Israel’s March-April Military Campaign in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Destruction of the Oslo Framework

 

 

International Law,

Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms,

 and a Comprehensive, Just, and Durable Solution

to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

 

 

An Agenda for Action

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 April 2002

 

 

BADIL Resource Center

for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights

 

Bethlehem, Palestine

 


I. Introduction

 

International law and UN resolutions provide an objective framework for the resolution of political conflict, in general, and specifically as a framework for durable solutions for refugees and other displaced persons. While the implementation of international law and UN resolutions cannot, in itself, guarantee a durable solution, a solution reached outside the framework of international law and UN resolutions will neither be just, durable or binding.

 

The United Nations and its individual member states together share responsibility for the protection of the fundamental human rights and respect for humanitarian norms as set forth in international law. The mandate emanates from the 1945 Charter of the United Nations, Article 1(1), which establishes the purpose of the UN as being:

 

to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.

International law and UN resolutions – i.e., UNGA 194(1948), UNSC 237(1967), 242(1967) and 338(1967) – provide the foundation for a comprehensive, just and durable solution to the historic conflict in the Middle East. The political process, security measures and all agreements between the parties to the conflict must protect the fundamental human rights of all persons and respect humanitarian norms as set forth in international law.

The collapse of the political process between Israel and the PLO is related, in large part, to the chronic lack of international protection of fundamental human rights and lack of respect for humanitarian norms since the inception of the Madrid/Oslo process nearly a decade ago characterized by: ongoing land confiscation, settlement construction, house demolition, exploitation of natural resources, internal and external military closure, denial of residency rights, denial of the right to self-determination, and rejection of the right of return. Unlike most peace agreements, including those signed between Israel and its neighbors Egypt and Jordan, the ‘Oslo Accords’ stipulate that relations between Israel and the Palestinians will be conducted on the basis of an agreed upon political process rather than international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

Reporting on status of human rights in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories several weeks after the onset of Israel’s military campaign to crush the popular Palestinian uprising (al-Aqsa intifada), the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the occupied territories wrote:

In general, respondents identified one of the main causes of the recent Palestinian protests as accumulated frustration at the perceived shortcomings of the Oslo process, both as to content and implementation, and notably its failure to uphold human rights and humanitarian norms. Both the local Palestinian and Israeli interlocutors consulted emphasized to the Special Rapporteur that none of the concerned parties could possibly not be cognizant of the danger inherent in this failure: the people in the street, Israeli intelligence, the Commission on Human Rights, the various treaty bodies, the General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur, the Palestinian Authority. They lamented that, in spite of that, no corrective action had been taken. Moreover, they uniformly deplored the double standard that has applied to the occupied Palestinian territories of tolerating or facilitating the Israeli occupation authorities’ unbroken pattern of violations. In particular, they point out the contradiction between the standards established by the United Nations and the simultaneous ineffectiveness of the United Nations in upholding its own principles. [Emphasis added]

UN Doc. E/CN.4/S-5/3, 17 October 2000

 

More than 18 months after the beginning of Israel’s military campaign to crush all forms of popular Palestinian resistance to Israel’s illegal military occupation, denial of the right to self-determination and rejection of the basic human rights of Palestinian refugees (i.e., right of return, real property restitution, and compensation for losses and damages), US-led international efforts to find a formula that will bring an end to the ‘cycle of violence’ and facilitate a return to political negotiations (“Mitchell-Tenet-Zinni process”) have failed. The Mitchell fact-finding committee recommendations and the Tenet cease-fire plan did not include a single reference to international law and the protection of fundamental human rights and humanitarian norms.

 

An increasing number of international expert teams, as well as western and Arab diplomats have begun to suggest that the unsuccessful “bottom-up” approach leading from a cease-fire through confidence building to bilateral negotiations should be abandoned and replaced by a new and internationally backed “top-down” approach. The latter is a new formula which, based on the conclusion that the two parties are unable to resolve the conflict bilaterally, calls upon the international community to lay out a comprehensive peace plan (along the lines of the Saudi proposal), and to impose it on the parties by means of upgraded international involvement, including the possibility of some form of international monitoring/peace keeping force. This new formula currently under debate has yet to demonstrate a serious commitment to international law and relevant UN resolutions.

