Maandelijks archief: mei 2024

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

GAZA: ISRAELI STRIKED KILLING 106 CIVILIANS 

AN APPARENT WAR CRIME

4 APRIL 2024

Governments Should Suspend Arms to Israel, Support ICC Probe

• Israeli forces unlawfully attacked a residential building in Gaza on October 31, 2023, absent any apparent military target, killing at least 106 civilians, including 54 children.
• Scores of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since October 7 have caused thousands of civilian casualties, underscoring the greater risk of unlawful attacks from explosive weapons in populated areas.
• Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel, support the International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine, and impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for laws-of-war violations.

(Jerusalem, April 4, 2024) – An Israeli airstrike on a six-story apartment building sheltering hundreds of people in central Gaza on October 31, 2023, is an apparent war crime, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack, which killed at least 106 civilians, including 54 children, is among the deadliest single incidents for civilians since the Israeli government’s bombardment and ground incursion into Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7.

Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity of the building at the time of the Israeli attack, making the strike unlawfully indiscriminate under the laws of war. Israeli authorities have provided no justification for the attack. The Israeli military’s long track record of failing to credibly investigate alleged war crimes underscores the importance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s inquiry into serious crimes committed by all parties to the conflict.

“Israel’s unlawful airstrike on an apartment building on October 31 killed at least 106 people, including children playing football, residents charging phones in the ground-floor grocery store, and displaced families seeking safety,” said Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “This strike inflicted massive civilian casualties without an apparent military target – one of scores of attacks causing overwhelming carnage, and highlighting the urgency of the ICC probe.”

Between January and March 2024, Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with 16 people about the October 31 attack on the residential Engineers’ Building, and the death of their relatives and others. Human Rights Watch analyzed satellite imagery, 35 photographs, and 45 videos of the attack’s aftermath, as well as other relevant photographs and videos on social media. Human Rights Watch was unable to visit the site because Israeli authorities have blocked virtually all entry into Gaza at its crossings since October 7. Israel has repeatedly denied Human Rights Watch requests to enter Gaza over the last 16 years.

Witnesses said that on October 31, 350 or more people were staying at the Engineers’ Building, just south of the Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 150 were seeking shelter after fleeing their homes elsewhere in Gaza.

Without warning, at about 2:30 p.m., four aerial munitions struck the building within about 10 seconds. The building was completely demolished.

Two brothers said that they rushed out of their nearby homes to look for their two children and their nephew, whom they knew were outside playing football. One of the men said he found his 11-year-old son lying under concrete bars in the rubble: “The back of his head was cracked open, one of his legs seemed barely connected to his body and part of his face was burned, but he seemed to be alive. We freed him in seconds, but he died in the ambulance. We buried him the same day.” All three boys died in the attack.

None of the witnesses interviewed said they had received or heard about any warning from Israeli authorities to evacuate the building before the strike.

Human Rights Watch confirmed the identities of 106 people killed through interviews with relatives of some of the victims, including 34 women, 18 men, and 54 children. The total number of dead is most likely higher. Airwars, a nongovernmental organization that investigates civilian harm in conflict zones, identified in open-source materials 112 names of people killed, including 96 identified by both organizations, as well as 19 other people not by name but through their relationship to other victims in their family.

Human Rights Watch interviewed two people involved in the recovery of bodies from the rubble of the building, who said that on the afternoon of the attack they worked together with others and helped recover about 60 bodies, and that over the next four days, they together recovered about 80 more bodies. A third person said that he helped recover bodies from the rubble for 12 days after the attack. It is possible that other bodies remain under the rubble.

The Israeli authorities have not publicly provided any information about the attack, including the intended target and any precautions to minimize harm to civilians. They have also not responded to a March 13 Human Rights Watch letter summarizing the findings and requesting specific information.

The laws of war prohibit attacks that target civilians and civilian objects, that do not discriminate between civilians and combatants, or that are expected to cause harm to civilians or civilian objects that is disproportionate to any anticipated military advantage. Indiscriminate attacks include attacks that are not directed at a specific military target or use a method or means of combat whose effects cannot be limited as required. Warring parties must take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, including by providing effective advance warnings of attacks unless circumstances do not permit, and by sparing civilians under their control from the effects of attacks. Serious violations of the laws of war committed by individuals with criminal intent – that is, deliberately or recklessly – are war crimes.

The absence of a military objective would render the attack on the Engineers’ Building unlawfully deliberate or indiscriminate, Human Rights Watch said. The fact that the building was hit four times strongly suggests that the munitions were intended to hit the building and that the strike was not the result of a malfunction or misdirection. Even the presence of a valid military target would raise issues about the attack being disproportionate, given the visible and expected presence of large numbers of civilians in and around the building.

The strike is one of hundreds of attacks that the Israeli military has carried out in Gaza that have killed or injured Palestinian civilians since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in the killing of more than 1,100 people and resulted in about 240 others taken hostage. Airwars has credibly reported that 195 likely attacks by the Israeli military killed from 1 to 9 civilians, 107 attacks killed between 10 and 59, and 4 killed between 60 and 139. As of April 1, Airwars had also collected preliminary information about civilian casualties in another 3,358 attacks most likely involving Israeli airstrikes.

These attacks underscore the devastating harm to civilians and the increased likelihood of unlawful attacks when explosive weapons with wide-area effects are used in densely populated areas. All governments should support the November 2022 Political Declaration that seeks to curb the use of such weapons in populated cities and towns.

The Gaza Health Ministry has reported that from October 7 to March 31, more than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 13,000 children and 9,000 women, and 75,000 injured. This includes the killing of at least 2,400 people in March alone. The statistics do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Haaretz newspaper reported in February that the Israeli military was investigating “dozens of cases” in which its forces may have violated the laws of war. It is not clear whether the attack on the Engineers’ Building on October 31 is one of those cases.

Israel’s allies should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit systematic and widespread laws-of-war violations against Palestinian civilians with impunity. Governments that continue to provide arms to the Israeli government risk complicity in war crimes. They should also use their leverage, including through targeted sanctions, to press Israeli authorities to cease committing grave abuses.

“The staggering number of Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, shows deadly disregard for civilian life and points to many more possible war crimes that need to be investigated,” Simpson said. “Other governments should press the Israeli government to end unlawful attacks, and immediately halt arms transfers to Israel to save civilian lives and avoid complicity in war crimes.”

For more details on the attack on the Engineers’ Building and other Israeli airstrikes, please see below.

Hostilities between Israel and Palestinian Armed Groups

On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters breached the fences separating Israel and Gaza, and entered southern Israel. They attacked at least 19 kibbutzim, 3 moshavim (collective communities), 2 cities, a music festival, and a beach party, where they deliberately killed civilians, and also attacked military bases. At least 1,100 people were killed, the majority of them civilians, according to Israeli officials.

The attackers took about 240 people hostage, including children, people with disabilities, and older people. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have also since October 7 launched thousands of rockets at Israeli towns, violating the prohibition against indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects. The deliberate killing of civilians and captured combatants, taking of hostages, and indiscriminate rocket attacks are serious violations of the laws of war that are war crimes.

The hostilities that began on October 7, like the fighting in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, and 2021, took place amid Israel’s sweeping, unlawful closure of the Gaza Strip, which began in 2007. Human Rights Watch determined in 2021 that the Israeli government’s repressive rule over Palestinians amounts to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.

During previous hostilities, Israeli forces repeatedly carried out indiscriminate airstrikes that killed and injured numerous civilians – wiping out entire families – with no evident military targets in the vicinity. Strikes have targeted and destroyed high-rise towers in Gaza full of residences and businesses.

Since October 7, the Israeli authorities have cut off essential services, including water and electricity, to Gaza, which constitutes collective punishment, and blocked the entry and distribution of life-saving assistance, including food, water, and medicine, which are war crimes. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on January 31 that the population of Gaza is “starving to death.” Human Rights Watch has documented that the Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime.

