public institutions, two stores and five vehicles. The humanitarian situation in Beit Hanoun has further deteriorated owing to the shortage of foodstuffs, electricity, water and medicine, as well as increasing damage to the town’s infrastructure. Read more about 50 dead in ongoing operation; missile hits schoolchildren
In an escalating military action that is being waged by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Gaza, the IOF have killed 44 Palestinians, injured 176, and destroyed numerous homes and properties in the Gaza Strip between 1 November 2006 and 4 November. Thirty-nine of the killed are from the town of Beit Hanoun alone. The IOF has expanded its incursion in the north-Gaza towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, carried out four extra-judicial assassinations, and killed three medics in an attack near their ambulance. In addition, the IOF killed and wounded numerous women as they protested the siege onto their neighborhood in Beit Hanoun. Read more about Death toll hits 44, medical crew targeted, in escalating Gaza operations
As the security chaos escalated in Gaza yesterday, the number of its victims increased. A group of armed men attacked the Ash-Shaab (People’s Voice) radio station office in Gaza city yesterday, where they shot at the staff members with live ammunition and smashed equipment. According to the affidavit given to Al Mezan by one of the Ash-Shaab Radio staff members, at approximately 7pm Wednesday, 1 November 2006, the station received a telephone threat from a person who claimed to have worked for a security apparatus in Gaza. Read more about Armed men attack radio office in Gaza as the security chaos increases
This week two foreign citizens were kidnapped and held for short periods of time, and ten Palestinians were killed or injured in acts of internal violence. In addition, seven Palestinians were abducted by unknown armed men during the past week. These cases illustrate the increasing state of insecurity that is developing in the Gaza Strip. According to Al Mezan’s fieldworkers, at approximately 3.15pm Monday 30 October 2006, three armed men stopped a taxi and seized Roberto Villa, a 30 year old Spanish national, and Celine Gagne, a French national aged 26; both work with Cooperation for Peace. Read more about Insecurity and kidnapping in Gaza