According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)'s Weekly Report, during the week of 8 - 14 May 2008, 13 Palestinians, two of whom were civilians, were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.  In addition, a Palestinian civilian was killed by the private Israeli security guards of “Ofra” settlement in Ramallah.  Also 2 Palestinian children died from previous injuries in Khan Yunis town in the southern Gaza Strip.  27 Palestinians and Israeli human rights defender were wounded by Israeli forces.  Of the 27 injured, 20 were civilians, including 4 children, an elderly woman and 2 journalists.

 Israeli attacks in the West Bank:

 

Israeli forces conducted 20 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank this week.  Israeli forces abducted 30 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children and a journalist, in the West Bank.

 

On 9 May, a Palestinian civilian was shot dead and another was abducted by the guards of “Ofra” settlement, northeast of Ramallah. Israeli forces claimed that the victim attempted to get close to the settlement in order to fire at it from a hunting rifle.

 

On 10 May, 10 Palestinians civilians, including 2 children and 2 journalists, and an Israeli human rights defender, were wounded by Israeli forces in Jaba’ village, south of Jenin, and Shoufa village, south of Tulkarm.

 

At approximately 18:00 on Sunday, 11 May 2008, Israeli forces positioned at an iron gate on the Annexation Wall violently beat Khaled ‘Abdul Rahim Ahmed, 31, from ‘Azzoun ‘Atma village east of Qalqilya, for no apparent reason. He sustained bruises throughout the body.

 

On 11 May, a Palestinian child was wounded when Israeli forces moved into Taffouh village, west of Hebron, and fired at children who demonstrated against the Israeli forces incursion.

 

On 14 May, a Palestinian civilian was wounded when Israeli forces positioned near bypass road #60 fired at him.

 

Contrary to Israeli claims to have eased restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians, Israeli forces have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, have been denied access to Jerusalem, including occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces have established numerous checkpoints around and inside East Jerusalem.

 

At approximately 11:00, Israeli forces attacked participants in a peaceful demonstration organized by Fighters for Peace near the western entrance of Shoufa village, south of Tulkarem, which has been closed with sand barriers for years. Hundreds of Palestinian, international and Israeli peace fighters participated in the demonstration. Israeli forces fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at the participants. Four participants, including 2 journalists, were wounded by rubber-coated metal bullets.

 

Israeli Annexation Wall:

 

Israeli forces have continued to construct the Annexation Wall inside West Bank territory. During the reporting period, Israeli forces used force against a peaceful demonstration organized by Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders in protest to the construction of the Wall in Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, and al-Ma’sara village, south of Bethlehem.

 

Following the Friday Prayer on 9 May 2008, scores of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders demonstrated in Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the Wall. The demonstrators moved towards the Wall, but Israeli forces closed all gates designed for crossing the Wall. The demonstrators then set fire to tires in protest to the closure of gates. Immediately, Israeli forces fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at the demonstrators. As a result, dozens of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.

 

Also following the Friday Prayer on 9 May 2008, scores of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders demonstrated in al-Ma’sara village, south of Bethlehem. The demonstrators moved towards Palestinian land which were confiscated by Israeli forces. Israeli forces placed barbwire near the land to prevent the demonstrators from moving forward. They also violently beat a number of demonstrators. As a result, 3 Palestinian civilians sustained bruises and others suffered from tear gas inhalation.

 

 

Israeli settlement activities:

 

Israeli forces have continued settlement activities and Israeli settlers living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have, in violation of international humanitarian law, continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

 

8 May, hundreds of Israeli settlers arrived at the area where the evacuated “Homesh” settlement used to stand, northwest of Nablus. They erected tents. In the meantime, Israeli forces extensively deployed and closed some roads allegedly to ensure security for settlers. They did not allow Palestinian farmers to reach their lands in the area.

 

On 8 May, Israeli forces closed Nablus-Ramallah, Nablus-Jenin, Nablus-Qalqilya and Nablus-Tulkarm roads. In addition, they closed Beit Eiba checkpoint, west of Nablus, and Ennab checkpoint, east of Tulkarem, and re-established their presence at Yits’har checkpoints. These measures were taken to secure Independence Day the celebration of at least 500 Israeli settlers in “Shavi Shomron” settlement, northwest of Nablus. The closure of these roads continued until the evening.