 

While the search for a new peace formula continues, the chronic lack of international protection for fundamental human rights and lack of respect for humanitarian norms has assumed appalling proportions, particularly for the Palestinian people, including refugees, residing in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories. More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are civilians. More than 300 Israelis have been killed, more than half of whom are civilians. Israel’s military campaign to crush the al-Aqsa intifada has completely disregarded the protected status of the entire Palestinian civilian population. Damage and destruction of private property and public infrastructure is widespread. Humanitarian operations, including emergency medical assistance and delivery of basic food supplies, have been severely obstructed. The steep rise in unemployment and the number of persons living below the poverty line in the occupied territories is unparalleled.

 

The durability of any future political process will depend upon the ability of the international community to bring an end to the massive and systematic violation of fundamental human rights and humanitarian norms in the 1967 occupied territories, ensure that all agreements are fully consistent with international law and UN resolutions, and institute mechanisms to guarantee the protection of fundamental human rights and respect for humanitarian norms. The first part of this report provides a brief overview of Israel’s massive and systematic violation of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories in April 2002. The second part of the reports provides a series of recommendations – i.e., an ‘Agenda for Action’ for a comprehensive, just and durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 


II. Violations and Grave Breaches of International Law in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories

 

Since the onset of Israel’s military campaign to crush popular Palestinian resistance to Israel’s illegal military occupation, denial of the right to self-determination and rejection of the basic human rights of Palestinian refugees, the pervasive lack of respect for fundamental human rights and lack of respect for humanitarian norms has assumed appalling proportions in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories. More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands have been injured (Palestinian Red Crescent Society, PRCS). Thousands of homes have been either destroyed or severely damaged. Public infrastructure, including health and education institutions, electricity and water supplies and roads, have been ravaged. Unemployment has doubled and more than 50 percent of the population is living below the poverty line. Refugees, who comprise 50 percent of the population of the occupied territories, women and children have been particular vulnerable to the impact of Israel’s military campaign (See BADIL Bulletin No. 8, “A Climate of Vulnerability – International Protection, Palestinian Refugees and the al-Aqsa Intifada, One Year Later, September 2001).

 

Despite recommendations issued by all major UN human rights bodies – i.e., UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Doc. E/CN.4/2001/114, 29 November 2000), UN Commission on Human Rights (UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/121, March 2001),

Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (UN Doc. E/CN.5/S-5/3, 17 October 2000 and E/CN.4/2002/32, 6 March 2002), and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – and despite repeated calls by the international community for Israel to comply with obligations set forth in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and human rights instruments – including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the two international covenants, commonly referred to as the 1966 "International Bill of Rights", among others – Israel continues to disregard international law.

 

The purpose of the principal international instrument concerned with the protection of civilians under military occupation, the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, is to ensure respect for the human rights of protected persons. This is made clear by article 27 of the Convention, which provides that the Occupying Power is to respect the fundamental rights of protected persons. According to the Commentary of the International Committee of the Red Cross on this provision: “The right to respect for the person must be understood in its widest sense: it covers all the rights of the individual, that is, the rights and qualities which are inseparable from the human being by the very fact of his existence and his mental and physical powers; it includes, in particular, the right to physical, moral and intellectual integrity – an essential attribute of the human person” (p. 201). The “rights of the individual” have been proclaimed, described and interpreted in international human rights instruments, particularly the international covenants on civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights of 1966, and in the jurisprudence of their monitoring bodies. These human rights instruments therefore complement the Fourth Geneva Convention by defining and giving content to the rights protected in article 27. This is borne out by repeated resolutions of the General Assembly (for example, resolution 2675 (XXV)) and by the Vienna Declaration adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, which declared that:

 

“Effective international measures to guarantee and monitor the implementation of human rights standards should be taken in respect of people under foreign occupation, and effective legal protection against the violation of their human rights should be provided, in accordance with human rights norms and international law, particularly the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 14 August 1949, and other applicable norms of humanitarian law.”

