Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories - 7-13 April 2005

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
14 April 2005

http://pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English.../14-04-2005.htm

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have launched more attacks on
Palestinian civilians and property in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT). This week, human rights violations perpetrated by
IOF included shooting at Palestinian civilians, incursions into
Palestinian areas, house raids and arbitrary arrests. This week, IOF
killed 3 Palestinian children in Rafah and injured a number of other
civilians. In violation of international law and humanitarian law,
IOF have also continued to construct the annexation wall inside the
West Bank territory and confiscated more areas of Palestinian land
for this purpose. They have also continued to impose severe
restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians.

In the Gaza Strip, on 9 April 2005, IOF willfully killed 3
Palestinian children near the Egyptian border, south of Rafah. These
children did not pose any threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers.
PCHR believes that whatever the reason for the presence of the
victims near the border, it does not justify their killing. On the
same day, IOF opened fire at residential areas in Khan Yunis,
injuring five Palestinian civilians, including three children. On 8
April 2005, a Palestinian civilian was injured when IOF opened fire
at residential areas in Rafah.

This week, IOF conducted 23 military incursions into Palestinian
areas in the West Bank, the largest of which was into Nablus on 11
April 2005. IOF raided and searched a number of houses and opened
fire at Palestinian civilians. As a result, 10 Palestinian
civilians, including eight children, were wounded, and 11 other
civilians were arrested. This week, IOF arrested 44 Palestinian
civilians, including seven children, in the West Bank. IOF also
seized two houses in Hebron and transformed them into military
sites. They also raided two schools and a kindergarten.

IOF have continued to construct the annexation wall inside the West
Bank territory. For this purpose, they confiscated more areas of
Palestinian land. At the beginning of this week, IOF completed the
construction of a section of the wall to the west of al-Ram village,
north of East Jerusalem. The construction of this section of the
wall has impacted on commercial transactions in the area. It has
also isolated nearly 60,000 Palestinian civilians in al-Ram village
and isolated the village and the neighboring Dahiat al-Barid area
from their surroundings. This week, IOF issued a number of military
orders confiscating 2691 donums[1] in the villages of Yatta,
al-Zahiriya and al-Biurj, southwest of Hebron; al-Khader village,
southwest of Bethlehem; and Deir Ebzei' village, southwest of
Ramallah. In addition, IOF used force to disperse peaceful
demonstrations organized by Palestinian civilians in protest to the
construction of the wall. A number of Palestinian civilians and
international solidarity activists suffered from tear gas
inhalation.

Israeli settlers living in the OPT in violation of international
humanitarian law have launched a series of attacks against
Palestinian civilians and property. This week, IOF issued a number
of military orders confiscating 116 donums of Palestinian land in
Hebron for the purposes of settlement expansion. They also
confiscated for more areas of Palestinian land to the east of Hebron
to establish a fence around "Ennab" settlement.

IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT, including
Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, IOF have continued to completely or
partially close all border crossings of the Gaza Strip, and impose
severe restrictions on the internal movement of Palestinian
civilians. They have also continued to close a number of roads and
crossings in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the current
Intifada. IOF have continued to impose a strict siege on
Palestinian communities near Israeli settlements, causing more
suffering to Palestinian civilians.

In the West Bank, IOF have continued to impose a strict siege on
Palestinian communities. They have also imposed severe restrictions
on the movement of Palestinian civilians to prevent them from
reaching Jerusalem to protect al-Aqsa Mosque as extremist Jewish
groups declared that they would break into the mosque. IOF also
erected a number of sudden military checkpoints. They stopped and
checked Palestinian civilians and arrested 12 of them, including two
children. IOF arrested Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Spokesman of Hamas,
when he was traveling back to Ramallah from al-Aqsa Mosque.

IOF? Don't you mean IDF? Occupation? Don't you mean defence? And if it's defence, then they were attacked first, duh. Duh. Duh. Wait a minute! This isn't CNN at all!

Lol. Yeah, how insane is that, an aggressor nation claiming to have a defence force. :lol:

In 1949, the US Department of War was renamed Defense Department.

It is all statist bullshit.

Bring on the refusniks! Conscience over obedience!

Palensteians ain't exactly pacifists are they? *blow your bus up*

Yeah kittenslayer, you're right...when your mother, father, brother, sister ...land is being raped in front of your very eyes. We must take the passive approach. I'm sure that's what you'll do right? Where will we be without your pearls of wisdom and morality.

Killing civilians is no way to gain the moral high ground.

It's worth noting that they put up with the situation for 27 years before some elements resorted to targeting civilians. It followed an illegal Israeli settler walking into a mosque and gunning down 29 praying Palestinian civilians before finally being subdued and killed by the survivors.

