Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor: Suffocation and Isolation..15 Years of Israeli Blockade on Gaza

For 15 years, the Gaza Strip has been witnessing a suffocating blockade imposed by the Israeli authorities that has affected all social, economic and humanitarian sectors. Despite the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip reaching unprecedented levels, the blockade remains imposed on the enclave in a way that clearly shows how two million people can lead a decent life.

Israel began the Gaza blockade after Hamas won the legislative elections. Greater restrictions and sanctions were imposed after the elections in January 2006. The blockade was further tightened in mid-2007.

The long years of blockade Gaza witnessed were accompanied at times with military attacks, which led to the destruction of large parts of the infrastructure. In addition, thousands of unarmed civilians were killed and wounded or incurred huge material losses.

During the years of the blockade, indicators of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip surged shockingly. For example, unemployment rate in 2005 (before the imposition of the blockade) was about 23.6%, while at the end of 2020 it reached 49%, making it among the highest unemployment rates in the world.

Link to Report

https://www.euromedmonitor.org/en/article/4119/Suffocation-and-Isolation..15-Years-of-Israeli-Blockade-on-Gaza 

Full Report

https://euromedmonitor.org/uploads/reports/Gazareporteng.pdf

It’s 2020 — Lift the Gaza Closure!

In Gaza, two million Palestinians live in one of the world’s most densely populated areas, facing profound levels of poverty, food insecurity and regular military attacks. Only 4% of water is fit for human use and consumption, and sanitation services are limited. Gaza’s healthcare system faced collapse even before the coronavirus pandemic and patients in need of lifesaving treatment outside Gaza face a maze of opaque rules and barriers.

In June 2020, Israel’s military occupation marks 53 years and the closure of the Gaza Strip marks 13 years. As the world continues to respond to COVID-19, Palestinians in Gaza are particularly susceptible to the pandemic due to overcrowding, the inability to access adequate water and sanitation, and a healthcare system crippled by successive Israeli military attacks and years of structural violence that deny Palestinians their basic human rights, with impunity.


 

Full Article
https://medium.com/@lifttheclosure/its-2020-lift-the-gaza-closure-c3f586611c11

Raise your voice, sign the petition
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/the_united_nation_member_states_human_rights_counc_13_years_too_long_lift_the_gaza_closure_and_let_palestinians_live/details/

Gaza Fishers: Shooting and Detention Incidents at Sea Continue

The Israeli navy enforces fishing limits by, among other means, opening live fire at fishing boats, resulting in casualties and damage; forcing fishers to jump into the sea and swim towards Israeli vessels, where they are detained; and confiscating boats and fishing equipment. These practices discourage some fishers from fully exploiting the permissible fishing area even when expanded.

On at least 248 occasions between January and October 2019, Israeli forces have opened fire in areas off the coast of Gaza while enforcing access restrictions; as a monthly average, this is roughly the same as in 2018.  While no fisher has been killed so far this year compared with four fatalities in 2018 (two by the Israeli navy and two by the Egyptian navy), 17 fishers, including two children, have been injured in shooting incidents versus 20 in all of last year. Another 33 fishers (including three children) have been detained since the start of 2019, a significant decline compared with 2018 (94 people).

In 2019, Israeli naval forces have also seized and/or damaged 19 fishing boats and fishing nets while enforcing the fishing limits. In a positive development in the first seven months of 2019, the Israeli authorities released 66 boats that had been seized in previous years; some of these boats were severely damaged or lacked engines when returned.  

Full Article
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-s-fisheries-record-expansion-fishing-limit-and-relative-increase-fish-catch-shooting

Al Mezan Fact Sheet: The Human and Financial Losses of Fishing Under Occupation
https://www.mezan.org/en/uploads/files/15712153571134.pdf

PCHR Report: Israeli Attacks against Palestinian Fishermen (November 2017 – April 2019)
https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Fishermen-Report-2019.pdf

Gideon Levy: IOF Gunfire Left This Gaza Fisherman Blind
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-idf-gunfire-left-this-gaza-fisherman-blind-israel-won-t-let-him-get-treatment-1.7367129

Gideon Levy: Israel Condemned This Gazan Fisherman to Life in Eternal Darkness
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-condemned-this-gazan-fisherman-to-life-in-eternal-darkness-1.7946851

Physicians for Human Rights - Israel: Forced Separation of Gaza Patients

The figures PHRI has collected show that more than half the applications filed in 2018 by parents to accompany their minor children for medical treatment were rejected. Although there has been a significant increase in the number of approved applications in 2019, over the past year too, about a fifth of the children who left Gaza for medical treatment, went without their parents.

While there is recognition in Israel that parental presence during a child’s medical treatment is important for the child’s recovery, when it comes to Palestinian children, things are not so. This policy hurts the children’s recovery prospects and forces them to live through the most difficult and painful moments without a parent to reassure them and give them hope, emotional support and attention. The children often do not speak the language and have difficulties communicating with the medical staff, which increases the uncertainty, anxiety and fear that are already part of this situation.

Full Report
https://www.phr.org.il/en/forced-separation-new-position-paper-november-2019/

EI: Gaza children forced to have medical treatment alone
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/gaza-children-forced-have-medical-treatment-alone

PCHR Report: Treatment Denied - Israeli Policy of Denying Patients Treatment Abroad, Claiming Treatment is Available in the Gaza Strip or is only for “Improving Quality of Life” and not for “Life-Saving”
https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Report-Treatment-Denied-20-Sep-2018.pdf

Médecins du Monde: The Labyrinths to Health in Gaza
https://www.medecinsdumonde.org/en/actualites/publications/2019/12/12/labyrinths-health-gaza

Gaza strip: early warning indicators - October 2019
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-strip-early-warning-indicators-october-2019

Forensic Architecture: Herbicidal Warfare in Gaza

Over three decades, in tandem with the Madrid and Oslo negotiation processes, the occupied Gaza Strip has been slowly isolated from the rest of Palestine and the outside world, and subjected to repeated Israeli military incursions. These incursions intensified from September 2003 to the fall of 2014, during which Israel launched at least 24 separate military operations targeting Gaza, giving shape to its surrounding borders today.

The borders around Gaza—one of the most densely-populated areas on Earth—continue to be hardened and heightened into a sophisticated system of under- and overground fences, forts, and surveillance technologies. Part of this system has been the production of an enforced and expanding military no-go area—or ‘buffer zone’—on the Palestinian side of the border.

Since 2014, the clearing and bulldozing of agricultural and residential lands by the Israel military close to the eastern border of Gaza has been complemented by the unannounced aerial spraying of crop-killing herbicides.

This ongoing practice has not only destroyed entire swaths of formerly arable land along the border fence, but also crops and farmlands hundreds of metres deep into Palestinian territory, resulting in the loss of livelihoods for Gazan farmers.