The Israeli military has reported that between October 7 and February 20, it carried out 31,000 airstrikes in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have hit large residential buildings, food aid distribution centers, medical facilities, humanitarian worker residential compounds, schools, shelters, universities, water infrastructure and wells, and reduced large parts of neighborhoods to rubble, including in attacks that were apparently unlawful and should be investigated as possible war crimes. Israeli forces have also unlawfully used white phosphorous in Gaza. Amnesty International has also documented airstrikes killing civilians.

The primary United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), estimated that as of mid-March, about 1.7 million people in Gaza had been displaced from their homes: about 75 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million. Israeli military authorities have ordered the majority of Gaza’s population to evacuate their homes, risking the war crime of forced displacement.

On October 10, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry stated that there was “clear evidence” of war crimes in Israel and Gaza and that it would share information with relevant judicial authorities, including the International Criminal Court.

Israeli Airstrike on the Engineers’ Building

At about 2:30 p.m. on October 31, an Israeli airstrike involving four munitions struck and destroyed the six-story Mohandiseen (Engineers’) Building, also known as the Engineers’ Tower, according to witnesses. The building was in a residential area, about 400 meters from the southern limits of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The Human Rights Watch investigation found no indication of a military objective in or near the building on October 31.

Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with 16 people who had knowledge of the attack. Seven described what they saw during and immediately afterward, including one survivor who was in the building, three who were in their homes nearby at the time of the attack and who lost relatives, two who lost relatives and who lived in the building but had left just before the attack, and one who lived nearby who didn’t lose any relatives in the attack. Human Rights Watch also spoke with five relatives of people killed who live outside Gaza. Four other people who lived near the building but who did not see the aftermath, including one who lost relatives in the attack, also gave researchers the names of people whom they learned had been killed.

Human Rights Watch confirmed the identities of 106 people killed in the attack, and 2 of those injured, through interviews with their relatives. The dead include 34 women, 18 men and 54 children. The injured include a 17-year-old girl and a woman.

 Identities of People Killed in the Israeli Airstrike on the Engineers’ Building in Gaza

103 of the dead were from 14 families that were staying in the building. The other three, from two other families, were the boys who lived about 60 meters away and had been playing football in the street.

Airwars reviewed social media and other open sources for information about the attack, and found mentions of the names of 112 people killed, as well as mentions of 19 other people identified only through their relationship to other victims in their family. These include 42 women, 22 men, 62 children, and 5 people whose ages are unknown. Airwars also found in open sources the names of 6 people who were injured. The dead are from 22 families.

Both organizations identified 96 of those killed by name, while Airwars alone identified an additional 15 by name, and Human Rights Watch alone identified an additional 9 by name.

The two organizations between them identified 136 people killed in the attack: 44 women, 22 men, 65 children, and 5 people whose age is unknown. They were from 24 families: Abu Daqqa, Abdeljawad, Abdelrahman, Abdo, Abu Jazar, Abu Jiyab, Abu Saeed, Agha, Ali, Dabaki, Farkh, Hanafi, Ijla, Jweifel, Kuhail, Mabhouh, Mubasher, Quqa, Sadoudi, Saleha, Shaheen, Sharif, Thawabta and Younis.

Human Rights Watch was unable to establish how many of the bodies were recovered and how many remain under the rubble. It is possible, though unlikely, that people whose bodies were not recovered survived and relocated elsewhere in Gaza without their families’ knowledge.

The Engineers’ Building: Sheltering, Serving Hundreds

Verified photographs of the Engineers’ Building posted online prior to the attack show a six-story building, 25 by 25 meters, and about 20 meters high.

Residents and others familiar with the building said it had 20 apartments of about 150 square meters on five floors, which were full of people during the hostilities. In the early afternoon, the small ground-floor grocery store was usually thronged with people wanting to charge their phones there amid Israel’s electricity cuts. The store could offer this service because the building was partially powered by 16 solar panels on its roof. The ground floor also had a gym, a poultry shop, and a video games arcade.

While the origin of the building’s name is unclear, no accounts suggested that the building was being used for engineering purposes. One resident said that the building got its name from the engineers’ union that built it for its members. Another said the building was owned by an engineering consultancy office. A third person said that many of the engineers and their families who had originally lived in the building had since moved out, leaving three known engineering families, and that over time other people had moved in.

Based on interviews and other sources, Human Rights Watch estimates that as of October 31, at least 350 people were staying in the building, including about 125 people known to have been crammed into just 5 apartments. The total includes at least 200 residents and at least 150 displaced Gaza residents, including dozens sheltering in the gym. Some of the displaced people sheltering in the building had followed the Israeli military’s October 13 directive to residents of northern Gaza to move south of Wadi Gaza, a coastal wetland that cuts across Gaza from west to east. They included at least 23 members of an extended family who fled Gaza City and who were all killed in the attack: Eman Khaled Abu Said, her husband, their two children, and her parents, as well as five of her siblings and 11 other relatives. Human Rights Watch obtained from Eman Abu Said’s sister, Israa Abu Said, the names of 23 members of the extended family who were killed in the attack.

It is unclear how many people were in the building, including at the grocery store, at the time of the attack.

Streets Filled with Children Playing at Time of Attack

Neighbors said that streets near the Engineers’ Building were bustling with local residents just before the attack.

Rami Abdo, who lived about 60 meters away, said that about half an hour before the attack, one of his sons, Mohammed Rami Abdo, 11, and two of his nephews, Mohammed Hatem Abdo, 13, and Mohammed Nidal al-Mabhouh, 8, had gone outside to play football with dozens of other children just outside one of the entrances to the building. All three boys died in the attack.

A local resident said that just before the attack, the building was the only place in the area that had electricity and that she saw many people charging their phones in the grocery store.

The Attack and Its Immediate Aftermath

Ameera Shaheen, her husband, daughter and parents had fled their home in al-Moghraqa village in central Gaza the day before the attack after the Israeli military told residents to evacuate the area. They moved into a third-floor apartment in the Engineers’ Building where her aunt, Wafa’ Shaheen, her family of four and about 15 other relatives were staying. She said:

There was nothing worrying at all before the attack. Almost all of us were sitting in two rooms, one for men and one for women. Some of us were laughing. We had just baked bread. There were no signs or warning or any feeling of danger. We felt safe because it was an apartment building full of civilians.

Suddenly, there was an explosion and we started screaming. I remember thinking it hadn’t destroyed the building. And then I was falling, and then I lost consciousness. I woke up later that day in the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital. I only had bruises. I don’t remember anything about waking up, but my relatives told me that I started screaming and calling for my daughter, asking them to go and rescue her although she was sitting there next to me, on my hospital bed.

Shaheen said that the attack killed 20 of her relatives, including 6 women, 7 men, and 7 children.

Hatem Abdo, who lived about 60 meters from the building, said the last time he saw his 13-year-old son, Mohammed, was an hour or so before the attack when he left the house:

Mohammed always used to play football in the street close by with his cousins and other children. At about 2:30 p.m. I was napping at home. Suddenly there were four explosions, with about two or three seconds between each blast. After the first explosion, I woke up and looked out of the window.

I saw about 50 children and some young men in the street, near the southern side of the Engineers’ building. I saw that the northern side of the building had been hit. Immediately, the second bomb hit the southern side, which I could see clearly from my home. I saw debris from the building falling and trapping about 20 of the children, as well as some of the adults.

Then the third bomb hit the top of the building, right in the middle, and the entire building came down, causing a huge black cloud of smoke and dust. It smelled like gunpowder. Then, the fourth one hit, which I didn’t see because of all the dust and smoke.

His brother, Rami Abdo, who lived with his family in the apartment below, was also at home at the time of the attack and said his son was playing football with his cousins and other children outside. He said he heard four explosions “which happened almost at the same time” and that the glass and debris from their building injured two of his daughters in the living room.

Another woman who lived about 30 meters away said she heard “three or four loud bombs explode.”

Both Rami and Hatem Abdo ran out of their building moments after the attack to find the young boys from their families. When they reached the street in front of the destroyed building, Rami said he saw “about 20 burned bodies” in the street, including the bodies of 3 children he recognized from the Abu Rahma family, who he said lived in the building. Hatem said he saw “dozens of bodies in the street,” some near and partially under the rubble of the building next to where it had stood, while others were dozens of meters away.