 

Violations include: the right to life, right to an adequate standard of living, right to adequate housing, right to education, right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, torture, and freedom of movement. These violations affect, in varying degrees, nearly the entire Palestinian population of the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories and amount to a systematic policy of collective punishment.

 

Israel’s pervasive lack of respect for fundamental human rights and humanitarian norms is joined by a chronic lack of international protection for these basic rights and norms. Despite repeated recommendations by all major UN human rights bodies and international and local human rights organizations for the deployment of international forces in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories to protect fundamental human rights and ensure respect for humanitarian norms, the international community has failed to deploy or even study the option for the deployment of international forces. The United States, in particular, has repeatedly obstructed the deployment of international forces through lobbying members of the UN Security Council to vote against or abstain from draft Security Council resolutions calling for the establishment of an international protection force (S/2000/1171, 18 December 2000) and, when unable to convince or pressure members, the United States has repeatedly used its veto to block initiatives (S/2001/270, 26 March 2001, S/2001/1199, 14 December 2001) by other member states.

 

The pervasive disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law reached a dramatic peak in March and April 2002 in the context of two massive military assaults (Operations “The Colors Journey” and “Defensive Wall”) launched by Israel to crush the al-Aqsa intifada. In the six weeks between March and mid-April 2002 Israeli military forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians comprising 30 percent of the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli military forces and settlers since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000. Israel’s violations of international humanitarian and human rights law include war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (UN Doc. A/Conf.183/9, 1998). The UN Commission on Human Rights has considered Israel's continued "grave breaches" of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention as rising to the level of war crimes since 1972 and recently reaffirmed this view during a Special Session of the Commission in October 2000.

 

War crimes committed during Israel’s military assaults in March and April 2002 include:

 

 

Crimes against humanity may include:

 

 

Moreover, Israel’s systematic violations and grave breaches of international law constitute a form of state terrorism. Terrorism, at its roots is the systematic use of violence to coerce or intimidate a population or government into accepting certain political demands or program. Following the beginning of Israel’s most recent military assaults – i.e., Operations “The Colors Journey” and “Defensive Wall”) in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated:

 

It won’t be possible to reach an agreement with [the Palestinians] before the Palestinians are hit hard. Now they have to be hit. If they aren’t badly beaten, there won’t be any negotiations. Only after they are beaten will we be able to conduct talks.

Ha’aretz, 5 March 2002

 

As the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, John Dugard, noted in his recent report to the UN Commission on Human Rights,

 

It is against this background that it is necessary to reiterate that it is the military occupation of the Palestinian Territory that is responsible for most of the violations of humanitarian law and human rights … Similarly it is necessary to recall the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention as the governing law. On 5 December 2001, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention reaffirmed the applicability of this Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, reiterated the need for full respect for the provision of the Convention and recalled the obligations under the Convention of the parties to the conflict and of the State of Israel as the Occupying Power.

UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/32, 6 March 2002

 

The following subsections provide an overview of Israel’s violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian norms during Operation “Defensive Wall” in April 2002.

 

Attacks on Civilian Population (“Protected Persons”)

 

It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the civilian population of the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories have been directly harmed by Israel’s military campaign. Reports from all international humanitarian organizations operating in the territories, including UNRWA, UNSCO, WHO, UNICEF, ICRC, Medicines Sans Frontieres, point to widespread civilian suffering, including: lack of physical safety, food and water shortages, lack of access to emergency and regular medical care, damage to and destruction of homes and private property, and damage to and destruction of civilian infrastructure (i.e., electricity, sewage, etc.) leading to a severe deterioration in public health.