Full Report 
https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/herbicidal-warfare-in-gaza

Forensic Architecture Video Report
https://vimeo.com/336850182

Rob Goyanes: The Ecological War on Gaza
https://jewishcurrents.org/the-ecological-war-on-gaza/

B'Tselem: Occupation forces make deadly use of crowd control weapons in Gaza

From the beginning of the Great March of Return protests on Land Day, 30 March 2018 until the end of June 2019, Israeli security forces killed 216 Palestinians, 43 of them minors, and wounded thousands, the vast majority with live ammunition. However, security forces also make deadly use of crowd control weapons, including tear gas canisters which are not designed to hit people directly.

At least seven of the Palestinians killed died as a result of a teargas canister hitting their head or face directly. Four of them were minors. According to the OCHA Protection of Civilians Database, as of 28 June 2019, more than 1,600 Gaza protestors arrived in hospital with injuries resulting from direct teargas canister hits, more than a third of them in the first three months of 2019.

Teargas canisters are a crowd control weapon with a firing range spanning 100 meters to several hundred meters, in the case of extended range canisters. They are designed to be non-lethal and the open-fire regulations, at least officially, as well as use instructions, forbid firing them directly at people due to the grave danger involved.

In the past few months, B’Tselem’s field researchers in the Gaza Strip collected testimonies from protestors who were injured by teargas canisters and eyewitnesses. These testimonies indicate that security forces routinely fire teargas canisters directly at protestors, in contravention of the regulations.

Full report 
https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20190806_security_forces_make_deadly_use_of_crowd_control_weapons 

Al Haq: Israeli Occupying Forces Kill Palestinian University Student Posing No Threat During Great Return March Protests
http://alhaq.org/documentation/weekly-focuses/1446--qq-

B'Tselem: After the Supreme Court Praised the Open-Fire Policy, the Military Admits: We killed Protestors for No Reason
https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20190724_military_admits_to_killing_protestors_for_no_reason

UN Independent Commission of Inquiry: No Justification for Israel to Shoot Protesters with Live Ammunition

The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory today presented its findings. The report focuses on the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip, referred to as the “Great March of Return and the Breaking of the Siege”.

“The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that during the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel,” said the Chair of the Commission, Santiago Canton of Argentina.

The Commission was mandated by the Human Rights Council in May 2018 to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the context of the large-scale protests that began in Gaza on 30 March 2018. The Commission comprises Santiago Canton of Argentina (Chair), Sara Hossain of Bangladesh and Betty Murungi of Kenya.

More than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites by the separation fence. The Commission investigated every killing at the designated demonstration sites by the Gaza separation fence on official protest days. The investigation covered the period from the start of the protests until 31 December 2018. 189 Palestinians were killed during the demonstrations inside this period. The Commission found that Israeli Security Forces killed 183 of these protesters with live ammunition. Thirty-five of these fatalities were children, while three were clearly marked paramedics, and two were clearly marked journalists.

Press Release 
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=24226&LangID=E

Summary Report
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIOPT/A_HRC_40_74.pdf

Full Report - 252 pages
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session40/Documents/A_HRC_40_74_CRP2.18March.pdf

Adalah: UN commission's report on Palestinian protests is scathing indictment of Israeli government on all fronts
https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9688

Adalah's Report to the UN Commission of Inquiry
https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/Adalah_Report_to_COI_2018_Gaza_22.11.%202018_FINAL.pdf

Amnesty: Findings of UN inquiry into Gaza killings must pave way for justice over war crimes
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/02/israel-opt-findings-of-un-inquiry-into-gaza-killings-must-pave-way-for-justice-over-war-crimes/

B'Tselem: Israeli “investigations” a whitewashing mechanism to allow further killing
https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/201903_gaza_demonstrations_investigations_charade_eng.pdf

Gisha: Israel should adopt the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry
http://gisha.org/updates/9806

Al-Haq Welcomes Report of UN Commission of Inquiry on Great Return March
http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/targets/united-nations/1362-press-release-issued-by-al-haq-al-haq-welcomes-report-of-un-commission-of-inquiry-on-great-return-march

Al Jazeera: Probe finds 'reasonable grounds to believe' snipers intentionally shot at children, civilians during 2018 Gaza rallies
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/israel-crimes-humanity-gaza-190228102451058.html

Democracy Now: Norman Finkelstein on Growing Push for ICC to File War Crimes Charges
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/4/it_is_time_to_indict_israel?autostart=true

Democracy Now: U.N. Finds Israel Intentionally Shot Children, Journalists & the Disabled During Gaza Protests
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/4/un_finds_israel_intentionally_shot_children

Guardian: UN says Israel's killings at Gaza protests may amount to war crimes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/28/gaza-israel-un-inquiry-killings-protest-war-crimes-army

DCI-Palestine: Submission to the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 Gaza March of Return

Defense for Children International - Palestine submitted a joint report to United Nations investigators last week detailing Israeli forces’ killing of Palestinian children during mass protests in the Gaza Strip, conduct amounting to war crimes.

The 57-page report, drafted in collaboration with the Human Rights and Gender Justice Law Clinic (HRGJ) at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, provides background and context to mass protests in Gaza, highlights Israeli forces’ unlawful killing of Palestinian child protesters, and details serious violations of international law by Israeli forces. The report was submitted to the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which was established during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in May 2018.

The report notes that of the 56 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the OPT during 2018, a total of 45 children were killed in the Gaza Strip since March 30, according to evidence collected by DCIP. In the overwhelming majority of cases, DCIP was able to confirm children did not present any imminent, mortal threat or threat of serious injury when killed by Israeli forces. The report concludes Israeli forces and officials are responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law for the killing of Palestinian child protesters in Gaza.

Link to Article 
https://www.dci-palestine.org/dcip_submits_evidence_to_un_investigators_on_gaza_protest_killings 

Full Report
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/dcipalestine/pages/5218/attachments/original/1548306271/DCIP_HRGJ_Submission_to_COI_2018_Protests.pdf?1548306271

Al Mezan: Demonstrating in the Gaza Strip - Killing & Maiming of Children by Israeli Forces
http://mezan.org/en/uploads/files/1548239025974.pdf

EI: Israel intends to persecute Palestinians, rights groups say
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-intends-persecute-palestinians-rights-groups-say

Maan News: Report - Israel killed at least 45 Palestinian children in Gaza
http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=782295

Forensic Architecture: The IOF Killing of Luai Kahil and Amir A-Nimrah in Gaza

On the 14 July 2018, in Gaza City, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, two Palestinian teenagers climbed onto the rooftop of the al-Katibah building. A short time later the pair, Luai Kahil and Amir a-Nimrah, were killed by a missile fired from an Israeli aircraft.

The missile was one of a series of four to hit the building in short order, before a series of much larger strikes arrived shortly after, substantially damaging the building and its surroundings.

