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Weekly Summary of israeli War Crimes
This is a weekly summary of israeli war crimes committed in Palestine for the week ending 23 Feb 2006, 2mins, englsih
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PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
http://www.pchrgaza.org
Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
No. 07/2006
16-22 Feb. 2006
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)
· 5 Palestinians, including two children, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
· 42 Palestinian civilians, including 25 children, two women, and an international solidarity activist were wounded by IOF in the West Bank.
· IOF continued to shell Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip, an infant was seriously injured.
· IOF conducted 31 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and invaded Nablus and Balata refugee camp.
· Houses were raided and 79 Palestinian civilians, including 26 children, were arrested by IOF.
· 6 houses were transformed by IOF into military sites.
· IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT, especially in the West Bank; the eastern part of the West Bank has been isolated from the remainder of the West Bank; Palestinian civilians aged below 45 were prevented from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday Prayers; and IOF arrested 11 Palestinian civilians, including 5 children and a girl, at checkpoints in the West Bank.
· IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall in the West Bank; IOF plan to construct a section of the Wall to the east of Hebron; IOF used force against Palestinian civilians demonstrating against the construction of the Wall; IOF have continued to imposed severe restrictions on movement in Palestinian communities located near the Wall; and IOF demolished a house in Deir al-Ghosoun village near Tulkarm.
Summary
On Sunday, 19 February 2006, the Israeli government adopted a series of collective punishment measures against Palestinian civilians in the OPT. The Israeli cabinet decided in its weekly meeting to stop the transfer of tax and customs revenues to the Palestinian National Authority, to impose severe restrictions on the access of Palestinian workers to workplaces in Israel and to intensify security checks at crossing points, especially Erez and Karni.
Israeli violations of international law continued in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) during the reporting period (16 – 22 February 2006):
Killing: During the reported period, IOF killed 5 Palestinians within the space of 24 hours. On Sunday morning, 19 February 2006, an IOF aircraft launched a missile at two members of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees in Khan Yunis, killing them. At noon, IOF willfully killed two Palestinian children in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus. On Monday morning, 20 February 2006, IOF killed two Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire in Nablus. During the reported period, IOF shelled Palestinian communities in the Gaza Strip. An artillery shell hit an apartment building in the northern Gaza Strip. A two-year-old child was seriously injured by shrapnel. During the reported period, 42 Palestinian civilians, including 25 children, two women and an international solidarity activist, were wounded by the IOF gunfire.
Incursions: IOF conducted 31 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. The widest of these incursions was in Nablus and the neighboring Balata refugee camp. During this incursion, IOF killed 3 Palestinians, including two children, wounded 36 civilians and arrested at least 13 others. They also transformed a number of houses into military sites. In other incursions, IOF raided houses and arrested 79 Palestinian civilians, including 26 children. IOF also transformed 6 houses into military sites. IOF used undercover units and trained dogs during these incursions.
Restrictions on Movement: IOF have continued to impose a comprehensive siege on the OPT, in violation of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of Palestinian civilians.
IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the Gaza Strip, transforming it into a large prison. Rafah International Crossing Point on the Egyptian border, the sole outlet for the Gaza Strip to the outside world, has been partially reopened. The crossing point is operated for 8 hours a day only. IOF allowed less than 2,500 Palestinian workers to travel to their work places inside Israel through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing. Palestinian workers are also checked in a special room that is equipped with an as yet unidentified type of x-ray machine. Although IOF reopened al-Mentar (Karni) commercial crossing, east of Gaza City, they have so far allowed the entry of foodstuffs only.
IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on Palestinian communities in the West Bank. They have imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. IOF have continued to prevent Palestinians aged below 45 from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday Prayers. During the reported period, IOF arrested 11 Palestinian civilians, including 5 children and a girl, at various checkpoints in the West Bank.