Both men then found their sister’s son, Mohammed Nidal al-Mabhouh, 8, who was still alive but badly burned, and they took him to an ambulance, which transported him to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. He died about eight weeks later. They then found Rami’s son, Mohammed Rami Abdo, 11, under concrete bars in the rubble of the building. Although the men said they quickly freed Mohammed, he died in an ambulance shortly afterward.

Both men then searched for Hatem’s son, Mohammed Hatem Abdo, 13, but could not find him. While looking for him, they helped carry the dead to waiting ambulances. Hatem estimated he helped carry about 60 bodies, mostly children and women, most found on the southern side of the building, including some recovered from rubble on the street. Medics later informed Hatem that his son had been found dead in the street, about 100 meters from the building.

Naheed Mahmoud lived close to the Engineers’ Building after fleeing her home. She lost six of her nieces, a nephew, and her sister’s mother-in-law in the attack. Her sister, Ola Mahmoud Jweifel, 39, and Ola’s only surviving daughter, Nada Hisham Jweifel, 17, who had moved into an apartment on the fourth floor of the Engineers’ Building in July 2023, were injured, with Nada requiring over 10 surgeries to one of her legs. As soon as the third or fourth explosion had happened and it was clear that the attack was over, Naheed ran to the building to find her sister and her sister’s children:

I was screaming and yelling and so was everyone else. The area was immediately filled with people, journalists, and civil defense [body providing emergency services and rescue], so we couldn’t reach the building. The situation was terrible. People were trying to free those trapped under the rubble using anything they could.

After some time, someone told me they found my sister Ola under the rubble. It took until about four hours after the attack to free her. She had a broken pelvis, a broken spine, a broken clavicle bone, and her whole body was black and blue from [being bruised by] the rubble. Then they said they had found her daughter, my niece, Nada. Her upper body was visible, but her lower body was crushed under the rubble. One of her legs was split open from top to bottom. Her blood was everywhere. She was in severe pain, yelling and screaming, and the other leg started to get bigger and bigger. It took until about 11 p.m. that night to free her.

Human Rights Watch spoke with Karam al-Sharif, an UNRWA employee, who lost five of his children and five other relatives in the attack. Three photographs taken by an Associated Press photographer on October 31 at the destroyed Engineers’ Building show al-Sharif standing in the rubble on October 31, holding one of his 18-month-old twin boys who were killed. The Associated Press also reported on the deaths of four of the five children who were killed.

Thirty-five photographs and 45 videos posted on social media and by media outlets and verified by Human Rights Watch show many victims and survivors and the Engineers’ Building reduced to rubble, with significant debris on the northeast, southeast and southwest sides of the building. Human Rights Watch matched the nearby buildings, trees, and roads visible in the footage with satellite imagery to confirm they showed the attacked building. Human Rights Watch also verified an aerial video that showed the building completely flattened. A photograph posted to Facebook on October 31, taken from the Salah al-Din Road approximately 225 meters southeast of the building, shows two large, dark columns of smoke rising from the location of the Engineers’ Building.

Satellite imagery taken at 10:23 a.m. local time on October 31 shows no signs of damage. Imagery taken at 10:18 a.m. local time on November 1 shows that the building is destroyed.

Human Rights Watch determined that the building most likely sustained direct hits from four air-launched munitions. Human Rights Watch found no evidence of remnants at the scene that might have helped identify the weapon. However, the blast damage and the resulting demolition of the building is consistent with the explosive payload of large air-delivered munitions. Witnesses described four munitions striking the building in quick succession, demolishing it. This is consistent with the Israeli military’s past targeting and destruction of buildings through the use of large, air-dropped munitions.

No Known Military Target

Everyone Human Rights Watch interviewed who knew the building well said they were not aware of Palestinian fighters or military equipment in or near the building at the time of the attack. The Human Rights Watch analysis of 80 photographs and videos, as well as satellite imagery of the building and surrounding area, also provided no indication of any Palestinian armed groups’ presence or of military equipment in or near the building at the time of the attack.

All those interviewed said they were unaware of any victims or survivors of the attack who were associated with any armed group. Human Rights Watch found no evidence that any of the victims were combatants. Human Rights Watch reviewed the Telegram channels and associated social media channels of both Hamas’ armed wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, al-Quds Brigade, two of the main groups involved in the October 7 attacks in Israel. Neither of them mentioned the October 31 strike.

The Israeli military has presented no information that would demonstrate the existence of a military target or other military objective within or near the building. The military has also not said why circumstances did not permit providing an effective advance warning to the residents of the building, and nearby buildings, to evacuate before the attack.

On February 6, Haaretz reported that the Israeli military had begun investigating “dozens of cases” in which its forces may have violated the laws of war. They include an airstrike at around 3:30 p.m. on October 31, about an hour after the Engineers’ Building attack, which the Israeli military said targeted Ibrahim Biari, commander of Hamas’ Jabalia Brigade. The attack in the Jabalia refugee camp, about 14 kilometers northeast of the Engineers’ Building, killed Biari and at least 126 civilians, including 69 children, and injured 280, according to Airwars.

Recovery and Burial of Bodies

Human Rights Watch interviewed three people involved in recovering bodies from the rubble of the Engineers’ building.

Hatem Abdo and Rami Abdo said that they helped recover between 60 and 70 bodies on the afternoon of October 31, and that they recovered about 80 more bodies over the next 4 days. Hatem Abdo said that many were laid out in the street in front of his home until they were taken away. He said relatives of the missing and others collected money to buy diesel fuel so that an excavator, which arrived on November 1, could work for between three and four hours each day to remove rubble.

Hatem said that when the excavator stopped its work, he heard from other people that 56 people were still missing. “They just vanished,” he said.

Majdi Salha fled his nearby home in mid-October, after an attack almost hit his building, and he moved with his family into his brother-in-law’s apartment in the Engineers’ Building. He left the building a few minutes before the attack, which killed 16 of his relatives: his wife and 5 of their daughters; his wife’s brother, his wife’s brother’s wife, and 5 of their children; and his wife’s sister and 2 of her children. He said:

Before I left the apartment to buy bread, I gave my youngest daughter, Lana, who was 10 years old, some money to go after lunch to buy some things in the grocery store on the ground floor of the building. Someone later told me she had gone to the store just before the attack happened.

For 12 days, I helped recover bodies from the rubble. I contributed my own money for fuel to power the excavator. We found almost all the bodies of my family members on days five, six, and seven after the attack happened. But we only found Lana’s body under the rubble on day 10. I think other bodies remained under the rubble after the excavator stopped doing its work.

Another person said he had heard that the people recovering bodies could not retrieve the bodies of the people who had been on the lower levels of the building, so the building “became a graveyard.”

Satellite imagery shows that the removal of rubble stopped between November 7 and 11. The same amount of rubble visible in imagery from November 11 appears in imagery taken on March 12, 2024.

Some people interviewed said they took bodies to or found relatives’ bodies in al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, about four kilometers southwest of the building. One of the men who recovered bodies said that all the bodies recovered from or near the Engineers’ Building were taken to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for identification and registration before burial. Human Rights Watch was unable to obtain a list of people killed in the attack who were registered at that hospital.

Television news reported from al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital on October 31 that “ambulances are still recovering the injured and moving them to [the] hospital” and that the initial group of ambulances had brought 45 victims to the hospital.

A man said he had been told that very badly injured victims were taken to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Five people said their relatives were buried variously in al-Nuseirat refugee camp, al-Buriej refugee camp, the town of Zawaydeh, and in al-Maghazi cemetery. Majdi Salha said that between November 1 and 13, he went to the burials of 100 people who were killed during the attack on the Engineers’ Building in al-Maghazi cemetery.

Human Rights Watch verified 12 videos and a photograph posted on social media platforms that show the removal of six bodies, including two children and an older woman, from the rubble of the Engineers’ Building; five bodies on stretchers being removed from the building; and two bodies of children taken to the hospital after the attack. They also show an older woman who is either dead or unconscious being carried on a stretcher.