The series of four were part of a process known as ‘roof knocking’, whereby a series of ‘warning strikes’—inaccurately characterised by the IOF as loud but non-lethal munitions—is intended to communicate to civilians in the area that they should evacuate, as a larger series of strikes is incoming.

After the attack, the IOF published, through its Twitter account, a video of the attack. As FA studied that video sequence, however, FA noticed that the footage had been manipulated, and that footage of the fatal warning strike had been replaced by footage of a later strike, from a different angle.

Using available open source material, and material from local CCTV cameras, FA established a precise timeline of the incident, in order to demonstrate which of the strikes had killed Kahil and a-Nimrah, and to expose the IOF’s manipulation of its own video footage.

Full Report
https://www.forensic-architecture.org/case/killing-luai-kahil-amir-nimrah/#toggle-id-3

B'Tselem: Lethal “warning”: 2 Palestinian teens killed on rooftop in Gaza by Israeli “warning missile”
https://www.btselem.org/video/201812_lethal_warning#full

IOF edited out key footage of deadly Gaza missile strike, researchers say
https://972mag.com/deadly-gaza-strike-idf-edited-footage/139316/

Electronic Intifada: Israel doctored video to hide killing of Gaza boys
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-doctored-video-hide-killing-gaza-boys

The Intercept: Israel Tampered With Video of Strike That Killed Two Palestinian Boys, Investigators Say
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/19/israel-airstrike-gaza-two-boys/

Middle East Eye: 'Non-lethal' Israeli weaponry killed two teens in Gaza in July
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/non-lethal-israeli-weaponry-killed-two-boys-gaza-july-report-150486778

NY Times: Israeli ‘Warning’ Shot Killed Two Boys in Gaza, Rights Groups Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-roof-knocking.html

B'Tselem: Over 5,800 Palestinians Wounded by Live Israeli Gunfire in Seven Months of Protests

Since the protests by the Gaza perimeter fence began on 30 March 2018, Israeli security forces have fatally shot over 180 demonstrators – including 31 minors – and injured over 5,800 demonstrators with live gunfire. The vast majority of casualties were unarmed, and were fatally shot from a distance while in the Gaza Strip itself. As a general rule, the protectively clad troops sniping at them from other side of the fence were not in any real danger. Some protesters threw stones, some damaged the fence, and a small number crossed it or threw hand grenades, IEDs and Molotov cocktails at the troops.

According to figures by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), over 12,700 casualties have required treatment in Gaza hospitals. This number includes the over 5,800 who suffered live gunshot wounds as well as some 1,900 who suffered teargas inhalation injuries, and some 480 who were hit by rubber-coated metal bullets. Approximately 2,300 of the casualties are minors. Doctors have had to perform amputations on 90 protesters, including 17 minors and one woman. In the majority of cases (82), the amputations were of lower limbs.

Over the past few months, B’Tselem field researchers in the Gaza Strip have conducted an extensive survey, canvassing 406 protesters who suffered live gunshot wounds; including 63 (15%) minors under the age of 18. The survey is not a representative sample; it consists of a detailed compilation of data regarding approx. 7% of gunshot casualties. An attempt was made to incorporate various protests sites and dates in order to achieve as diverse, comprehensive and reliable a picture as possible, given the complex setting of protests that have been taking place over a long period of time and at many sites along the perimeter fence.

Full Report 
https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20181122_over_5800_palestinians_wounded_in_7_months_of_protests  

B'Tselem: 4 Cases of Palestinian minors killed by Israeli Occupation Forces at Gaza protests
https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20181128_minors_killed_in_gaza_protests

B'Tselem: Occupation Forces killed 290 Palestinians in 2018; most victims of a reckless open-fire policy
https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20190117_2018_fatalities

Gisha: Closing In - Life and Death in Gaza’s Access Restricted Areas

Contrary to the illusion held by many that Israel’s presence in the Gaza Strip ended with the implementation of the Disengagement Plan in 2005, to this day Israel continues to exercise control over nearly every aspect of life in Gaza, including through its control over movement and access. Importantly, it continues to enforce restrictions on access to areas deep inside the Strip and in Gaza’s territorial waters, commonly referred to as the “Access Restricted Areas” (ARAs). On land, Israel calls the area to which it controls entrance the “buffer zone.” The area runs along the entire length of the fence separating Gaza from Israel. The “fishing zone” it permits at sea is just a fraction of Gaza’s actual territorial waters. In both of these areas, Israel employs violent enforcement measures against what it perceives as breaches of its directives, including the use of live fire, which results in the death and injury of Palestinian residents of Gaza.

Beyond the threat to life, Israel’s control over Gaza’s land and sea areas has implications for the economy of the Strip and livelihoods dependent on safe and reliable access to these spaces. The lands closest to the fence separating Gaza from Israel are among the most arable and suitable for farming in the Strip. In Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, every stretch of farmland is critical. Fishing has historically been one of the most important sectors for the coastal community of the Strip and once supported tens of thousands of people. The restrictions enforced by Israel in these areas are particularly harmful to women working in fishing, farming and herding. Women, who were highly represented in trades related to farming and herding have been almost entirely pushed out of the sector. Before Israel tightened the closure on Gaza in 2007, 36 percent of the people working in farming and fishing were women. Today, that number has plummeted to only four percent.

Full Report 
http://features.gisha.org/closing-in/

Human rights and civil society organizations call on Israel to open Kerem Shalom Crossing
http://gisha.org/updates/9328

Israel bans entry of fuel and gas into besieged Gaza Strip
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/israel-bans-entry-fuel-gas-besieged-gaza-strip-180802062141025.html

Oxfam: Israel tightens Gaza blockade, civilians bear the brunt
https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620527/mb-gaza-israel-blockade-civilians-270818-en.pdf

Oxfam: The worsening water crisis and the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism
https://d1tn3vj7xz9fdh.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/bp-treading-water-gaza-reconstruction-mechanism-220317-en.pdf

Human Rights Watch: Apparent War Crimes in Gaza

The United Nations General Assembly should support a resolution that calls for exploring measures to guarantee the protection of Palestinians in Gaza, and a UN inquiry mandated to investigate all violations and abuses should identify Israeli officials responsible for issuing unlawful open-fire orders. The killings also highlight the need for the International Criminal Court to open a formal investigation into the situation in Palestine. Third countries should impose targeted sanctions against officials responsible for ongoing serious human rights violations.

“Israel’s use of lethal force when there was no imminent threat to life has taken a heavy toll in life and limb,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The international community needs to rip up the old playbook, where Israel conducts investigations that mainly whitewash the conduct of its troops and the US blocks international accountability with its Security Council veto, and instead impose real costs for such blatant disregard for Palestinian lives.”