His tombstone is inscribed:

27 years is a long time.

I do not condone violence against civilians, but there are few cases where such desperate action is more understandable than that of Palestine.

Even so, there is no justification for such tactics. As has been proven time and time again, a war can be fought against a superior force without resorting to killing civilians.

Israel needs to finish its wall (what's the current situation on that btw?), I don't see this shit stopping without it (or even with it, but it will certainly help). The only question is how the wall should be placed.

I don't see any resolution in sight while that wall stands. Mark my words, when there is finally justice in Palestine, there will be people on both sides tearing that thing down.

That wall makes a mockery of peace.Israel answered the question of placement with an outrageous land grab. these questions are never offered to the palestinians. And i believe there is no comparable war to this, in terms of complication, lies and timespan. Over a century of re-settlement. "a land without people for a people without land' is what they called palestine in the early stages of zion. From the very beginning the palestinians have been ignored and stormed over. I hate the idea of Civilians dying for a power struggle, but i would suggest it is almost unaviodable, given the way the palestinians have been treated. Who says they need to keep the moral high ground? And why not be just as outraged at the Israeli 'collateral damage'

And aside, did anybody else know that during the Six Day war the Israeli's bombed the USS liberty in the meditearanian, to blind the US to the extent of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Ironic eh?

Not to mention that it's so seldom called terrorism when Israel flies US gunships into urban Palestinian territories and fires missiles at targets on the street, killing civilians all around. Not to mention that assassination without trial is against the Geneva conventions. Not to mention everything.

It's been about 60 years since anyone was fucked as bad as the Palestinians.

Well I don't know about you guys, but if I had people strapped with explosives walking across my border, you can be damn sure I'm going to build a wall. It may have the added bonus of discouraging further settlements on the west bank (since they won't be protected by the wall).

Exactly.

You don't have the right to tell Israelis who have their countrymen blown up by suicide bombers not to defend themselves. Self defense is the right of every person and every nation.

I would not have a problem with suicide bombers blowing up, say, military personnel, government buildings, etc. (although I do have a problem with children being conditioned to do it, but that's a different matter), but killing civilians crosses the line between guerilla warfare and terrorism.

I'm sure there are millions of sub-Saharan Africans who would kill to swap places with the Palestinians right now. Does Sudan ring a bell?

Fair enough.

A family friend, whos a civil engineer, was the head UN staffer in control of the Darfur refugee camps over last year. He gave a lecture saying that the Sudanese in the camps would send elderly women out of the camps to get fire wood. Elderly, because it was garunteed the women would be raped by the Janjaweed, and if they were elderly they werent as likely to be impregnated. But the average life expectancy is mid-forties, so 'elderly' is relative.

Still, i think the idea of comparing which ethnicity is more abused and less fortunate is a bit unneccessary, not to mention pointless. But you look at the root of the problem in Darfur, and its fairly black and white that the Sudanese arab population is the cause. In palestine, its much less obvious. There is an obvious solution to the Sudan problem, but no simple solution to palestine.

Thats a poor statement...

How so?

That organization obviously holds bias.

Bump from NAM!

I eagerly await the return of Anti-Flag, with justice and flames for all.

From 'Nam?

Make that bullshit, unsupported arguments for all.

I await to do battle with the pitiful angst-ridden activist infestation.

If there's anything history has taught is that holding the true moral high ground will get you nothing. The Palestinians didn't start suicide bombing until recently, as zoot said, the 27 years of obedience did nothing for them. The UN won't do anything about it as long as America supports Israel, frustration leads to violence. Israel should be forced back to at least the borders originally set, although a perfect situation would be to just give them a chunk of America and tell them to take that as their promised land. If America feels its ok for Israel to just have historically Arab land, then they should be fine with them having American land, god knows its got plenty to spare.

Edited by Fez (please use the edit button next time)

Oh and Chiang, are you involved in the military?

If I choose to drop out off uni, then yes. At least I won't be involved in terrorism! :hilarious:

No race on Earth has suffered more than the Jews and they rightfully deserve to have their own country, even if it means driving out the foreign occupiers of their promised land.

I personally sympathize more with the Israelis because of the immense suffering and persecution waged on the Jewish race in history. I also admire the Jews for their undying nationalism as well as military superiority. My views towards the Palestinians improved after Arafat denounced terrorism, but as the Palestinian militants began their campaign of suicide bombings and terror, my sympathy for Israel increased.

As a New Zealander, I don't see how we should be deeply involved in some Middle Eastern bloodbath that's unlikely to end even in our grandchildren's generation.

I agree with your last comment, Adolf, to the extent that we should be friends with both the Palestinian and Israeli governments where possible. The situation last year was ridiculous, with Israel trying to bring spies into New Zealand, and admittedly I would wait until Israel had a new government before rebuiling relations with them any more.