 

International and local humanitarian agencies have been unable to establish the total number of dead and injured since Israel’s latest military assault on Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps began in late March 2002 due to the lack of humanitarian access (See below). According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the number of confirmed deaths during the first two weeks (as of 13 April) reached nearly 150. The impact of Israel’s military campaign on human security is even more chilling if one includes the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during both recent military operations – “The Colors Journey” and “Defensive Wall” – in March and April 2002. Nearly 400 Palestinians were killed (PRCS) comprising almost 30 percent of the number killed (1,412, PRCS) over the last 18 months.

 

The majority of Palestinians killed and injured by Israeli military forces are civilians. While the large majority of deaths during the first months of the al-Aqsa intifada occurred during demonstrations between Israeli forces and mostly unarmed Palestinian protestors, civilian deaths, particularly during Israel’s recent military assaults in March and April 2002, are increasingly the result of the use of heavy machinegun fire, tank rounds, missiles, and aerial bombardment from F-16 fighter jets in civilian areas.

 

At around 10 am on Friday [5 April], twenty Israeli tanks entered Tubas from its eastern side and indiscriminately shelled city quarters. As a result, 13-year-old Dima Sawafta was killed by a gunshot in the chest while at home, ten others were variously injured. Ambulances could not reach them due to heavy gunfire. Also in Tubas, Iyad Abed Sawafta (22), a farmer, who was working on his land, was killed. An Israeli soldier shot him, east of Tubas. Two live bullets entered his head and chest at 1 o'clock this afternoon.

LAW Press Release, 5 April 2002

 

On the morning of April 10 at 5:15 am, two residents of Dura, Hebron District, 33-year-old Aref Mahmud Sayid Ahmad and 32-year-old Na'if Salem Sayid Ahmad were on their way home from morning prayers at a mosque in the town. When they were ten metres away from Aref Ahmad's house, a missile was shot from a helicopter which killed both men. The explosion caused a fire in Aref Ahmad's home. His wife and eight-year-old daughter sustained head injuries from the shrapnel. Faruq, Na'if Ahmad's brother, sustained a serious leg injury. Due to the curfew imposed on the city, it was impossible to send an ambulance to evacuate the injured and the bodies of the deceased. They are still in Na'if Ahmad's house.

B'Tselem, cited in Christian Aid Press Release, 11 April 2002

 

During March and April 2002, Palestinian refugees residing in camps in the 1967 occupied territories have been particularly vulnerable to Israeli military attacks. Damages to refugee shelters caused by indiscriminate Israeli shelling are especially large in the densely built-up refugee camps, where makeshift constructions are less resistant to attacks by heavy Israeli ammunition and missiles, and shock and anxiety attacks, especially among the children and elderly, spread among the whole crowded camp population. It is estimated that Israeli forces killed at least refugees in Jenin refugee camp alone; humanitarian personnel are unable to confirm the total number of dead until Israel permits full access to the camp.

 

The Israeli Defence Force has made a hellish battleground among the civilians in the Balata and Jenin refugee camps. We are getting reports of pure horror -- that helicopters are strafing civilian residential areas; that systematic shelling by tanks has created hundreds of wounded; that bulldozers are razing refugee homes to the ground and that food and medicine will soon run out. In the name of human decency the Israeli military must allow our ambulances safe passage to help evacuate the wounded and deliver emergency supplies of medicines and food.

Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner General, 7 April 2002

 

Israel’s recent military assault on Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps has resulted in widespread shortages of food and water. Two weeks into Israel’s military campaign, for example, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that it was struggling to cope with the flood of requests for emergency food aid in the West Bank city of Ramallah where the number of calls increased three-fold. The situation was similar across the West Bank with the civilian population confined to their homes under tight curfew and shop owners unable to bring in fresh produce, dairy products and household goods. Food shortages have been aggravated by a general lack of cash, the lack of humanitarian access to bring in necessary food stocks, and looting of food stocks from stores and private homes by Israeli soldiers.

 

We had nothing to eat or drink and one my sisters fainted from hunger. We could smell a fire in the house next to us but had nowhere to go. Snipers were hiding outside and the helicopter was drawing closer.