Full Report 
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/13/israel-apparent-war-crimes-gaza

Adalah: Israeli Supreme Court gives green light to continued use of live fire, snipers against Gaza protesters
https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9522

Al Haq: 95 civil society organizations call for a ‘Commission of Inquiry’ to investigate violence against Gaza protesters

http://alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/1252

Al Haq: IOF Commit Egregious Killings of 59 Palestinians as Protests Culminate Ahead of 70th Nakba Commemoration

http://alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/1247

Al Haq: Documentation of the Shoot-to-kill, Egregious Killings Committed by the Israel Occupying Force (IOF) on 14 May 2017 

http://alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/1262

Al Haq: Sham Investigation by Israel’s Military Advocate General into IOF Killing of Razan Al-Najjar

http://alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/1271

Amnesty: Arms embargo needed as military unlawfully kills and maims Gaza protesters
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/israel-arms-embargo-needed-as-military-unlawfully-kills-and-maims-gaza-protesters/

Amnesty: Israeli forces must end the use of excessive force in response to “Great March of Return” protests
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/israelopt-israeli-forces-must-end-the-use-of-excessive-force-in-response-to-great-march-of-return-protests/

B'Tselem: Israeli soldiers deliberately and fatally shot Palestinian paramedic Razan al-Najjar in the Gaza Strip https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20180718_paramedic_rozan_a_najar_killed_by_deliberate_fire

B'Tselem: If the heart be not callous: On the unlawful shooting of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/201804_if_the_heart_be_not_callous_eng.pdf

B'Tselem: Why Israeli soldiers must refuse to fire at unarmed Palestinian protesters
https://www.btselem.org/firearms/20180404_why_soldiers_must_refuse_to_fire_at_unarmed_protesters

PCHR: Palestinian Medical Personnel under Fire
https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Palestinian-Medical-Personnel-under-Fire.pdf

Gaza's Great March of Return

Excerpt from Ahmad Abu Rtemah: With the Great Return March, Palestinians Are Demanding a Life of Dignity

Today, the Palestinians of Gaza are attempting to break the chains that Israel has tried so hard to force us into. We are unarmed demonstrators confronting heavily armed soldiers with peaceful protest. As a result, it is difficult for Israel to smear us and justify its brutal violence, and the world is faced with the reality that innocent civilians are being killed just for exercising their right to protest peacefully. The excuses Israel uses to justify its policies toward the Palestinians are slowly losing their effectiveness, as people around the world are increasingly realizing that the true face of Israel is that of a brutal apartheid regime.

Despite the calculated violence and targeting of unarmed protesters by Israel, with our Great Return March, Palestinians in Gaza are stating loudly and clearly that we are still here. For Israel, it is our identity that is our crime, but we are celebrating the very identity that Israel tries to criminalize. People from all walks of life are joining the march. Artists are contributing with the traditional dabke dance, intellectuals are organizing reading circles, entertainers are dressing as clowns and playing with children. What has been most striking is the young, living and playing, their laughter the greatest protest of all.

The UN warned that Gaza may be uninhabitable in just two years. Resisting the fate that Israel has planned for us, we are fighting back peacefully with our bodies and our love for life, appealing to the justice that remains in the world.

Full Article
https://www.thenation.com/article/with-the-great-return-march-palestinians-are-demanding-a-life-of-dignity/

Ali Abunimah: Will Israel Pay a Price for its Latest Gaza Massacre
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/will-israel-pay-price-its-latest-gaza-massacre

Shahd Abusalama: In Gaza, Israel turned Good Friday into bloody Friday
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/shahd-abusalama/gaza-israel-turned-good-friday-bloody-friday

Mariam Barghouti: On Israel, the death of a journalist, and the right to life
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/israel-yaser-murtaja-gaza-protests-180412145101108.html

Haidar Eid: Contextualizing the Great March of Return
http://mondoweiss.net/2018/04/contextualizing-great-return/

Electronic Intifada: Israel targets reporters, medics in Gaza protests
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-targets-reporters-medics-gaza-protests

Medhi Hasan: Israel Kills Palestinians and Western Liberals Shrug. Their Humanitarianism Is a Sham
https://theintercept.com/2018/04/02/israel-killing-palestine-civilian-liberal-humanitarian/

Maram Humaid: 'We want to return to our lands without bloodshed or bombs'
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/return-lands-bloodshed-bombs-180330170242175.html

Yasmeen El Khoudary: Yasser Murtaja embodied the struggle of Gazans – desperate yet defiant
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/09/gaza-protests-palestinians-israeli-siege-occupation-marches

Eno Konrad: Rights groups - Gaza protests aren't combat, IDF must stop shooting protesters
https://972mag.com/rights-groups-gaza-protests-arent-combat-idf-must-stop-shooting-protesters/134687/

Gideon Levy: The Israeli Massacre Forces
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-israel-massacre-forces-1.5962852

Michael Omer-Man: A State Sponsored Mass Shooting
https://972mag.com/a-state-sponsored-mass-shooting/134490/

Amir Rotem: Gaza's humanitarian crisis began long before Hamas
https://972mag.com/gazas-humanitarian-crisis-began-long-before-hamas/134595/

Muhammad Shehada: Marching in Gaza, My Brother Risks Death - to Feel Free
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-marching-in-gaza-my-brother-risks-death-to-feel-free-1.5983629

Human Rights Organizations: Occupation Forces Violently Suppress Gaza March of Return Demonstration

Excerpt from Al Haq Report: The IOF’s use of force and lethal force against Palestinian protestors, including in the Gaza Strip on 30 March 2018, is in breach of international law and human rights standards. The IOF deliberately and systematically eases fire regulations and opens fire, including live fire, at Palestinian protestors, placing them at an imminent risk of physical injury. In fact, the IOF’s spokespersons have explicitly reiterated their readiness to counter the March protests throughout the Gaza Strip by all means necessary. This is in contradiction to Israel’s obligations as Occupying Power, and which require it to respect the right to life of the occupied population, refrain from using lethal force, and be guided by the principles of proportionality and necessity when resorting to the use of force. The Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials dictate an obligation to not resort to excessive and lethal force which should only be used “when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.

