Soldiers assaulted and arrested Issa ‘Amro, a B’Tselem fieldworker, in Hebron yesterday. ‘Amro was arrested while filming a disturbance by settlers in the Wadi Hsein neighborhood in East Hebron. Yesterday evening (19 January), a group of settlers began throwing stones at a Palestinian home and trying to forcefully enter it. Although a large force of soldiers and police were present, they did nothing to protect the Palestinians and remove the settlers. Read more about Soldiers assault and arrest B'Tselem worker in Hebron
The village of ‘Azzun ‘Atmah is cut off from the rest of the West Bank by the separation barrier. State officials say the village was made into an enclave primarily to place the Sha’are Tikva settlement on the “Israeli” side of the barrier. The only way the residents can get to the rest of the West Bank is through a gate in the barrier that is open only part of the day. When it is closed, soldiers remain in the guard tower by the gate. When residents need to leave the village for any purpose, including medical treatment, they have to call to the soldiers and beg them to open the gate. Read more about Closure forces two women to give birth in cars
B’Tselem today releases its year-end report. According to B’Tselem data, the number of Israelis and Palestinians killed in clashes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip dropped. However, there has been deterioration in many other measures of the human rights situation in the occupied territories. The primary one is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has declined to an all time low, following Israel’s siege on the area. Read more about B'Tselem: 373 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2007
I was born in Jordan to a father from the Gaza Strip. In 1994, I came to Gaza on a visitor’s permit that my uncle obtained for me. In 1995, my fiancee also entered Gaza on a visitor’s permit and we got married. At the time, we thought we would be able to obtain Palestinian identity cards. I worked in the office of the Palestinian Naval Police. In 1996, our first child was born, a daughter, whom we named Ghaida’, and in 1998, our daughter Maysa’ was born. In 2000, our first son, Muhammad, was born. Ten days after he was born, we noticed that his skin was yellow, so we took him to al-Shifa’a Hospital, in Gaza, for an examination. Read more about Testimony: Israel delays treatment of two Gaza toddlers
Shortly after the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, in June 2006, Israel detained dozens of Palestinians holding senior positions in the Palestinian Authority, some of them ministers in the Hamas government, and most of the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on behalf of Hamas in the West Bank. The Judge Advocate General’s Office informed B’Tselem that forty-five members of the PLC had been detained. According to B’Tselem’s information, at least twenty-two of them remain in detention. Read more about Senior Palestinian officials still in wrongful Israeli detention
In June 2007, Hamas took over power in the Gaza Strip. Since then, the area has been under siege. Following Hamas’s takeover, Israel changed the movement arrangements at the five Gaza border-crossing points under its control (Erez, Karni, Nahal Oz, Sufa, and Kerem Shalom), and, except for exceptional cases, again did not permit movement of people or goods between Israel and Gaza. Karni Crossing, “the lifeblood of the Gaza Strip,” through which the great majority of goods enters and leaves Gaza, ceased to operate almost completely. Read more about The siege on the Gaza Strip
I am a student at An-Najah University and live with my family in the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp. I was studying for my final exams on Tuesday, 15 May 2007 around 1:30am when I heard military vehicles coming into the neighborhood and parking in front of our house. The soldiers called to us on loudspeakers to leave the house. One of the vehicles stopped before our entrance, lighting up the house — I understood that the soldiers meant for us to leave. I went into my parents’ room and found them awake. I went to the front door and opened it, and the soldiers ordered everyone in the house to come out. Read more about Testimony: Man used as human shield injured in Jenin camp
***Image1***”Saturday evening (5 May 2007) around 5:00pm, I was in a taxi on my way from Birzeit University back to my village — ‘Ajjul. We saw a flying checkpoint about three kilometers after the ‘Atarah checkpoint in the Kurnit Al-Bir area — a mountainous and uninhabited area. The distance from that area to ‘Ajjul is approximately two kilometers. A Border police jeep was standing in the middle of the road blocking the traffic. When we arrived, there were two cars in front of us but more cars started arriving and stopping behind us.” Read more about Testimony: Three Palestinians beaten at flying checkpoint
In an attack in the Sheja’iyeh neighborhood in Gaza on 20 May, the Israeli air force killed eight persons. Seven of them were members of the al-Haya family, relatives of Khalil al-Haya, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The dead included three minors, aged sixteen and seventeen, and two men, aged fifty-six and sixty-four. Another four people were injured in the attack, two of them severely. The other two suffered light wounds and were discharged from the hospital. Read more about B'Tselem calls for criminal investigation into Gaza bombing
***Image1***Over the years, Israel established a number of settlement points in and around the Old City of Hebron, which had traditionally served as the commercial center for the entire southern West Bank . Israeli law-enforcement authorities and security forces have made the entire Palestinian population pay the price for protecting Israeli settlement in the city. Read more about Report: Israel's Separation Policy and Forced Eviction of Palestinians from Hebron