Instead of sanctioning Israel over the passport scandal, has the government ever thought about tightening passport security? Back in 1990, a KGB agent attempted to obtain an NZ identity through similar means. IN the espionage world, superiority is the law.

I was personally saddened by the retaliation given by the NZNF for this incident. What's the point of desecrating Jewish graves?

Now that Sharon might quit Likud and dissolve parliament...

Chiang, basically you're saying you support Israelis because they're jews and they suffered. Because of their superior military skills, and because they're nationalistic? wow. In that case, i give up. With such a strong argument, how can anyone refute it.

I support the Israelis because they deserve to have their own country after so many years of wandering and persecution.

Now you better not continue to quote my words out of context like you just did. I know most of the propaganda methods.

What propaganda? i basically listed the reasons you stated why you supported Israelis. Don't be so paranoid.

So you think it's ok for people to annex land illegally based on a claim they owned it 3000 years ago? If so, in that case, no point in continuing this discussion.

Why do you believe they have the right to Palestinian land though? I'm sure you don't support Maori claims to New Zealand land even though they have infinitly more right to it than Israel does to its land.

Ancient history doesn't solidify Israeli claim to the land. There were various tribes in the region existing simultaneously. So to have a claim based on racial affiliation to the land is ludicrous. I don't look at the issue from an ancient historical perspective anyway. I see it from current history. It's simple. Palestinians have been living in the area for over 2000 years. A bunch of Europeans claiming semitic origins suddenly decide that it was theirs 3000 years ago is fallacious and weak. Not to mention, morally wrong. People like Chiang have taken upon themselves to decide that Palestinians should pay and suffer for the actions of Europeans against their fellow Europeans. (the holocaust). For an event they have had nothign to do with.

Not that your death to israeli morals mean much.

There's no point in even arguing 'ancient right' as there's no such thing. At the same time the Jews were in Israel Rome controlled half of Europe, so by ancient right they should get that back. The native americans should get america, the aboriginies australia, the maori new zealand. After that the Israeli's would get Israel as they have less right to it than all those people.

Mount Ararat is occupied by Turkey, but it belongs to Armenia. In 3000 years, it will still belong to Armenia. If you cannot appreciate this, then you cannot appreciate the position of the Israelites.

Unfortunately, sometimes more than one nation claims land, borders have shifted many times in history. That is where right takes second place to might. You can protest all you like and say how unjust it is till you are blue in the face, but in the end these matters are decided by force.

If the Palestinians want the land they claim as theirs back, they will have to do a little better than throwing rocks at tanks and blowing up buses. I doubt they care much about students in a country thousands of miles away protesting a company so abstractly related to their situation.

Oob, Oscmar produces weapon training simulators and exports directly to the IDF. Nothing "abstract" about that.

Caterpillar exports bulldozers to the Israelis who in turn use them to uproot olive treets that effects Palestinian economy, and of course, home demolitions. Both contravene UN specified human rights that stipulates that transnational corporations should not benefit from war crimes and other violations of human rights.

Have you ever received word from people in Palestine thanking you for your efforts, other than those who have gone there from NZ?

Not that i am looking for their gratitude. Yes, i have. I know Palestinians who live in the occupied territories.

Then oob you should obviously think the actions of the Palestinian insurgents fine. If force decides who has the right to land, then any force they use is justified.

However, in a civilized world, force should not decide who has the right to land.

So you believe the only right Israel has to its land is simply that it has the force to take it? Because it obviously has no other real claim to the land as I pointed out. The land is holy to both parties, so that's no argument.

Now did you already know these people, or did they find out about you as a result of your work and thank you for it?

My distinction between an act of war and an act of terrorism is primarily a matter of who's being targeted. The actions of insurgents are the former when they are targeting the military, and I consider this justified. Their actions are the latter when they are targeting civilians, and I consider this disgusting. Morality is not really important though, results are all that matter, and so far the results of these actions have been left wanting.

I do not care who is right or who is wrong, it's irrelevant because it decides nothing, and it never ceases to amuse me how much effort people put into uselessly attempting to decide who is 'right'. How long does a people have to be on a land till it's 'theirs', and how long does it take for that claim to expire? How many people have to be on a land for it to be theirs? From my earlier example, Armenia has a 'rightful' claim over Mount Ararat, is there an expiry date on that claim? Would mixing our blood with that of other peoples invalidate that claim somehow? Do I, a halfblood, only have 'half a claim'? Everyone talks a lot of shit about whose land is whose, even though there are no clear answers for these questions.

We live in the material world. Britain took the land by might and created Israel. Israel controls the land by might and has so far successfully maintained that control. That is all that is relevant.