In fact, there is no necessity or consideration of proportionality stemming from the shooting of young Palestinians and families peacefully demonstrating, and at times escaping the IOF’s heavy fire, a common practice illustrated in the case of Abd Al-Fattah Abd Al-Nabi above. Where the IOF often shoots at Palestinian civilians in the upper parts of their bodies, this proves the IOF’s intent and policy of shoot-to-kill. On Friday, Palestinian youth wounded and killed during the protests were shot in the head, stomach, neck or face, while not posing an imminent threat to the lives of the fully armed soldiers stationed behind the border fence. Furthermore, in a post published by the IOF on their official Twitter account (“IDF Spokesperson”), which appears to have been deleted shortly after, “nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed,” proving knowledge and intent of the violations committed. The intentional and unjustified killings of protected persons during law enforcement operations may amount to wilful killing, a grave breach of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

http://alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/1206-30-march-15-palestinians-killed-more-than-a-thousand-injured-as-iof-violently-suppress-palestinian-protestors-in-the-gaza-strip

Amnesty International: Israeli forces must end the use of excessive force in response to “Great March of Return” protests
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/israelopt-israeli-forces-must-end-the-use-of-excessive-force-in-response-to-great-march-of-return-protests/

B'Tselem: On the unlawful shooting of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza
https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201804_if_the_heart_be_not_callous

Hamoked: Petition to the HCJ - revoke rules of engagement permitting live fire at non-dangerous demonstrators
http://www.hamoked.org/Document.aspx?dID=Updates1978

Human Rights Watch - Israel: Gaza Killings Unlawful, Calculated
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/03/israel-gaza-killings-unlawful-calculated

ICC: Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court regarding the worsening situation in Gaza
https://www.icc-cpi.int//Pages/item.aspx?name=180408-otp-stat

PCHR: On Third Friday of March of Return, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Civilian and Wound 398 Others, Including 50 Children, 8 Women and 17 in Critical Condition, Without Posing Threat or Danger to Israeli Soldiers’ Life
http://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=10661

Norman Finkelstein: Gaza - An Inquest Its Martydom

Based on scores of human rights reports, Norman G. Finkelstein's new book presents a meticulously researched inquest into Gaza’s martyrdom. He shows that although Israel has justified its assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions constituted flagrant violations of international law.

Link to Program & Transcript
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/20934/gaza-inquest-martyrdom

Extended interview with scholar Norman Finkelstein, author of the new book, “Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom.” The book has just been published as Israel is facing a possible International Criminal Court war crimes probe over its 2014 assault on Gaza, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, including over 500 children.

Link to Program & Transcript
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/10/gaza_an_inquest_into_its_martyrdom

Amnesty International Campaign: Israel's Occupation - 50 Years of Dispossession

For half a century, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinians living there.

Since the occupation first began in June 1967, Israel’s ruthless policies of land confiscation, illegal settlement and dispossession, coupled with rampant discrimination, have inflicted immense suffering on Palestinians, depriving them of their basic rights.

Israel’s military rule disrupts every aspect of daily life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It continues to affect whether, when and how Palestinians can travel to work or school, go abroad, visit their relatives, earn a living, attend a protest, access their farmland, or even access electricity or a clean water supply. It means daily humiliation, fear and oppression. People’s entire lives are effectively held hostage by Israel.

Israel has also adopted a complex web of military laws to crush dissent against its policies, and senior government officials have branded Israelis advocating for Palestinian rights as “traitors.”

Amnesty International Campaign
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/06/israel-occupation-50-years-of-dispossession/

Amnesty International: United States Must Stop ‘Propping Up’ Illegal, Israeli Settlements
https://medium.com/@amnestyusa/united-states-must-stop-propping-up-illegal-israeli-settlements-2604f6977fec

BADIL: International Community Must Act to End the Occupation
http://www.badil.org/en/publication/press-releases/86-2017/4789-pr-en-080617-41.html

Human Rights Watch: 50 Years of Occupation Abuses
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/04/israel-50-years-occupation-abuses

ICRC: Fifty Years of Occupation - Where do we go from here?
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/fifty-years-occupation-where-do-we-go-here

Jadaliyya Forum: Fifty Years of Occupation
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/26701/fifty-years-of-occupation_a-forum

Al Jazeera English: Palestine in Motion - Part 1
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2017/palestine-in-motion/marwan.html

Al Jazeera English: Palestine in Motion - Part 2 
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2017/palestine-in-motion/youth.html

Phillip Luther - Amnesty: Israel's occupation: 50 years of Palestinian oppression
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/cloneoffifty-years-israeli-occupation-1706080912-170608180555863.html

Al Mezan: 69 Years of the Nakba
http://www.mezan.org/en/post/21930/69%20Years%20of%20the%20Nakba

+972 Magazine Forum: Fifty Years Too Many
https://972mag.com/special/50-years-too-many/

OCHA: 50 Stories of Palestinian Life Under Occupation
https://www.ochaopt.org/50Stories/index.html

Sarah Leah Whitson - HRW: Chipping Away at 50 Years of Occupation
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/05/chipping-away-50-years-occupation

Gaza 2017 - Now is the Time to Open Gaza (Association of Int'l Development Agencies)

Link to Infographic

http://opengaza.com/assets/AIDA-infographic.pdf

OCHA: Humanitarian Impact of the Internal Palestinian Divide on Gaza Strip - June 2017

https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-impact-internal-palestinian-divide-gaza-strip-june-2017

Gisha Report: 50 Shades of Control

http://gisha.org/50shades-en/

The occupation looks different in Areas A, B, and C.   This is what it looks like in Area G, Gaza.



B'Tselem: Israel destroying Gaza’s fishing sector

In 2000, Gaza had about 10,000 fishermen. Today, the Gaza Fishermen’s Association has only some 4,000 fishermen registered, who are the breadwinners for approximately 50,000 persons. This figure, however, is misleading as half the registered fishermen are actually out of work, since their boats are out of commission and cannot be repaired due to the shortage in necessary raw materials. Ninety-five percent of Gaza’s fishermen live under the poverty line, defined as a monthly income of less than 2,293 ILS (roughly 600 USD) for a family of five. These families rely on humanitarian aid, and belong to the 80% of Gaza’s overall population who rely on humanitarian aid.

The decline of Gaza’s fishing sector is a direct result of Israel’s policy, which includes severe restrictions on marine access, fishing exports, and the entry of raw materials into Gaza, as well as harassment of fishermen.

Full Report
http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20170129_killing_the_fishing_sector

Al Haq: Deadly Catch - Israel Systematically Attacks Gaza’s Fishermen (64 pages)
http://www.alhaq.org/publications/publications-index/item/israel-s-deadly-catch

EI: Braving Israeli bullets in Gaza's sea 
https://electronicintifada.net/content/braving-israeli-bullets-gazas-sea/19346

IMEU: Fishing to the Limit in Gaza via @JehadSaftawi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C4bss2_83s

PCHR: Israeli Attacks on Fishermen in the Gaza Sea 
http://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=8716

Oxfam: The Dairy Sector in the Gaza Strip
https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bn-dairy-sector-gaza-strip-190117-en.pdf

Gisha: Hand on the Switch - Who’s responsible for Gaza’s infrastructure crisis?

The dire state of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure is often raised by Israel and within the international community as a source of concern. The discourse on Gaza’s infrastructure problems and possible solutions for them tends to focus on the gap between the actual and the desired state of affairs, and the immense challenge involved in bridging it, whether technical or financial. There have been too few discussions about accountability for the current situation, let alone much clarity about the duties of those responsible for maintaining or improving Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, and thus providing for the critical needs of its population.