Another video, filmed by the journalist Motaz Azaiza and posted to Instagram on October 31, shows what appears to be a small, burned body wrapped in a sheet. Azaiza narrates that the body of a child was being removed from the second floor of a building next to the Engineers’ Building. The camera pans to a bedroom in that building and shows a child’s race-car-shaped bed partially covered by rubble.

Human Rights Watch verified three videos and a photograph that show the result of a caesarean section performed at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital on one of the deceased victims in an unsuccessful attempt to save her baby. Human Rights Watch also verified eight videos that show seven injured people, including four children and one woman, being rescued from the Engineers’ Building.

Accountability Initiatives

On May 27, 2021, the UN Human Rights Council established a Commission of Inquiry to address violations and abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. On October 10, 2023, the commission announced that it was “investigating possible international crimes and violations of international human rights law committed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023” and that it would “continue sharing information collected with the relevant judicial authorities, especially with the International Criminal Court.”

The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, confirmed that his office has, since March 2021, been conducting an investigation into alleged atrocity crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank since 2014, and that his office has jurisdiction over crimes in the current hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups that covers unlawful conduct by all parties. He visited Israel and Palestine in December.

Governments should publicly express their support for the ICC in delivering impartial justice, including in its investigation of the situation of Palestine, and commit to ensuring that the ICC has the political, diplomatic and financial support it needs to carry out its global mandate.

Separately, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on January 26 and on March 28 issued provisional measures as part of a case brought by South Africa alleging that Israel is violating the Genocide Convention. The court adopted measures that include requiring Israel to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance, and prevent and punish incitement to commit genocide. Human Rights Watch has found that Israel is not complying with at least one of the court’s binding orders by continuing to obstruct the provision of basic services and the entry and distribution within Gaza of fuel and lifesaving aid.

National judicial authorities should also investigate and prosecute those implicated in serious crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel under the principle of universal jurisdiction and in accordance with national laws. Governments should impose individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against officials and individuals credibly implicated in the commission of grave abuses.

The UN Secretary-General should also include Israel in the list of those responsible for grave violations against children, annexed to his 2024 annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict, for violations including killing and maiming.

Arms Transfers

Numerous UN special rapporteurs, independent experts and working groups issued a statement on February 23 that the transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza would most likely violate international humanitarian law and needed to cease immediately. Providing arms that knowingly and significantly would contribute to unlawful attacks can make those providing them complicit in war crimes.

The Dutch Court of Appeal ordered the Netherlands on February 11 to halt its export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, given the clear risk they might be used in committing serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. The Dutch government is appealing this decision. Canada’s foreign minister said on March 20 that Canada will continue to freeze new arms export permits to Israel, following the passage of a nonbinding House of Commons resolution calling for “ceasing the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime.”

The Biden administration issued a National Security Memo in February that establishes that the United States Departments of State and Defense will receive written assurances from countries that receive US military assistance that they use US-origin “defense articles” in compliance with international law and that they have not arbitrarily impeded or delayed US-funded or supported humanitarian assistance during 2023. Based on their observations and investigations in Gaza, however, Human Rights Watch along with Oxfam have concluded that any assurances made by Israeli officials to use US weapons in compliance with international and US law are not credible.

On February 13, the State Department said it was using established procedures relating to the use of US-supplied weapons to investigate civilian harm caused by several Israeli attacks in Gaza but that it could not comment on specific cases under review.

The US, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and other countries have continued to provide Israel with unconditional arms transfers and other security assistance. By granting export licenses to Israel, including for weapons identified as most likely to be used by the Israeli military in violation of the laws of war, these governments are ignoring the mounting evidence of serious violations, including the strike on the Engineers’ Building.

END

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NOS

MEEST RECHTSE REGERING IN DE GESCHIEDENIS VAN ISRAEL GEINSTALLEERD

29 DECEMBER 2023

De nieuwe regering van Israël is geïnstalleerd, met opnieuw Benjamin Netanyahu als premier. Hij gaat leiding geven aan de meest rechtse en religieus conservatieve regering in de 74-jarige geschiedenis van het land.

De rechtse Likud-partij van Netanyahu wist in november als grote winnaar uit de bus te komen bij de parlementsverkiezingen. Ondanks dat hij vervolgd wordt voor omkoping, kan hij terugkeren als premier. Eerder was Netanyahu regeringsleider van 1996 tot 1999 en tussen 2009 en 2021. Hij gaat regeren samen met ultranationalistische en ultraorthodoxe joodse religieuze partijen.

Nederzettingen

De Israëliërs zijn diep verdeeld over Netanyahu, die aangeklaagd is voor fraude en het aannemen van steekpenningen in drie corruptiezaken. Hij spreekt alle beschuldigingen tegen en zegt dat hij het slachtoffer is van een heksenjacht door vijandige media, politie en aanklagers.

Zijn nieuwe regering wil nederzettingen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever uitbreiden, subsidies verstrekken aan Netanyahu’s ultraorthodoxe bondgenoten en ingrijpende hervormingen doorvoeren in het rechtsstelsel. Volgens critici brengen die wijzigingen de democratische instellingen in het land in gevaar.

Israël veroverde de Westelijke Jordaanoever in 1967 samen met de Gazastrook en Oost-Jeruzalem, gebieden waar de Palestijnen een toekomstige staat willen stichten. Israël heeft in die gebieden tientallen Joodse nederzettingen gebouwd waar circa 500.000 Israëliërs wonen naast 2,5 miljoen Palestijnen.

De plannen van de nieuwe regering hebben tot kritiek geleid van het leger, lhbti-belangengroeperingen, het bedrijfsleven en anderen. Honderden demonstranten verzamelden zich eerder vandaag bij de Knesset, het Israëlische parlement. “We willen geen fascisten in de Knesset”, scandeerden ze. Massa’s mensen blokkeerden de toegang tot een belangrijk kruispunt en een snelweg in Tel Aviv.

Ook in het buitenland wordt bezorgd naar de nieuwe regering-Netanyahu gekeken, De Amerikaanse president Biden noemde Netanyahu “een vriend sinds tientallen jaren”. Biden zei dat hij ernaar uitkijkt om met de premier samen te werken bij de “vele uitdagingen waar Israël mee wordt geconfronteerd, inclusief de dreiging uit Iran”.

Maar hij voegde daar wel aan toe dat de VS “de tweestatenoplossing (met naast Israël ook een levensvatbare Palestijnse staat, red.) blijft steunen en zich verzet tegen beleid dat de levensvatbaarheid daarvan in gevaar brengt” of in strijd is met onze wederzijdse belangen en waarden”.

Speech

In een parlementszitting voorafgaand aan zijn beëdiging richtte Netanyahu zich in een speech tot zijn critici en beschuldigde hij de oppositie ervan het publiek bang te maken. “Ik hoor voortdurend kreten van de oppositie over het einde van het land en de democratie”, zei hij. “Maar, leden van de oppositie: verkiezingen verliezen is niet het einde van de democratie, het is de essentie van de democratie.” De toespraak van de premier werd herhaaldelijk onderbroken door boegeroep en hoongelach van zijn tegenstanders.

Yair Lapid, de vertrekkend premier die nu oppositieleider is, zei tegen het parlement dat hij “een land in uitstekende conditie” achterlaat voor de nieuwe regering. “Probeer het niet kapot te maken. We komen snel terug”, zei Lapid.

EINDE

CONTINUING STORY/DE NOS EN DE FASCISTISCHE

ISRAELISCHE REGERING

20 JANUARI 2023

[26]

AD

WILDERS’ TERM ”TUIG VAN DE RICHEL” MAAKT ONS

ALS JOURNALISTEN WANTROUWEND EN OPLETTEND

8 JANUARI 2024

Journalisten moeten tegen een stootje kunnen. Maar om ons voor ‘tuig van de richel’ uit te maken, zoals Geert Wilders deed, is niet alleen beledigend. De persvrijheid is groot, vindt hoofdredacteur Paul van den Bosch, en dat zal niet snel veranderen met de PVV in het kabinet, maar we blijven wel opletten. Woorden doen ertoe.