 

On Friday evening, 9 May 2008, a Palestinian civilian was shot dead and another one was abducted by the guards of “Ofra” settlement, northeast of Ramallah. Israeli forces claimed that the victim attempted to get close to the settlement to fire at it from a hunting rifle. Palestinian paramedics indicated that Israeli forces did not allow them to attend the victim for nearly an hour, which raises concerns that he might have bled to death.

 

 

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip:

 

During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed 13 Palestinians, including 2 civilians, in the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian children died of previous injuries in the Gaza Strip, and a Palestinian civilian was shot dead by the guards of a settlement in the West Bank. In addition, Israeli forces wounded 27 Palestinians, including 4 children, an elderly woman, 2 journalists, and an Israeli human rights defender. 

 

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces killed 13 Palestinians and wounded 16 others. Two children also died from previous injuries.

 

On the same day, a Palestinian child died of previous injuries sustained during an Israeli forces incursion into ‘Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis, on 7 May.

 

On 8 May, Israeli forces killed an activist of the Palestinian resistance and wounded another seriously in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli forces aircraft fired a missile at the two fighters.

 

On 9 May, Israeli forces killed 5 members of security services of the dismissed Palestinian government in two air strikes against security sites in Rafah and Khan Yunis.

 

On 11 May, a Palestinian child died of injuries previously sustained during an Israeli forces incursion into ‘Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis, on 7 May.

 

On 13 May, Israeli forces killed an activist of the Palestinian resistance and wounded another one in al-Qarara village, northeast of Khan Yunis. An Israeli forces drone fired 2 missiles at the two fighters.

 

On 14 May, Israeli forces killed an activist of the Palestinian resistance and wounded 3 others during an incursion into ‘Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis. On the same day, Israeli forces killed an activist of the Palestinian resistance and 2 civilian bystanders and wounded 3 civilians, including an elderly woman and her granddaughter, during an incursion into Jabalya town in the northern Gaza Strip. Also on the same day, Israeli forces killed 2 fighters of the Palestinian resistance and wounded 3 others in an air strike in al-Shoja’eya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. 

 

For full report, click on the link below:

The Good Shepherd Church in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and the Palestine Forum, held an activity on Wednesday at night commemorating the Nakba. Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, representatives of Private and Governmental Institutions participated in the protest. 

The protesters lit candles and carried posters confirming the Palestinian Right of Return while church bills rang sad tones.

Father Ibrahim Narouz stated that commemorating the Nakba is affirming the Right of Return, and added that the Palestinian people are still paying a heavy price while Israel continues to occupy them and their land.

He called on all Palestinians to unite and remain steadfast, and added that the Palestinians will never abandon their right to return to their homeland.

Sheikh Hamid Al Betawi, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that the Palestinians want to send a message to the world that they are united, will not discriminate between Muslims and Christians, and will never abandon their rights, will never forget their country.

Al Betawi added that the Nakba is the biggest crime in the twentieth century and that displacement of the Palestinian people “is another crime that we faced, affected by internal and external factors, the occupation is responsible for these crimes, Europe, the United States and all Arab and Muslim leaders are responsible for this Nabka”, he added.

He also said that there are 10 Million Palestinian refugees scattered in the West Bank and around the globe, “They are still displaced, still suffering”, he stated, “But the occupation, as any occupation in history, will vanish”.

Zuheir Al Bad’ey, of the Palestine Forum, said that the Palestinians must end the internal tension and divisions, and added that the first priority liberation, and the right of return.

He also said that after 60 years of the Nabka, the Palestinians will remain steadfast, will never abandon their rights.  

Translated by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC 

Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, their political and social leaders conducted a general strike in the occupied city of Jerusalem in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Nabka, while Israeli soldiers and policemen were intensively deployed in the area.

The residents were also protesting the visit of the US president Georg Bush and several other world leaders who came to “celebrate Israel’s independence” ignoring the Palestinian disposition and how Israel uprooted the Palestinian people from their lands.

The residents stated that the participation of Bush and other leaders violate the Palestinian right and all international legitimacy resolutions. They confirmed their steadfastness and determination to return to their homeland and land of their fathers and forefathers.

In Bab Al Amoud area, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Fateh movement held a protest in which the participants released into the skies of the city balloons representing the colors of the Palestinian flag.  Some of the participants rode their bicycles carrying black flags and Palestinian flags.

The protesters also carried UN flags with 194 written on them, as UN resolution number 194 calls for the Right of Return to all Palestinian refugees, a resolution which Israel totally ignores.