Annexation Wall: IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank. During the reported period, IOF continued to construct a separation barrier around "Shavi Shomron" settlement, northwest of Nablus. IOF constructed cement sections of the wall at a distance of nearly 500 meters from the eastern border of the settlement near the Nablus–Jenin road. IOF declared their intention to construct new sections of the Wall near Hebron. According to Israeli sources, Israel plans at this stage to construct a section of the Wall near Hebron. This section will not reach the Dead Sea. The route of this section is still under discussion by the Israeli government and its construction comes in the context of a plan to cut off the Jordan Valley from the remainder of the West Bank. IOF plan to construct a separation fence to cut off agricultural areas in the Jordan Valley, which are estimated at half a million dunums.[1] In addition, IOF used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized by Palestinian civilians in protest to the construction of the Wall in Bal'ein, Beit Siera and 'Aaboud villages near Ramallah. They also imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians living in communities located near the Wall.
The full report is available online at:
html format:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2006/23-02-2006.htm
pdf format:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2006/pdf/weekly%20report%2007.pdf
Public Document
For further information please visit our website (http://www.pchrgaza.org) or contact PCHR’s office in Gaza City, Gaza Strip by email (pchr [at] pchrgaza.org) or telephone (+972 (0)8 2824776 – 2825893).
*Office Hours are between 08:00 – 16:00 hours (05:00 GMT – 13:00 GMT) Sun – Thurs.
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Over the last quarter century, the Hispanic population of the United States has exploded.
Immigration laws have been ignored. The huge border separating the U.S. and Mexico is virtually unpatrolled. And the illegal population of recent immigrants has been offered a series of amnesties forgiving past trespasses.
Some within that community – and it is certainly a small minority of the population – are resentful about life in America. Some are even promoting the idea of creating a separate Spanish-speaking state of Aztlan in the southwestern United States.
All this raises an obvious question: If life in America is so bad for Spanish-speaking immigrants, why do they continue to flock to the United States?
Why do I ask this question today? Not because I am writing about immigration in America, but because I want to make a point about immigration in the Middle East.
Conventional wisdom suggests a huge Arab population was displaced by the creation of Israel in 1948. It suggests the remaining Arab population in Israel has been mistreated. And it further suggests the solution to this problem is the creation of an Arab Palestinian state on Israeli land.
There are several glaring misconceptions in this view:
The Arab population displaced by the 1948 war has been greatly exaggerated. The actual figure is no more than 500,000. Even more important is the cause of that displacement. The 1948 war was declared against Israel by all of its Arab neighbors. The refugees left Israel at the urging of those Arab states. They were told to leave because their homeland was about to be liberated by Arab forces. Of course, we all know Israel survived. Who is morally and legally culpable for creating those refugees? I would suggest it is the Arab states, not Israel.
Far from being mistreated, the Arab population in Israel and in the territories administered by Israel has been freer than the population in any Arab state. Arabs in Israel vote. They elect leaders to the Knesset. They have their own political parties. They have their own newspapers. They have full rights to citizenship. They are free to speak their minds. As an Arab-American journalist who has spent a good deal of time covering the region, I can tell you there is more freedom for Arabs in Israel than in any Arab state.
Land cannot possibly be the contentious issue as the Arab and Muslim states in the region already have 800 times as much territory as Israel. The Arabs have 50 times the population of Israel. The Arabs have all of the oil reserves of the region. They have 21 states of their own – all varying shades of police states. It's difficult to imagine how one more will bring peace to a region that has known some of the most devastating and costly wars of the last century.
But, to top it all off, I seem to be the only observer asking pointed questions about the Arab-Israeli conflict: If conditions for Arabs are so bad in Israel, why is the Arab population exploding -- and I don't mean because of suicide bombers? Why do Arabs continue to flock to the tiny Jewish state from virtually every Arab and Muslim land in the world?
In 1949, the Arab population of Israel was about 160,000. Today, it is over 1.2 million.
This is hardly attributable to higher birth rates. Most of the growth in Arab population is due to migration. In other words, Arabs are picking up stakes in Arab lands and choosing to live in Israel.