Worden jullie vaak uitgemaakt voor tuig van de richel? Iemand stelde deze vraag tijdens een eindejaarsdiner. Nou, niet echt. Niet in deze termen die Geert Wilders ooit in de mond nam en nooit terugnam.

Redacties krijgen wel andere verwensingen naar ons hoofd, vooral op al die digitale snelwegen zonder deugdelijke snelheidscontrole. Bij het AD zijn we links en rechts, antisemieten en moslimhaters, Feyenoorders en Ajacieden, fout voor, tijdens en na oorlog, racistisch en allochtenknuffelaars, spreekbuis van Het Grote Wereldcomplot. Vaak gekoppeld aan scheldwoorden. Echt alles komt voorbij.

Geruststellende gedachte

Een collega zei ooit gekscherend dat je het goed doet als je iederéén boos maakt. Het wordt verdacht als het steeds dezelfde groep is. Zeker bij een groot nieuwsmedium als het AD (meer dan 7,5 miljoen unieke bezoekers en lezers per maand) is dat best een geruststellende gedachte.

Een krant, site of app kan het nooit iedereen helemaal naar de zin maken. Of beter: niemand helemáál. En wees gerust, verreweg de meeste lezers en volgers geven ons op z’n minst een ruime voldoende en zouden er niet aan denken om beledigingen of bedreigingen naar onze redactie te sturen.

In Nederland is de persvrijheid een belangrijke pilaar onder de rechtstaat, vastgelegd in onder meer de grondwet. Dat is niet alleen belangrijk voor journalisten, vooral ook voor de mensen die zij willen informeren. Zo komen bepaalde zaken toch naar boven die sommigen liever onbesproken laten. Een mening van een columnist kan jou plezieren, laten nadenken of ook irriteren. Dat hoort erbij. Zolang ook journalisten zich aan de wet houden, want die geldt voor iedereen. Rechters zien daarop toe, ook wij moeten ons soms verantwoorden voor publicaties.

Nederland zesde in lijst persvrijheid

Je hoeft niet eens buiten Europa te reizen om te zien wat er gebeurt (Hongarije, Rusland) als de vrijheid van journalisten wordt ingeperkt of zelfs afgebroken. In de World Press Freedom Index met 180 landen (Noorwegen 1ste, Noord-Korea laatste) stond Nederland in 2023 op de zesde plaats. We zijn echt niet bang dat ons land binnenkort in de regionen van de Noord-Koreanen, Chinezen (voorlaatste) of zelfs de VS (45ste) komt, maar het blijft altijd oppassen.

In hun boek ‘How Democracies Die’ beschrijven twee Amerikaanse wetenschappers de stappen hoe langzaam maar zeker een democratie van binnenuit wordt verzwakt. Een factor is als politici en bestuurders de eigen instituten fundamenteel ter discussie stellen: de onafhankelijke rechtsspraak bijvoorbeeld, het parlement, de oppositie, en ook door journalisten als regelrechte vijanden te bestempelen.

Geert Wilders, de politicus die onze beroepsgroep op een enkele uitzondering na ‘tuig van de richel’ noemde, doet dat niet consequent en indien premier zal hij de persvrijheid niet afschaffen. Maar meer dan ooit heeft hij nu een voorbeeldfunctie. Hij zal misschien zeggen wat anderen denken, maar hij verzwakt met zulke uitspraken de democratie die – ironisch genoeg – hem in de gelegenheid stelde de grootste fractie te worden.

Dat maakt wantrouwend en oplettend. Niet alleen in onze beroepsgroep. Dat is men blijkbaar ook in politiek Den Haag waar potentiële coalitiepartners als VVD, NSC en BBB een voor een formatie unieke ‘tussenronde’ hebben ingelast om over de grondwet en rechtsstaat te praten.

Zijn wij dan zonder fouten?

Is dit Calimero-gedrag van journalisten? Misschien dat jij dat ook vindt. Ook dat mag. Het is een vrij land. Want zijn wij zonder fouten? Zeker niet. In 2024 blijven we openstaan voor kritiek, op- en aanmerkingen, klachten en andere meningen die ons laten nadenken. Mits in normale bewoordingen en op dito toonhoogte.

Maar nu de wereld onzekerder wordt en de polarisatie heviger, worden vrije media nog belangrijker. Ik hoop dat jij het AD in 2024 wederom als een betrouwbare brenger van nieuws, verhalen en inspiratie zal zien.

EINDE

NOS

JOURNALISTENVAKBOND NVJ WIL IN GESPREK MET

WILDERS OVER TWEET

7 JUNI 2021

Het hoofdbestuur van journalistenvakbond NVJ wil een gesprek met PVV-leider Wilders. Directe aanleiding is een tweet van Wilders, afgelopen zaterdag. Daarin noemde hij journalisten “tuig van de richel”.

“Journalisten zwartmaken is de rechtstaat zwartmaken”, reageerde NVJ-secretaris Bruning gisteren al op de tweet. “Het maakt het journalisten onmogelijk om hun werk te doen. Politici zouden beter moeten weten. Benader elkaar op inhoud, nooit op ongefundeerde stigma’s.”

Legitimatie

De NVJ vreest dat mensen dergelijke uitspraken kunnen zien als rechtvaardiging voor agressie tegen journalisten. Wilders plaatste zijn tweet op de dag dat uit een onderzoek in opdracht van PersVeilig bleek dat acht op de tien journalisten weleens te maken hebben met een vorm van agressie of bedreiging.

“Dat onderzoek maakt duidelijk hoezeer de journalistiek in brede zin te maken heeft met intimidatie en geweld. Als iemand die een belangrijk deel van het Nederlandse electoraat vertegenwoordigt met zo’n tweet een legitimatie geeft aan zijn achterban om journalisten niet te vertrouwen en ze als tuig van de richel te beschouwen, wat betekent dat dan voor de zorgelijke situatie waar journalisten nu al in verkeren?”, zegt Bruning tegen de NOS.

“We willen in het gesprek graag duidelijk maken dat Wilders daarin een verantwoordelijkheid heeft. Juist hij zou moeten weten hoeveel last je kan hebben van intimidatie en bedreiging.”

Verschillende journalisten uitten zaterdag hun kritiek op de tweet van Wilders:

Sjors van Beek

@SjorsvanBeek

@geertwilderspvv Geachte heer Wilders. Als journalist voel ik me onprettig aangesproken door deze generalisatie. Ik heb u jaren geleden voor Binnenlands Bestuur geïnterviewd, en dat ging over en weer netjes – dacht ik. Dus deze tweet vind ik wel vervelend…

13:36

6 juni 2021

Maarten Edelenbosch

@maartenedel

@geertwilderspvv Door het gros van de journalisten (zonder feiten) zo neer te zetten creëert u bij een groep mensen een gevaarlijk beeld van journalisten. Geweld/intimidatie zijn helaas al geen uitzondering. Met uw functie en uw ervaringen met bedreigingen zou u beter moeten weten

7:14

6 juni 2021

Ook ChristenUnie-voorman Gert-Jan Segers reageerde op de uitspraak van Geert Wilders, en op die van Thierry Baudet. De FvD-leider onderschreef de tweet van Wilders met de woorden “Is zo.”.

Gert-Jan Segers

@gertjansegers

De Kamer is een ‘nepparlement’. Rechters zijn ‘neprechters’. En journalisten zijn ‘tuig van de richel’. Als alles wat essentieel is voor onze vrijheid zo wordt aangevallen, dan gaat het ze niet om de Kamer, rechters en de pers. Dan hebben ze het op onze vrijheid zelf gemunt. https://t.co/zgIYPKxhGG

14:00

6 juni 2021

[23]”

Nederland steunt het bestaansrecht en de veiligheid van de staat Israël. Met inachtneming van de oplossingen voor het Israëlisch-Palestijnse conflict en de diplomatieke belangen, wordt onderzocht wanneer verplaatsing van de ambassade naar Jeruzalem op een daartoe geschikt moment kan plaatsvinden.”