Hatim Abdul-Qader, Jerusalem Affairs advisor to Palestinian PM Dr. Salaam Fayyad, said that these activities were held in Jerusalem to send a message to the world the Jerusalem is an Arab city, the capital of all Arab States in spite of all Israeli illegal measures to isolate the city.

“No peace without Jerusalem”, Abdul-Qader stated, “No peace without the Right of Return”.

Mousa Al Abbasy, head of the Jerusalem Youth parliament, said that “on this day, the Palestinians reaffirm their steadfastness and their legitimate right to have Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state”.

“Our youth have a dream to raise the Palestinian flags on the mosques, churches and walls of Jerusalem”, he added.

Commenting on the Israeli celebrations of the so-called independence, and the participation of several countries in these celebrations, Al Abbasy said that “these celebrations violate the Palestinian rights, and violate the international legitimacy”.

He called on the Arab countries to support the steadfastness of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, and to defend the Al Aqsa Mosque and the city.

Dmitri Diliani, spokesperson of Fateh movement in Jerusalem, said that “The heart of Jerusalem is broken as its remembers the ethnic cleansing carried against the Palestinian people and their lands”.

He added that the Palestinians demand peace, and demand their legitimate rights.

He also said that the United Nations should be reminded of its resolution number 194.

Diliani slammed the participation of Bush and other world leaders in Israel’s “Independence celebrations”.

Hazim Gharabla, secretary of Fateh office of national institutions, said that the Israeli occupation is illegal, and violates the Palestinian rights. He also said that the Palestinians have the right to express their opinion.

He stated that Israel is ongoing with its attempts to void the Arab and Palestinian history and presence n Jerusalem “but the youth, children and residents of Jerusalem confirm that their city in Arab”.

Regarding Bush’s participation in Israel’s “independence celebrations”, Gharabla said this proves that the US Administration supports the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The Regional Union of Arab Students in Israeli Universities organized on Thursday a protest at main entrance of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of Palestinian disposition, the Nabka.

Dozens of Arab and Israeli students of the university participated in the protest and carried Palestinian flags and posters in Arabic, English and Hebrew confirming the Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees.

The Israeli police and undercover forces were intensively deployed in the area and attempted to confiscate the Palestinian flags and to attack the protesters.

The Union stated that the violations of the Israeli Authorities will not break the will of the students, and called for visiting the residents who were arrested last week in a protest commemorating the Nakba.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers and border guard policemen attacked Beit Hanina neighborhood, north of the city, and broke into Beit Hanina Club. The soldiers threatened to shut the club down of its holds any activities commemorating the Nakba.

Hazim Gharabla, head of the club was called for interrogation at the Al Maskobiyya Israeli interrogation facility. 

May 15, 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when Palestinians were forced from their homes and ethnically cleansed en masse in a premeditated and organized campaign carried out by armed Zionist militia.

Historical accounts indicate that the forced migration of Palestinians from their homeland had been planned well in advance. The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was built on the violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. After widespread massacres and killings, more than 700,000 Palestinian civilians were brutally uprooted from their homes, villages and towns, and forced to become refugees in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and surrounding Arab countries. In addition, thousands of other Palestinians were internally displaced within the land subsequently occupied by Israel.

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, and after its expansion in 1967 when it forcibly occupied the remainder of Palestinian West Bank land (including occupied East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, Israel has relentlessly confiscated Palestinian land in order to build illegal Jewish settlements, erasing the history of Palestine in the process. Israel's campaign of "Establishing facts on the ground" has consistently forced more Palestinians into exile, and the Israeli authorities continue to seek to rid the land of its original inhabitants.

Palestinians who live in Israel continue to live as an ethnic minority in their homeland, and are subjected to systematic discrimination. As an occupying power, Israel confiscated approximately 40% of the area of the West Bank in order to house approximately 400,000 Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank live in violation of international law. These settlers enjoy the privileges of a segregated transport system which allows them easy access to Israel via roads from which Palestinians are banned.

 They also control water resources and land resources. This de facto status of apartheid has increased in the fifteen years since the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians. As opposed to creating sustainable opportunities for peace, Israel used the relative calm after the signing of the Oslo Accords to establish new facts on the ground through the expansion of existing settlements and the creation of new settlements, which subsequently impeded any progress in the peace process.