Hanan, age 23, Jenin refugee camp, Agence-France Presse, 11 April 2002

 

I live close to Max Supermarket. I saw all that happened. The tank came and broke the front door, and then they closed the other door, went in, and broke another door. Then they exploded the safe, obviously to steal the money inside, this is the proof that they were after money. Computers and offices all went in the process. Also the special store for special foods was destroyed. The safe did not open though, a small hole only. We heard everything. Our neighbors said that they had two APC's full of soldiers with them, and they began to load in food items. They took them away and came back and filled up again with food and left. Later, we went and saw how it was, the destruction and the loss of food items. Two APC's were loaded with food.

(name withheld), 1 April 2002, mid-day, Ramallah

 

Israel’s military assault has also resulted in severe water shortages for the civilian population due to the damage caused to water lines, reservoirs, roof and household water storage. Residents of several refugee camps have been deprived of access to clean and safe drinking water for periods of nearly one week. Unconfirmed reports describe some residents of Jenin camp, confined to their homes, resorting to drinking urine to stave off dehydration. Two weeks into Israel’s military assault the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that some 140,000 residents of Nablus, Tulkarem and Jenin were still experiencing severe water shortages. Attempts to facilitate access to water have been hampered by Israeli military attacks on engineering crews and repeated damage to infrastructure.

 

Israel’s military assault has also endangered the health of most of the civilian population in the 1967 occupied territories. Threats to physical safety, food and nutritional security, and public health have been exacerbated by lack of access to medical services and military attacks on medical personnel and institutions (See Humanitarian Access below). One week into Israel’s military assault the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a stark warning:

 

The health system was in danger of collapse. The crisis is reflected in a shortage of medicine/antibiotics used to treat injuries encountered, the inability of health personnel and patients to access health facilities, the lack of food, water, electricity, access to services and access to the dead bodies.

World Health Organization (WHO) Press Release, 4 April 2002

 

Large parts of the civilian population have been without electricity, often for days on end, due to damage to the power grid. Engineering crews have been unable to cope with the massive destruction, unable to operate due to round-the-clock curfews, or forced to suspend repair work due to shooting from Israeli forces. By 3 April 2002, some 5 days into Israel’s military assault, for example, the Palestine Red Crescent was reporting that half of Ramallah was still without electricity. Disruptions to the removal of garbage, which has piled up in the streets along with severe restrictions on the movement of humanitarian personnel who have been unable to remove the dead from public places have further exacerbated the threat to basic public health. In many cities, dead bodies were allowed to remain in the street and in homes for days before the Red Cross or Red Crescent were allowed to remove the bodies. 

 

I think it is particularly appalling that religious observance in connection with death and burial have been so grossly violated. And I do appeal to everybody to respect the basic religious (inaudible), something that the Israeli population of Judaic tradition can understand very well. I hope that it can be respected, but the incidences of mass graves, of people dying in houses, bleeding to death, and then being impossible to remove them. I spoke to a family in a camp recently where they had to make the burial in their own little courtyard within their shelter. These are conditions which remind me of the worst days in Angola where people in besieged cities had to bury their dead in the small piece of land still available.

Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner General, UN Dept. of Public Information (DPI), 5 April 2002

 

The threat to the health care system and the complete closure of schools has hit women and children particularly hard. One week into Israel’s military assault the UN Population Fund warned of a rise in maternal and infant deaths due to the inability of women to reach health facilities.

 

Emergency obstetric care, such as surgical delivery, is inaccessible to most women in the occupied Palestinian territory and delays at checkpoints of women in labour have resulted in unattended roadside births and even deaths of some women and infants. Even before the recent escalation, one fifth of pregnant women in Gaza and the West Bank could not receive prenatal care because of the difficulty of travelling through checkpoints to health facilities. This access to obstetric care has become even more limited over the past week as a result of the reoccupation of major cities, such as Ramallah, Nablus and Bethlehem, and the imposition of a policy of closure and prolonged curfews on their populations. This situation leaves pregnant women without access to live-saving medical assistance. A programme initiated six months ago to train midwives and nurses from some villages in the West Bank and Gaza to provide emergency obstetric care in urgent situations is now inadequate as the crisis escalates.