HOOP, LEF EN TROTS

HOOFDLIJNENAKKOORD 2024-2028 VAN PVV,VVD,NSC EN BBB

INTERNATIONALE VEILIGHEID, BLZ 24

file:///C:/Users/Essed/Downloads/20240515+Hoofdlijnenakkoord+PVV+VVD+NSC+BBB.pdf

[24]

”En omstreden: er moet worden onderzocht “wanneer verplaatsing van de ambassade naar Jeruzalem op een daartoe geschikt moment kan plaatsvinden”. De meeste landen hebben hun ambassade in Tel Aviv, vanwege de complexe status van Jeruzalem.”

NOS

DIT ZIJN DE BELANGRIJKE PLANNEN EN VOORNEMENS UIT

HET COALITIEAKKOORD

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST. NOOT 20

[25]

SURINAME OPENT AMBASSADE IN JERUZALEM/SURINAME’S FOUTE STEUN AAN ISRAEL’S ANNEXATIE EN APARTHEIDSPOLITIEK

ASTRID ESSED

2 JUNI 2022

OPENING SURINAAMSE AMBASSADE IN JERUZALEM SCHOFFERING

INTERNATIONAAL RECHT/INGEZONDEN STUK

ASTRID ESSED

3 JUNI 2022

[22]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

ISRAEL’S APARTHEID AGAINST PALESTINIANS”A CRUEL 

SYSTEM OF DOMINATION AND A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

1 FEBRUARI 2022

Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, Amnesty International said today in a damning new report. The investigation details how Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights. This includes Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as well as displaced refugees in other countries.

The comprehensive report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law. This system is maintained by violations which Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.

Amnesty International is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation in the OPT and calls on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction to bring perpetrators of apartheid crimes to justice.

“There is no possible justification for a system built around the institutionalized and prolonged racist oppression of millions of people. Apartheid has no place in our world, and states which choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history. Governments who continue to supply Israel with arms and shield it from accountability at the UN are supporting a system of apartheid, undermining the international legal order, and exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinian people. The international community must face up to the reality of Israel’s apartheid, and pursue the many avenues to justice which remain shamefully unexplored.”

Amnesty International’s findings build on a growing body of work by Palestinian, Israeli and international NGOs, who have increasingly applied the apartheid framework to the situation in Israel and/or the OPT.

Identifying apartheid

A system of apartheid is an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination by one racial group over another. It is a serious human rights violation which is prohibited in public international law. Amnesty International’s extensive research and legal analysis, carried out in consultation with external experts, demonstrates that Israel enforces such a system against Palestinians through laws, policies and practices which ensure their prolonged and cruel discriminatory treatment.

In international criminal law, specific unlawful acts which are committed within a system of oppression and domination, with the intention of maintaining it, constitute the crime against humanity of apartheid. These acts are set out in the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute, and include unlawful killing, torture, forcible transfer, and the denial of basic rights and freedoms.

Amnesty International documented acts proscribed in the Apartheid Convention and Rome Statute in all the areas Israel controls, although they occur more frequently and violently in the OPT than in Israel. Israeli authorities enact multiple measures to deliberately deny Palestinians their basic rights and freedoms, including draconian movement restrictions in the OPT, chronic discriminatory underinvestment in Palestinian communities in Israel, and the denial of refugees’ right to return. The report also documents forcible transfer, administrative detention, torture, and unlawful killings, in both Israel and the OPT.

Amnesty International found that these acts form part of a systematic and widespread attack directed against the Palestinian population, and are committed with the intent to maintain the system of oppression and domination. They therefore constitute the crime against humanity of apartheid.

The unlawful killing of Palestinian protesters is perhaps the clearest illustration of how Israeli authorities use proscribed acts to maintain the status quo. In 2018, Palestinians in Gaza began to hold weekly protests along the border with Israel, calling for the right of return for refugees and an end to the blockade. Before protests even began, senior Israeli officials warned that Palestinians approaching the wall would be shot. By the end of 2019, Israeli forces had killed 214 civilians, including 46 children.

In light of the systematic unlawful killings of Palestinians documented in its report, Amnesty International is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. This should cover all weapons and munitions as well as law enforcement equipment, given the thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been unlawfully killed by Israeli forces. The Security Council should also impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid.

Palestinians treated as a demographic threat

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy of establishing and then maintaining a Jewish demographic majority, and maximizing control over land and resources to benefit Jewish Israelis. In 1967, Israel extended this policy to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Today, all territories controlled by Israel continue to be administered with the purpose of benefiting Jewish Israelis to the detriment of Palestinians, while Palestinian refugees continue to be excluded.

Amnesty International recognizes that Jews, like Palestinians, claim a right to self-determination, and does not challenge Israel’s desire to be a home for Jews. Similarly, it does not consider that Israel labelling itself a “Jewish state” in itself indicates an intention to oppress and dominate.

However, Amnesty International’s report shows that successive Israeli governments have considered Palestinians a demographic threat, and imposed measures to control and decrease their presence and access to land in Israel and the OPT. These demographic aims are well illustrated by official plans to “Judaize” areas of Israel and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which continue to put thousands of Palestinians at risk of forcible transfer.

Oppression without borders

The 1947-49 and 1967 wars, Israel’s ongoing military rule of the OPT, and the creation of separate legal and administrative regimes within the territory, have separated Palestinian communities and segregated them from Jewish Israelis. Palestinians have been fragmented geographically and politically, and experience different levels of discrimination depending on their status and where they live.

Palestinian citizens in Israel currently enjoy greater rights and freedoms than their counterparts in the OPT, while the experience of Palestinians in Gaza is very different to that of those living in the West Bank. Nonetheless, Amnesty International’s research shows that all Palestinians are subject to the same overarching system. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians across all areas is pursuant to the same objective: to privilege Jewish Israelis in distribution of land and resources, and to minimize the Palestinian presence and access to land.

Amnesty International demonstrates that Israeli authorities treat Palestinians as an inferior racial group who are defined by their non-Jewish, Arab status. This racial discrimination is cemented in laws which affect Palestinians across Israel and the OPT.

For example, Palestinian citizens of Israel are denied a nationality, establishing a legal differentiation from Jewish Israelis. In the West Bank and Gaza, where Israel has controlled the population registry since 1967, Palestinians have no citizenship and most are considered stateless, requiring ID cards from the Israeli military to live and work in the territories.

Palestinian refugees and their descendants, who were displaced in the 1947-49 and 1967 conflicts, continue to be denied the right to return to their former places of residence. Israel’s exclusion of refugees is a flagrant violation of international law which has left millions in a perpetual limbo of forced displacement.

Palestinians in annexed East Jerusalem are granted permanent residence instead of citizenship – though this status is permanent in name only. Since 1967, more than 14,000 Palestinians have had their residency revoked at the discretion of the Ministry of the Interior, resulting in their forcible transfer outside the city.

Lesser citizens

Palestinian citizens of Israel, who comprise about 19% of the population, face many forms of institutionalized discrimination. In 2018, discrimination against Palestinians was crystallized in a constitutional law which, for the first time, enshrined Israel exclusively as the “nation state of the Jewish people”. The law also promotes the building of Jewish settlements and downgrades Arabic’s status as an official language.

The report documents how Palestinians are effectively blocked from leasing on 80% of Israel’s state land, as a result of racist land seizures and a web of discriminatory laws on land allocation, planning and zoning.

The situation in the Negev/Naqab region of southern Israel is a prime example of how Israel’s planning and building policies intentionally exclude Palestinians.  Since 1948 Israeli authorities have adopted various policies to “Judaize” the Negev/Naqab, including designating large areas as nature reserves or military firing zones, and setting targets for increasing the Jewish population. This has had devastating consequences for the tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins who live in the region.

Thirty-five Bedouin villages, home to about 68,000 people, are currently “unrecognized” by Israel, which means they are cut off from the national electricity and water supply and targeted for repeated demolitions. As the villages have no official status, their residents also face restrictions on political participation and are excluded from the healthcare and education systems. These conditions have coerced many into leaving their homes and villages, in what amounts to forcible transfer.

Decades of deliberately unequal treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel have left them consistently economically disadvantaged in comparison to Jewish Israelis. This is exacerbated by blatantly discriminatory allocation of state resources: a recent example is the government’s Covid-19 recovery package, of which just 1.7% was given to Palestinian local authorities.