In 2002, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) developed a new policy to enforce these facts on the ground. Israel began construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank, resulting in additional land confiscation. 58% of the West Bank has now been illegally confiscated by Israel.

As a result, Palestinian population centers have been transformed into separated Bantustans. Israel has strategically destroyed any chance of the creation of a viable Palestinian state on the land it occupied in 1967.

Despite a unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel has continued to control the lives and movements of the entire civilian population of the Gaza Strip. Israel claims the Gaza Strip has enjoyed relative freedom since August 2005.

 However the situation on the ground leaves no doubt that Israel continues to occupy the Gaza Strip both legally and militarily. Israel controls all land, sea, and air terminals and crossings into Gaza, and also continues to conduct extra-judicial executions against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as well as conducting frequent military incursions into densely civilian areas, causing death, injuries and extensive damage to civilian property.

The anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba coincides with an unprecedented deterioration in the human rights of the Palestinian people. Israel is implementing a policy of escalation against the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Israel continues to conduct settlement activity in and around Jerusalem, including occupied East Jerusalem, enforcing a Jewish character upon the entire city, and continuing to isolate Palestinians from their own land. Israel is also continuing construction of the Annexation Wall, as well as expanding existing Jewish settlements.

Israel has also escalated killings and executions of Palestinians. Since the beginning of 2008, three hundred and fifty Palestinians have been killed in the OPT, including 326 people in the Gaza Strip, and 56 children.

Furthermore, Israel is tightening its siege of the Gaza Strip. Rafah International Crossing Point, has been effectively closed since June 2006, and Israel has imposed further restrictions on the civilians of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover in June 2007. The humanitarian situation has continued to deteriorate for the 1.5 million civilians of Gaza.

Having declared the Gaza Strip "A hostile entity" in September 2007, Israel continues to impose additional measures of collective punishment against the civilian population. 

These have included drastic cuts in essential fuel supplies, including supplies for the Strip's only power plant. These new restrictions have inflicted additional suffering on the civilian population as a result of extended power outages and a chronic lack of fuel for domestic use.

The fuel crisis threatens to unleash a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, and continues to seriously affect the work of hospitals, plus the delivery of safe drinking water, sewage and garbage disposal facilities and other essential services.

In addition, the 60th anniversary of the Nakba coincides with a deteriorating internal political situation in the OPT, which has also resulted in widespread human rights violations.

The deterioration has seen security chaos erupt across the OPT, whilst bloody internal clashes between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip culminated with Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007. This situation has caused a mass fragmentation of Palestinian political structures, especially regarding the Palestinian Authority Presidency in the West Bank, and Dismissed Government Cabinet in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians are living under two de facto governments; one in the West Bank and another in the Gaza Strip.

This divide in the Palestinian Executive has also resulted in divides in the judiciary and the legislature. National institutions have also collapsed as each party or faction has tried to enforce its control on what it sees as its territory, and the accumulated affect has been seen in severe deterioration to civilians' freedom and basic human rights.

 Hamas has cracked down on Fatah activists and institutions in the Gaza Strip; and Fatah-dominated Palestinian security forces have cracked down on Hamas members and institutions in the West Bank.

The current internal Palestinian situation threatens the Palestinian people and their demand for their own self-determination. Palestinians have endured years of catastrophes and disasters. What is vital now is unity, national and political responsibility, and especially a focus on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the right of return and compensation for all Palestinian refugees.

 In light of this situation, PCHR:

   1. Calls upon the leaders of Palestinian parties and movements, especially Fatah and Hamas, to conduct a serious and constructive dialogue to end internal Palestinian differences, and to unify the ranks in order to achieve our national goals of liberating the land, ending the occupation, and establishment of an independent state.

   2. Affirms that the least expected from a Palestinian leadership divided for nearly a year is the fulfillment of Palestinian goals of ending the occupation. The only party benefiting from this split is the Israeli occupation which continues to implement its settlement project and establishes new facts on the ground every day.

   3. Affirms the collective and individual right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes and land from which they were uprooted since 1948. This right is guaranteed by International Law, is an inalienable right, and does not fall by prescription.

   4. Calls upon the international community and the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal and moral obligations of implementing International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law; to end the suffering of the Palestinian people, which includes guaranteeing the right of return and compensation for Palestinian refugees based on UN GA Decision 194; and to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, which is the real core of the conflict in the whole region.