UN Population Fund Press Release, 5 April 2002

 

International agencies such as UNICEF and Save the Children Fund have warned of the severe impact of Israel’s military assault on Palestinian children across the West Bank.

 

Children are being denied access to health services, and are unable to attend school and engage in social activity.

UNICEF Press Release, 4 April 2002

 

[O]ver 200,000 children in the towns of Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Jenin and Nablus have been deprived of access to clean water. Many parts of these towns are also without electricity, and fresh food has run out in Bethlehem and Nablus. The continuing curfew in Jenin means that poorer households may have little or no food at all. The curfews and closures are affecting over 300,000 children, confining them to their homes, denying them access to educational facilities and subjecting them to continuing fear. Children continue to witness the unlawful arrests and killings of family members and friends, as well as the destruction and looting of their homes and neighbourhoods.

Save the Children Fund (SCF) Press Release, 12 April 2002

 

Destruction of Property

 

Israeli military forces have caused massive damage to the civilian infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territories, including: private homes and property, public institutions including schools, medical clinics, ministries of the Palestinian Authority, non-governmental organizations, churches, mosques, historical sites, refugee camps, and damage and destruction of streets, electricity, phone and water supply in all areas invaded by the Israeli military. A comprehensive assessment of the total damage inflicted by the Israeli military to the civilian infrastructure during Operation Defensive Wall will not be possible until the Israeli military permits unhindered access to all cities, villages and refugee camps in the 1967 occupied territories. Generally, however, reports indicate that damage and destruction is widespread and indiscriminate.

 

The application of violence is very very generalized, there is not a question here of pinpointing and targeting a few suspects on a wanted list, but there is entry into homes, house after house, destruction of what is in the houses, often destruction of the houses. In the West Bank alone, we are now beginning to catch up if you will in Gaza, there are more than 2,500 destroyed or partially destroyed shelters. In Gaza, we are talking about even more. 

Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner General, UN Dept. of Public Information, 5 April 2002

 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that the destruction of Palestinian homes alone has left several thousand people homeless Local sources in Jenin estimate that approximately one third of the homes in the Jenin refugee camp have been destroyed since 3 April by Israeli bulldozers in a process referred to as ‘shaving’. There are reports as well of homes being bulldozed on top of the people inside them in Jenin refugee camp and in the Yasmina quarter in Nablus. Tank shells, missiles and indiscriminate heavy machine gun fire from Apache helicopters have also heavily damaged refugee shelters and homes.

 

I have not myself been able to go to the camps (since) about a week ago or so, but I am told from the reports we are getting in from the camps, we have our staff inside there, that the situation is really unprecedented. There is this massive destruction of shelters and destruction of infrastructure, water lines; electricity is being cut off. Of course many installations that the Israeli army has used have also suffered very bad damage. It is quite appalling to see, and I have seen that myself, how some installations, for instance in the health and medical area, have been destroyed and medicines smashed, a dentists's chair kicked over and ripped out of the floor, threatening graffiti written in Hebrew on the wall. It is really not what one would expect from a disciplined army to see this kind of destruction.

Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner General, UN Dept. of Public Information (DPI), 5 April 2002

 

Israeli military forces have also heavily damaged, ransacked and looted public institutions and civil society organizations. This includes the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Palestinian Legislative Council, numerous municipal offices, libraries, charitable societies and non-governmental organizations such as al-Haq, Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners, and Mattin Group. Many institutions remain occupied by Israeli military forces and independent observers are unable to assess damage and destruction. In those institutions where individuals have gained access, there is widespread destruction of computers, files, and office equipment, confiscation of computer hard drives and documents (including financial records) as well as structural damage (Palestinian Emergency NGO Initiative in Jerusalem, 13 April 2002).

 

There are also widespread reports of looting and plunder of private property by Israeli soldiers.