Previous Gisha reports have summarized our analysis of the legal status of Gaza, and looked at the ways in which Israel continues to control the lives of Gaza residents or yield significant influence over them. In this report, we review the impact various actors have had, actively or through omission, on the functioning of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – particularly energy, water, sewage and communications infrastructure. Though we take into consideration the role played by each of the relevant actors – Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the de facto Hamas government in Gaza and the international community, given our position as an Israeli human rights organization, we seek to engage mainly our own government, that is, the Israeli government. By highlighting the elements of control Israel maintains over daily life in Gaza, and clarifying its tremendous influence, our goal is to assert that along with control comes responsibility to uphold human rights and ensure Gaza residents can lead normal lives.

Full Report - 34 pages
http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/infrastructure/Hand_on_the_Switch-EN.pdf

The Concrete Ceiling – Women in Gaza on the impact of the closure on women in the workforce
http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/women_gaza_17/women_gaza_17_en.pdf

Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Urge ICC Prosecutor to Investigate Persecution Arising Out of Ongoing Gaza Closure

Palestinian human rights groups urged the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to examine the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip, which has denied two million Palestinians a panoply of fundamental rights for nearly a decade, as the crime against humanity of persecution under the Rome Statute. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and Addameer submitted a 145-page file to the ICC Prosecutor setting out the factual and legal basis for the case.

Since June 2007, Israel has instituted a comprehensive closure on the Gaza Strip in which it has denied the free movement of people and goods into and out of Gaza, amounting to collective punishment. The Gaza Strip, a constituent part of the State of Palestine, is frequently described as the world’s largest open-air prison.

“The siege on Gaza is unprecedented and is a form of collective punishment. The aim of the closure and the occupation is to de-develop Gaza, to strip Palestinians of their dignity and send Gazan society back to the Middle Ages,” said Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR.  “Israel’s absolute control over Gaza’s borders and population has set back generations of Palestinians who cannot travel, access education, receive medical treatment, or engage with the outside world. The ICC must urgently proceed to investigate the crimes against the Palestinian population in Gaza.”

Issam Younis, Director Al Mezan, further stated that "efforts to ease the closure – which is cruel by design and amounts to a crisis of dignity – have been woefully unsuccessful, as evidenced by the ineffectiveness of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism. A full lifting of the closure is required and the protection of civilians must be ensured.”

Press Release
http://alhaq.org/advocacy/targets/international-criminal-court-icc/1087-investigate-persecution-arising-out-of-ongoing-gaza-closure-palestinian-human-rights-organizations-urge-icc-prosecutor

Executive Summary - 5 pages
http://alhaq.org/publications/papers/ExecutiveSummaryFinal.Nov2016.pdf

ICC Submission - 145 pages
http://alhaq.org/publications/papers/22.Nov.GAZA.CLOSURE.pdf

B'Tselem: Whitewash Protocol - The So-Called Investigation of Operation Protective Edge

Two years ago, in the summer of 2014, another “round of fighting” between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip took place. Israel called it Operation Protective Edge. In term of harm to Palestinians, it was the deadliest and most destructive bout of hostilities since 1967. During Operation Protective Edge, Israel killed 2,202 Palestinians, hundreds of them in their homes. Sixty-three percent, or 1,391, did not take part in the fighting, including 526 minors. It is estimated that 18,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and that more than 100,000 Palestinians were rendered homeless.

This extensive harm raised grave concerns that Israel had breached international humanitarian law (IHL). The only official body in Israel supposedly investigating these concerns is the Military Advocate General’s Corps (MAG Corps), which announced that it had begun its investigations before the fighting ended. However, much like investigations into previous rounds of fighting, once again, there are no investigations of the true culprits: Neither government officials nor senior military commanders, who devised the policy, were responsible for the orders and made operational decisions during the fighting – were ever investigated by any official body nor held to account for their responsibility for the devastating effects of their decisions. Two years after the fact, there has been no investigation of policy issues, including the policy of targeting inhabited homes, which resulted in the Israeli military killing hundreds of people; the policy of indiscriminate artillery fire at inhabited areas; and the policy of destroying farmland and thousands of homes.

Summary

http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201609_whitewash_protocol

Full Report 

http://www.btselem.org/download/201609_whitewash_protocol_eng.pdf

Samer Badawi: With no justice on the horizon for Gaza, what comes next?

https://972mag.com/with-no-justice-on-the-horizon-for-gaza-what-comes-next/122129/

The Gaza Strip: Two Years Later

The vast majority of the 1.9 million people living in Gaza were affected by the hostilities and the large-scale damage to infrastructure. In the two years since the end of the hostilities, the UN has worked closely with the Palestinian government, local communities and the private sector – as well as with other parts of the international community, including NGOs, the World Bank and Member States - to promote reconstruction and recovery in Gaza.

This paper provides a snapshot of the progress made in the last two years as well as the main challenges in the recovery and reconstruction effort, from the perspective of the UN Country Team in the State of Palestine. The report examines the wider imperative of reversing Gaza’s current development trajectory and of responding to the residual humanitarian needs of a population that in the past decade has experienced a number of military operations and had to deal with the impact of living under an Israeli blockade, restricting the movement of people as well as goods and affecting every aspect of daily life in the Gaza Strip.

Full UN Report 
http://www.ochaopt.org/sites/default/files/gaza_war_2_years_after_english.pdf

Adalah: Gaza 2 Years On - Impunity over Accountability
https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/REPORT_Gaza_Obstacles_English_28_Aug_2016.pdf

Amnesty International: Time to Address Impunity 2 Years After the Israel/Gaza War
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/israel-opt-two-years-on-still-no-justice-for-war-crimes-victims/

Gisha: Two Years - 360 degrees
http://features.gisha.org/two-years-360/

Gisha: Two Years Later - Long Road to Reconstruction and Recovery
http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/2_years_later/Reconstruction_EN.pdf

IMEU: Fishing to the Limit in Gaza 
http://imeu.org/video/fishing-to-the-limit-in-gaza

Medical Aid for Palestinians: The 2014 attacks on Gaza's Healthcare System, two years on
https://spark.adobe.com/page/lGERG/

OCHA: Two Years since the 2014 hostilities
http://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-two-years-2014-hostilities-august-2016

Shelter Cluster - Palestine: Construction Material Tracking for Gaza
http://shelterpalestine.org/Upload/Doc/3da99729-8741-4ad0-a2d9-424a76d3e6b4.pdf

Gaza In Context: A Pedagogical Project

It has been two years since Israel launched one of its most brutal attacks on the Palestinian people of Gaza. For 51 days, Israel waged a ground and aerial attack on a besieged population and killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 1462 civilians, of whom 551 were children; orphaned 1,500 children; left 370,000 children in need of psychosocial treatment; completely destroyed 18,000 homes; and, at the height of the onslaught, displaced half a million Palestinians. During the onslaught, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were killed.