Dispossession

The dispossession and displacement of Palestinians from their homes is a crucial pillar of Israel’s apartheid system. Since its establishment the Israeli state has enforced massive and cruel land seizures against Palestinians, and continues to implement myriad laws and policies to force Palestinians into small enclaves. Since 1948, Israel has demolished hundreds of thousands of Palestinian homes and other properties across all areas under its jurisdiction and effective control.

As in the Negev/Naqab, Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Area C of the OPT live under full Israeli control. The authorities deny building permits to Palestinians in these areas, forcing them to build illegal structures which are demolished again and again.

In the OPT, the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements exacerbates the situation. The construction of these settlements in the OPT has been a government policy since 1967. Settlements today cover 10% of the land in the West Bank, and some 38% of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem was expropriated between 1967 and 2017.

Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem are frequently targeted by settler organizations which, with the full backing of the Israeli government, work to displace Palestinian families and hand their homes to settlers. One such neighbourhood, Sheikh Jarrah, has been the site of frequent protests since May 2021 as families battle to keep their homes under the threat of a settler lawsuit.

Draconian movement restrictions

Since the mid-1990s Israeli authorities have imposed increasingly stringent movement restrictions on Palestinians in the OPT. A web of military checkpoints, roadblocks, fences and other structures controls the movement of Palestinians within the OPT, and restricts their travel into Israel or abroad.

A 700km fence, which Israel is still extending, has isolated Palestinian communities inside “military zones”, and they must obtain multiple special permits any time they enter or leave their homes. In Gaza, more than 2 million Palestinians live under an Israeli blockade which has created a humanitarian crisis. It is near-impossible for Gazans to travel abroad or into the rest of the OPT, and they are effectively segregated from the rest of the world.

“The permit system in the OPT is emblematic of Israel’s brazen discrimination against Palestinians. While Palestinians are locked in a blockade, stuck for hours at checkpoints, or waiting for yet another permit to come through, Israeli citizens and settlers can move around as they please.”

Amnesty International examined each of the security justifications which Israel cites as the basis for its treatment of Palestinians. The report shows that, while some of Israel’s policies may have been designed to fulfil legitimate security objectives, they have been implemented in a grossly disproportionate and discriminatory way which fails to comply with international law. Other policies have absolutely no reasonable basis in security, and are clearly shaped by the intent to oppress and dominate.

The way forward

Amnesty International provides numerous specific recommendations for how the Israeli authorities can dismantle the apartheid system and the discrimination, segregation and oppression which sustain it.

The organization is calling for an end to the brutal practice of home demolitions and forced evictions as a first step. Israel must grant equal rights to all Palestinians in Israel and the OPT, in line with principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must recognize the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to homes where they or their families once lived, and provide victims of human rights violations and crimes against humanity with full reparations.

The scale and seriousness of the violations documented in Amnesty International’s report call for a drastic change in the international community’s approach to the human rights crisis in Israel and the OPT.  

All states may exercise universal jurisdiction over persons reasonably suspected of committing the crime of apartheid under international law, and states that are party to the Apartheid Convention have an obligation to do so. 

“Israel must dismantle the apartheid system and start treating Palestinians as human beings with equal rights and dignity. Until it does, peace and security will remain a distant prospect for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

END OF THE ARTICLE

RAPPORT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL:

ISRAEL’S APARTHEID AGAINST PALESTINIANS”A CRUEL 

SYSTEM OF DOMINATION AND A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

ile:///C:/Users/Essed/Downloads/MDE1551412022ARABIC.pdf

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAELI APARTHEID: ”A THRESHOLD CROSSED”

In April, Human Rights Watch released a 213-page report, “A Threshold Crossed,” finding that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. We reached this determination based on our documentation of an overarching government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians coupled with grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem

In the months since, a growing chorus of voices, from former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa and current Knesset members to the ex-UN Secretary General and the French foreign minister, have referenced apartheid in relation to Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians, in particular in the occupied territory. Yet many in Germany, including those critical of Israeli human rights abuses, remain hesitant to apply the label to Israeli conduct.

Given history, one can certainly understand Germany’s concern for the welfare of the Jewish people, but that should not carry over to an endorsement of abusive and discriminatory Israeli government conduct, especially in the occupied territory. As recognition grows that these crimes are being committed, the failure to recognize that reality requires burying your head deeper and deeper into the sand.

The problem begins with the Israeli government having exercised primary control for more than a half-century over the land between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River, encompassing Israel and the occupied territory, where two main groups of people of roughly equal size live. Throughout this area, Israeli authorities methodologically privilege one of the groups, Jewish Israelis, who are governed under the same body of laws with the same rights and privileges wherever they live. At the same time, authorities allocate different baskets of inferior rights to the other, Palestinians, systematically discriminating against them wherever they live and most severely in the occupied territory.

Our sense that our research was not capturing this underlying reality led us to write this report. Reporting on “separate, not equal” schools for Palestinians inside Israel, Palestinians being forced out of their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, the serious rights abuses stemming from the Israeli settlement enterprise in the West Bank, and the crushing closure of the Gaza Strip, we felt that our work captured important dynamics, including entrenched discrimination, in particular areas, but did not capture the full scope of Israel’s discriminatory rule over Palestinians.

We set out in the report to evaluate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territory. As we do in the nearly 100 countries across the world we work in, we began by documenting the facts—drawing on years of our own research, case studies that compared Palestinian areas with predominantly or exclusively Jewish ones, and a review of government planning documents, statements by officials, and a range of other materials.

Across Israel and the occupied territory, Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities have pursued an intent to privilege Jewish Israelis at the expense of Palestinians. They have done so by undertaking policies aimed at mitigating what they openly describe as the “demographic threat” Palestinians pose and maximizing the land available for Jewish communities, while concentrating most Palestinian in dense enclaves. The policy takes different forms and is pursued in a particularly severe form in the occupied territory. It includes efforts to, as leading Israelis officials have put it, “Judaize” the Negev and Galilee regions of Israel and to maintain “a solid Jewish majority,” as described in government planning documents, in the Jerusalem municipality, which includes the eastern part of Jerusalem, which Israel unilaterally annexed and occupies. It also encompasses efforts to “settle [Jews in] the land between the [Palestinian] minority population centers and their surroundings” in the West Bank, as set out in plans that have guided the government’s settlement, and to pursue “separation” between the West Bank and Gaza. The policy across the board serves the same fundamental goal: maximum land, minimum Palestinians. 

Furthermore, we found that Israeli authorities have carried out the grave abuses needed for the crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians living in the occupied territory. It has done so through, among other policies, sweeping restrictions on movement in the form of the 14-year generalized closure of Gaza and the discriminatory permit system in the West Bank; the confiscation of more than a third of the land in the West Bank; and denial of residency rights to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and their relatives. Israel has imposed draconian military rule over millions of Palestinians, suspending their basic civil rights, while Jewish Israelis living in the same territory are governed under the permissive Israeli civil law; and imposed harsh conditions in parts of the West Bank that led to forcing thousands of Palestinians out of their homes.

We then evaluated these facts against the relevant areas of international law—in this case, the established law on discrimination—which includes a universal prohibition against apartheid. While the term was coined in relation to specific practices in South Africa, international treaties define apartheid as a universal legal term referring to a particularly severe form of discriminatory oppression.

International criminal law, including the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the 1998 Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court, define apartheid as a crime against humanity consisting of three primary elements: (1) an intent by one racial group to dominate another; (2) systematic oppression by the dominant group over the marginalized group; and (3) particularly grave abuses known as inhumane acts.

Racial group is understood today also to encompass treatment on the basis of descent and national or ethnic origin. International criminal law also identifies a related crime against humanity of persecution. Under the Rome Statute and customary international law, persecution consists of severe deprivation of fundamental rights of a racial, ethnic, or other group with discriminatory intent.

The ratification by the State of Palestine of these two treaties in recent years has strengthened the legal application of these two crimes in its territory. A ruling by a chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this year confirmed that it has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity – including apartheid and persecution – committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2014.