 

They broke everything when they came in, and stole as well. We are merchants and have money at home always, they stole all the money we have, lots of money,
at least 25,000 USD, and also batteries,  3 mobiles and expensive watches. It is crazy, but they also stole our prayer rugs and Qur'an! "

(Internet reports, name withheld), March 30, 10 a.m., al-Bireh


They came in, placed us all in one room, searched the house, and when we came out we realized that the following was missing: 3000 USD, NIS 1800, pens, a watch, a video camera battery, brand new in its box... they left the box, and took also my 050 (Israeli) mobile phone.

(Internet reports, name withheld), March 30, 11 a.m., al-Bireh


Extra-Judicial Killings

 

Israel’s policy of extra-judicial killings appears to have reached a new level during the latest military assault on Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps. Israel has continued the illegal policy referred to by the military as "death kill verification".

 

In Hebron, at 2.30 this afternoon, two Apache helicopters attacked a civilian car, in another attempt of extra-judicial killing. The helicopters fired three missiles, however they missed the car that was driving in Abu Ghanam street, downtown Hebron. The missiles hit another car and destroyed it completely. There were seven persons, most of them bystanders injured in the attack, including 11-year old Mohammad Amin Sughayer, who is in critical condition, with second and third degree burns on 90 percent of his body.

LAW, 5 April 2002

 

Moreover, there are numerous reports of executions of unarmed Palestinian prisoners. The first reports surfaced with news and photographs of five officers from the Palestinian security forces – Khaled Fathi Mahmoud Awad (33), Ismail Ibrahim Zaid (56), Said Hamam Abdelrahman (60), Abdelrahman Tawfiq Abdallah (58), and Omar Muhammad Musa (54) – shot dead at close range in Ramallah (LAW, 30 March 2002). Israeli military forces subsequently prevented journalists and independent observers from entering the building where the bodies were found. Due to severe restrictions imposed by Israel on humanitarian personnel and journalists independent observers are unable to confirm the total number of extra-judicial killings.

 

Eyewitnesses from Jenin refugee camp report summary executions of civilians/combatants after detention; resistance fighters in the camp reported that eight fighters were summarily executed on 10 April in front of their families after their surrender to the Israeli army. Eyewitnesses have also reported that Israeli forces have dug mass graves in the refugee camp, dumped bodies into the sewage, removed bodies to unknown places, and bulldozed entire areas of the camp in order to “clean up” the site (LAW, 8 April 2002). Two weeks into Israel’s military assault, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Asma Jahangir, voiced alarm at the growing number of reports, particularly in connection with the military assault on Jenin refugee camp and called for urgent and prompt investigation of all allegations.

 

Detention and Torture

 

Israeli military forces have conducted massive sweeps through cities, villages and refugee camps in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories detaining and arresting thousands of Palestinians. It is estimated (B’tselem, UNRWA, UNSCO) that Israel has detained between 3,500 and 5,000 Palestinians at military and detention facilities in Ofer (near Ramallah), Megiddo (inside Israel), Salem (near Jenin) and at other permanent detention facilities during the course of two weeks of military operations.

 

In many cases, mass detentions were conducted according to broad criteria of age and gender, thus many Palestinians were detained simply because they were present where detentions were being carried out and not because they were under suspicion. In most cases, families are not informed of the whereabouts of their detained relatives, as the identity of many of them is unknown. Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations have received information about inhumane conditions (insufficient food, overcrowding, cold, humiliation, beating) and the use of torture during interrogations in the Ofer military camp located near Ramallah. The Israeli Central Commander of the West Bank has issued a sweeping order pertaining to all detainees that bans meetings with lawyers. As a result, a close examination of holding conditions is impossible. The High Court of Justice has rejected a petition of four human rights organizations, which demanded to be allowed into the Ofer military camp.

 

I was handcuffed and blindfolded and taken along with another 90 men to their military camp in Salem, just outside Jenin. We had no food or water for two days and had to stay outside. I was beaten up and undressed. I had to kneel for hours, handcuffed with my head bent down … tightening the handcuffs so bad it would stop our blood circulation. <