For decades, the mainstream narrative has cast Gaza as the problem, even as Israel has engaged in excessive and brutal force and collective punishment in the form of occupation, siege, and frequent military assaults. This conversation has led to the treatment of Israel’s assaults on the coastal enclave as a national security issue, exceptional and distinct from the broader question of Palestine.

Now, a new pedagogical project, Gaza in Context, aims to correct the biases and misrepresentations reproduced, again and again, in mainstream media and educational coverage. The project provides historical context, situating Gaza within the larger narrative of Israeli settler-colonialism. Its lesson: Israel does not have a Hamas problem; it does not have a Gaza problem; it has a Palestine problem.

The project’s components include a teaching guide for instructional purposes, a bibliography for research purposes, and a compendium of Jadaliyya articles featured in what we call a Jad Mag.

The 20-minute film is available in four five-minute parts, and each part is accompanied by a teaching guide that can be used in the classroom and beyond.

Full Article
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-real-reason-israel-attacks-gaza/

Website
www.gazaincontext.com

Research & Resources
http://www.gazaincontext.com/research-and-resources.html

Film takes aim at media coverage of 2014 Gaza attacks
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/film-takes-aim-media-coverage-2014-gaza-attacks

Gaza in Context says root of conflict is quest for Palestinian land, without Palestinians 
http://mondoweiss.net/2016/07/conflict-palestinian-palestinians/

Campaigns against Gaza are a continuation of a campaign against all Palestinians http://www.salon.com/2016/07/19/campaigns_against_gaza_are_a_continuation_of_a_campaign_against_all_palestinians_the_directors_of_gaza_in_context_on_their_new_film/

B'Tselem: The Occupation's Fig Leaf - Israel's Military Law Enforcement System as a Whitewash Mechanism

The military law enforcement system is supposed to handle complaints filed against soldiers for harm caused to Palestinians in the West Bank, including cases of violence and gunfire that resulted in injury or death. Such harm is endemic to the occupation, which has been in place for nearly fifty years.

The role of the military law enforcement system has been narrowly defined to begin with: it investigates only specific incidents in which soldiers are suspected to have acted in breach of the orders or directives they were given. The system does not investigate the orders themselves nor the responsibility of those who issue them or determine the policy. As such, the system is oriented toward low ranking soldiers only, while senior military and government officials, including the Military Advocate General (MAG), are absolved in advance of any responsibility. In this state of affairs, even if the system had fulfilled its tasks, its contribution to law enforcement would still remain limited. However, an examination of the operation of the military law enforcement system indicates that it makes no attempt to fulfill even this limited mandate.

Since the second intifada began in late 2000, B’Tselem has demanded an investigation in 739 cases in which soldiers killed, injured, beat or used Palestinians as human shields, or damaged Palestinian property.  An analysis of the responses B’Tselem received as to how the military law enforcement system handled these 739 cases shows that in a quarter (182) no investigation was ever launched, in nearly half (343), the investigation was closed with no further action, and only in very rare instances (25), were charges brought against the implicated soldiers. Another thirteen cases were referred for disciplinary action. A total of 132 cases are still at various processing stages, and the MAG Corps was unable to locate 44 others.

Summary 
http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201605_occupations_fig_leaf 

Full Report - 81 pages 
http://www.btselem.org/download/201605_occupations_fig_leaf_eng.pdf

+972 Magazine: Leading Israeli rights group to stop cooperating with the IDF
http://972mag.com/leading-israeli-rights-group-to-stop-cooperating-with-the-idf/119570/

Al Jazeera: Report slams Israel's military law enforcement system
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/report-slams-israel-military-law-enforcement-system-160523090208551.html

Ma'an News Agency: 'We became subcontractors to the occupation'- B'Tselem ends work with Israeli army
http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771626

Mondoweiss: Leading Israeli human rights group says ‘no longer any point’ to filing complaints against soldiers
http://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/israeli-complaints-soldiers/

Gisha Report: Split apart - Civil society organizations in Gaza in their own words

Civil society organizations operate in the vast space between government and the population, providing services, advancing legislation, and holding authorities accountable for their actions. Musically gifted children, youth-at-risk, women, athletes with disabilities and brilliant computer programmers alike rely on the services and expertise of the third sector. Dozens of civil society organizations operate in the Gaza Strip and answer to the diverse and critical needs of a large segment of the population. It is hard to grasp why Israel would overlook the importance of their work and deny them travel between the parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as abroad, but this is the reality of the situation.

Israel’s policy, which separates Palestinians living in Gaza and Palestinians living in the West Bank, has dire effects on everyday life. Only recently, we showed how the separation policy impacts the Palestinian economy, mostly, though not exclusively, in Gaza. We also demonstrated how it tears apart families with members living in either part of the Palestinian territory. Today we publish a new report, a unique, even ground-breaking document, which is the result of a series of meetings held in Gaza with dozens of representatives of civil society organizations, in which they were given the opportunity to speak about the situation in their own words.

The report is based on focus groups and conversations with 32 organizations from five sectors: women’s organizations, cultural organizations, human rights organizations, humanitarian organizations that offer health and mental health services, particularly to persons with special needs, and development organizations. We heard from them about the difficulties access restrictions present, the heavy toll of the factional split on Palestinian society and the unfulfilled potential of their work and of Palestinian civil society in general.

Introduction
http://gisha.org/en-blog/2016/04/20/split-apart-civil-society-organizations-in-gaza-in-their-own-words/

Full Report - 14 pages
http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/civil_society/Split_apart_en.pdf

UN OCHA: Gaza Strip - Internally Displaced Persons

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) released the findings of an unprecedented profiling exercise of Palestinian families internally displaced in the Gaza Strip as a result of the 2014 escalation of hostilities.

“After hearing from over 16,000 displaced families in the Gaza Strip, it is clear that most continue to live in desperate conditions,” said Robert Piper, UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities. “International support to end this situation is urgently needed.”

According to the survey, over 80 per cent of families borrowed money to get by in the past year, over 85 per cent purchased most of their food on credit, and over 40 per cent have decreased their consumption of food. Most IDP households (62.5 per cent) reported that they are renting living space, including from extended family members, and nearly 50 per cent fear being evicted from their accommodation. The situation of women and girls is of particular concern. Many families report living in shelter conditions that are lacking in safety, dignity and privacy, including living in tents, makeshift shelters, destroyed houses, or the open air. These needs come in the context of prolonged occupation, including the eight-year-long Israeli blockade and three outbreaks of hostilities since 2008.