This trend, of course, doesn't include Arab Jewish migration to Israel. No one talks about the staggering number of Arab Jewish refugees – as many as 1 million – who fled the Muslim world with little more than the clothes on their backs to reach the safety and security of the Jewish state in the last 50 years.
We're led to believe Arabs hate Israel – and, indeed, it's true there is an irrational, inexplicable form of virulent anti-Semitism growing in the Arab and Muslim world. But when they vote with their feet, Arabs seem to love Israel. They continue to choose it as a place to live over life in their native countries as they have for the last half-century.
I'd love to hear one of the Arab nationalists explain this phenomenon
Immigration laws have been ignored. The huge border separating the U.S. and Mexico is virtually unpatrolled. And the illegal population of recent immigrants has been offered a series of amnesties forgiving past trespasses.
Some within that community – and it is certainly a small minority of the population – are resentful about life in America. Some are even promoting the idea of creating a separate Spanish-speaking state of Aztlan in the southwestern United States.
All this raises an obvious question: If life in America is so bad for Spanish-speaking immigrants, why do they continue to flock to the United States?
Why do I ask this question today? Not because I am writing about immigration in America, but because I want to make a point about immigration in the Middle East.
Conventional wisdom suggests a huge Arab population was displaced by the creation of Israel in 1948. It suggests the remaining Arab population in Israel has been mistreated. And it further suggests the solution to this problem is the creation of an Arab Palestinian state on Israeli land.
There are several glaring misconceptions in this view:
The Arab population displaced by the 1948 war has been greatly exaggerated. The actual figure is no more than 500,000. Even more important is the cause of that displacement. The 1948 war was declared against Israel by all of its Arab neighbors. The refugees left Israel at the urging of those Arab states. They were told to leave because their homeland was about to be liberated by Arab forces. Of course, we all know Israel survived. Who is morally and legally culpable for creating those refugees? I would suggest it is the Arab states, not Israel.
Far from being mistreated, the Arab population in Israel and in the territories administered by Israel has been freer than the population in any Arab state. Arabs in Israel vote. They elect leaders to the Knesset. They have their own political parties. They have their own newspapers. They have full rights to citizenship. They are free to speak their minds. As an Arab-American journalist who has spent a good deal of time covering the region, I can tell you there is more freedom for Arabs in Israel than in any Arab state.
Land cannot possibly be the contentious issue as the Arab and Muslim states in the region already have 800 times as much territory as Israel. The Arabs have 50 times the population of Israel. The Arabs have all of the oil reserves of the region. They have 21 states of their own – all varying shades of police states. It's difficult to imagine how one more will bring peace to a region that has known some of the most devastating and costly wars of the last century.
But, to top it all off, I seem to be the only observer asking pointed questions about the Arab-Israeli conflict: If conditions for Arabs are so bad in Israel, why is the Arab population exploding -- and I don't mean because of suicide bombers? Why do Arabs continue to flock to the tiny Jewish state from virtually every Arab and Muslim land in the world?
In 1949, the Arab population of Israel was about 160,000. Today, it is over 1.2 million.
This is hardly attributable to higher birth rates. Most of the growth in Arab population is due to migration. In other words, Arabs are picking up stakes in Arab lands and choosing to live in Israel.
This trend, of course, doesn't include Arab Jewish migration to Israel. No one talks about the staggering number of Arab Jewish refugees – as many as 1 million – who fled the Muslim world with little more than the clothes on their backs to reach the safety and security of the Jewish state in the last 50 years.
We're led to believe Arabs hate Israel – and, indeed, it's true there is an irrational, inexplicable form of virulent anti-Semitism growing in the Arab and Muslim world. But when they vote with their feet, Arabs seem to love Israel. They continue to choose it as a place to live over life in their native countries as they have for the last half-century.
I'd love to hear one of the Arab nationalists explain this phenomenon
Aside from the phrase "Arab Jewish" which is quite dubious and controversial as nearly all Israeli Jews would readily point out, Farrah should place a bigger premium on getting his figures accurate -- the Jewish refugees from Arab lands totalled 900,000, not as many as 1 million. He should leave the hyperbole to the other side.
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