Press Release 
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/english_idp_statement_final.pdf

Full Report - 17 pages
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/idps_report_april_2016_english.pdf

UN: 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza still displaced from 2014 war
http://972mag.com/un-75000-palestinians-in-gaza-still-displaced-from-2014-war/118552/

PCHR Report: Actual Strangulation & Deceptive Facilitation in the Gaza Strip - Israeli Closure’s Impacts on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

This report covering the reporting period (15 June 2014 – 14 June 2015) documents the state of the Gaza Strip’s border crossings. Further, it presents comprehensive statistics on the border crossings showing the latest developments at the crossings and the impacts on the civilians’ rights. The report also refutes the Israeli claims on the alleged “easing” of the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip.

This report also documents the movement at the crossings used for people, mainly the cruel restrictions imposed on the movement of the Gaza Strip population through Beit Hanoun crossing, which is their sole outlet to the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem and/or Israel; and Rafah International Crossing Point, which is their main outlet to the world. The report also addresses the impact of the restrictions imposed on 1.8 million and depriving them of their right to movement to the world or West Bank to have access to hospitals, universities, holy sites and relatives.

The report reviews the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and deterioration of economic, social and cultural rights of the Gaza population due to the serious and long-term impacts of the closure policy. It particularly sheds light on the violations of the rights to an adequate standard of living; adequate housing; education; health and economic rights.

The report also emphasizes the violation of the Gaza population’s right to an adequate standard of living and the high rate of families suffering from food insecurity and facing difficulties in obtaining food and potable water. It also documents the suffering of population resulting from violation of their right to adequate housing and building new houses, the imposition of restrictions on the entry of construction materials in addition to the failure of the UN Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism. The report also tackles the deterioration of economic indicators and how thousands of Palestinian families lost their source of income as thousands of workers in various economic sectors in the Gaza Strip lost their workplaces and became unemployed. It also sheds light on the high rate of Palestinian families living under the poverty line and how the unemployment rates increased unprecedentedly due to the almost-total paralysis of all economic sectors.

Full Report - 44 pages (PDF)
http://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Gaza-Strip-Actual-Strangulation.pdf

The Gaza Strip: Long Term Impact of the 2014 Hostilities on Women & Girls
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/women_factsheet_january2016_english.pdf

Human Rights Watch: Occupation, Inc.: How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel’s Violations of Palestinian Rights

Businesses should stop operating in, financing, servicing, or trading with Israeli settlements in order to comply with their human rights responsibilities.  Those activities contribute to and benefit from an inherently unlawful and abusive system that violates the rights of Palestinians.

The 162-page report, “Occupation, Inc.: How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel’s Violations of Palestinian Rights,” documents how settlement businesses facilitate the growth and operations of settlements. These businesses depend on and contribute to the Israeli authorities’ unlawful confiscation of Palestinian land and other resources.  They also benefit from these violations, as well as Israel’s discriminatory policies that provide privileges to settlements at the expense of Palestinians, such as access to land and water, government subsidies, and permits for developing land.

“Settlement businesses unavoidably contribute to Israeli policies that dispossess and harshly discriminate against Palestinians, while profiting from Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and other resources,” said Arvind Ganesan, director of the business and human rights division. “The only way for businesses to comply with their own human rights responsibilities is to stop working with and in Israeli settlements.”

More than a half million Israeli settlers live in 237 settlements throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including in East Jerusalem. Successive Israeli governments have facilitated this process, but businesses also play a critical role in establishing and expanding settlements, and enabling them to function.

Summary 
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/19/israel-businesses-should-end-settlement-activity

Full Report - 162 pp.
https://www.hrw.org/node/285045/ 

Detailed Q & A Press Release 
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/19/occupation-inc-how-settlement-businesses-contribute-israels-violations-palestinian

EI: End all business in Israeli settlements, says Human Rights Watch
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/end-all-business-israeli-settlements-says-human-rights-watch

HRW Dispatches: Corporations that Perpetuate Injustices in the Settlements
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/20/dispatches-corporations-perpetuate-injustices-settlements

Al Jazeera: How settlement businesses sustain Israeli occupation
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/hrw-story-160119072213192.html

MSNBC: Group wants businesses out of West Bank
http://www.hulu.com/watch/895647#i0,p6,d1

The Nation: Human Rights Watch Calls on Businesses to Withdraw From Israeli Settlements
http://www.thenation.com/article/human-rights-watch-israel-settlements-bds/

Salon: Human Rights Watch calls on businesses to cease Israeli settlement-related activities
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/20/human_rights_watch_calls_on_businesses_to_cease_israeli_settlement_related_activities/

Al Shabaka: How Israeli Settlements Stifle Palestine’s Economy
https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/how-israeli-settlements-stifle-palestines-economy

TIME: Why Human Rights Watch Is Urging Companies to Pull Out of Israeli Settlements
http://time.com/4183059/why-human-rights-watch-is-urging-companies-to-pull-out-of-israeli-settlements/

EWASH: 2014 War on Gaza Strip - Participatory Environmental Impact Assessment

This report and its findings are based on participatory research in which more than ten experts and almost a thousand Palestinians from the Gaza Strip participated. The research aims to identify potential environmental impacts of the 2014 war on Gaza (Operation Protective Edge).  The assessment was conducted by a team of eight researchers, mostly new environmental science and environmental engineering graduates led by an environmental scientist.

As part of this study, 12 experts representing different governmental, educational, and non-governmental organizations interested in the issue of environment were interviewed. Additionally, 93 focus group sessions were conducted in 25 localities around the Gaza Strip in which 982 people participated.  In addition, air samples were gathered from ten locations around the Gaza Strip to investigate potential air pollution with particulate matters and lead.  Some municipalities’ staff members were brought in to investigate increased water pollution claims, and field trips were conducted to some communities to investigate claims of changes in the terrestrial ecosystems around the Strip.

In the following sections, we will discuss both the immediate and delayed potential environmental impacts of the 2014 war “Operation Protective Edge” on the Gaza Strip.  We will describe the assessment methodology in details. Then we will list and discuss the results of the outcomes of this assessment.  We will later recommend further investigations and assessment work in addition to some interventions to assist those who suffered the most from the environmental impacts of the war as identified by this assessment.

Full Report - 80 pp.
http://www.ewash.org/sites/default/files/inoptfiles/WAREIA_report_final-2.pdf

+972: IDF admits spraying herbicides inside the Gaza Strip
http://972mag.com/idf-admits-spraying-herbicides-inside-the-gaza-strip/115290/

Gisha: Gaza farmers - Israel sprayed herbicides in the Gaza Strip again
http://gisha.org/updates/4830

B'Tselem: Israel sprays Gazan farmland close to border fence, destroying crops and causing heavy losses
http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20160204_crops_sprayed_with_herbicide

Al Jazeera: Israel spraying toxins over Palestinian crops in Gaza
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/israel-spraying-toxins-palestinian-crops-gaza-160114063046813.html