Applying the facts to the laws, Human Rights Watch concluded that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. We found that the elements of the crimes come together in the occupied territory as part of a single Israeli government policy. That policy is to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territory. It is coupled in the occupied territory with systematic oppression and inhumane acts against Palestinians living there.

Sometimes the most important thing someone who cares deeply about you can do is to share hard truths and push you to confront them. The late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and leaders of Israel’s closest ally, the US, including former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State John Kerry, warned of the prospect of apartheid if things did not change.

Today, apartheid is not a hypothetical or future scenario. A 54-year-occupation is not temporary. The threshold has been crossed. Apartheid, and parallel persecution, is the reality for millions of Palestinians. Recognizing and correctly diagnosing a problem is the first step to solving it and ending apartheid is vital to the future of both Palestinians and Israelis and the cause of peace. It is by extension Germany’s special relationship with Israel and history that should prompt them to recognize the reality of apartheid and persecution and bring to bear the sorts of tools needed to end these crimes against humanity.

EINDE BERICHT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

RAPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

A TRESHOLD CROSSED

27 APRIL 2021

ZIE OOK

[21]

CAROLINE VAN DER PLAS AAN FOUTE KANT/PRO-ISRAEL

EN FELLOW TRAVELLER FASCISME

ASTRID ESSED

23 DECEMBER 2023

THE RIGHTS FORUM

KIESWIJZER: HOE DENKEN POLITIEKE

PARTIJEN OVER ISRAEL/PALESTINA?

VVD

VVD

De VVD is de belangrijkste bondgenoot van Israël in de Tweede Kamer en de regering. In de Kamer agendeert de partij het onderwerp uit zichzelf vrijwel nooit; dit in de overtuiging dat het Israël/Palestinabeleid vooral moet worden overgelaten aan de pro-Israelische VS. De partij stemt structureel tegen alle voorstellen die de huidige ‘status quo’ en éénstaatrealiteit ter discussie stellen, en biedt daarmee alle ruimte aan Israël voor de verdere kolonisering van de bezette Palestijnse gebieden.

Premier Mark Rutte (VVD) schermt graag met de opmerking dat Nederland goede relaties onderhoudt met beide partijen, waaronder zijn ‘vriend Bibi’ (Benjamin) Netanyahu. Die ‘goede relaties’ fungeren in de praktijk echter als mantra: ze worden nooit effectief ingezet om Israël ertoe te bewegen zich aan het internationaal recht te houden en de bezetting te beëindigen. In tegenstelling tot de ChristenUnie en andere rechtse partijen erkent de VVD wel dat de nederzettingen illegaal zijn. Het verbindt hier alleen nooit gevolgen aan.

Wil een staakt-het-vuren voor Gaza?

Nee. De VVD is uitgesproken tegenstander van een staakt-het-vuren. De partij stemde tegen een motie die de regering vroeg om schendingen van het internationaal recht door Israël te veroordelen. Ruben Brekelmans verdedigde de Nederlandse onthouding bij de stemming in de VN over een staakt-het-vuren; hij stelde dat Israël de vrije hand geboden moet worden om te doen wat het wil tegen Hamas in Gaza. Wel was de partij voor ‘humanitaire pauzes’, die volgens hulporganisaties echter volstrekt onvoldoende zijn om hulp Gaza in te krijgen.

Tegen de inzet van uithongering als oorlogswapen in Gaza?

Nee. De VVD stemde tegen de motie die de regering verzocht om Israël op te roepen zich te houden aan resolutie 2417 van de VN-Veiligheidsraad die uithongering als oorlogsmiddel verbiedt. Dit ondanks het feit dat Israël heeft aangegeven geen voedsel binnen te laten, gericht bakkerijen bombardeert, en graan door het afsluiten van elektriciteit niet verwerkt kan worden.

Veroordeelt de vele racistische, gewelddadige en genocidale uitspraken van Israëlische politici?

Nee. De VVD uit geen (of nauwelijks) kritiek op de vele racistische, gewelddadige en genocidale opmerkingen van Israelische ministers en politici. Kamerlid Ruben Brekelmans nam deel aan een gesprek met Ariël Kallner, de Israelische politicus (Likud) die opriep tot een ‘tweede Nakba’, en daarmee tot de etnische zuivering van Gaza. Premier Rutte beschouwd de Israelische premier Netanyahu (‘Bibi’) als zijn vriend, ook al heeft die doelbewust de tweestatenoplossing onmogelijk gemaakt en een regering gevormd met extreemrechtse partijen die de volledige verdrijving van Palestijnen voorstaan.

Erkent Palestina?

Nee. Stemt tegen alle moties voor de erkenning van een Palestijnse staat. De partij is voor een tweestatenoplossing maar legt niet uit hoe die na de kolonisering en annexatie van de Westelijke Jordaanoever nog bereikt kan worden. In een debat stelde Pieter Omtzigt, mede sprekend namens VVD en CDA, zich op tegen de ‘éénstaatpolitiek’ van DENK. Maar tegen de ‘éénstaatpolitiek’ die de Israelische regering al decennia voert sprak hij zich niet uit; tegen de huidige éénstaatrealiteit evenmin.

Erkent de realiteit van de Israëlische apartheid?

Nee. De VVD was onderdeel van het kabinet-Rutte IV, dat het onderzoek van onder andere Amnesty hierover verwierp zonder het inhoudelijk juridisch te weerleggen. Ze stemde tegen een motie die onder andere stelde dat Israël een apartheidsstaat is.

Wil de Nederlandse militaire samenwerking met Israël beëindigen?

Nee. De VVD is groot voorstander van militaire samenwerking met het Israelische bezettingsleger. Stemde tegen een motie die de aankoop van het PULS-systeem van de Israëlische wapenfabrikant Elbit Sustems stop wilde zetten. Ze stemde ook tegen een motie die pleitte voor een opschorting van het militaire statusverdrag met Israël.

Steunt sancties en maatregelen tegen nederzettingen en andere schendingen van het internationaal recht?

Nee. De VVD is tegen iedere vorm van kritiek op Israël en komt niet verder dan generieke opmerkingen dat het land zich aan het internationaal recht moet houden, die echter nooit gevolgen krijgen. Stemde tegen een motie die het nederzettingenbeleid veroordeelde.

Roept het Internationaal Strafhof op tot onderzoek naar oorlogsmisdaden in bezet Palestina?

Nee. Waar regeringsleiders in onder andere Ierland, België en Frankrijk het Internationaal Strafhof hebben opgeroepen onderzoek te doen naar mogelijke oorlogsmisdaden in Palestina (door beide partijen), blijft dit in Nederland een zeldzaam geluid.

PARTIJ VOOR DE VRIJHEID

Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV)

PVV-oprichter en aanvoerder Geert Wilders heeft een langdurige persoonlijke en politieke relatie met Israël. Die gaat terug tot zijn jeugd, toen hij werkte op een kibboets en moshav op de Westelijke Jordaanoever. Als politicus publiceerde hij opiniestukken waarin hij stelde dat zijn steun aan Israël is gegrondvest in het ideologische raamwerk van de westerse strijd tegen de islam, waarin Israël als ‘eerste verdedigingslinie’ geldt: ‘De toekomst van de wereld hangt af van Jeruzalem. Als Jeruzalem valt, zullen Athene en Rome – en Parijs, Londen en Washington – de volgende zijn.’ Wilders omarmt ook het idee dat ‘Jordanië Palestina is’ en dat Judea en Samaria (de bijbelse aanduiding voor de Palestijnse Westelijke Joraanoever) geen bezette maar ‘bevrijde gebieden’ zijn.

Wilders bezoekt Israël regelmatig en sprak jaren terug al op evenementen van de extreemrechtse partij HaTikva. Ideologisch was die partij verbonden aan de Kach-beweging, die zelfs in Israël als terreurorganisatie wordt beschouwd. HaTikva is later opgegaan in de partij Otzma Yehudit van Itamar Ben Gvir, de meest extreme en racistische partij die onderdeel uitmaakt van Netanyahu’s kolonistencoalitie.

Wil een staakt-het-vuren voor Gaza?

Nee. Stemde tegen een motie die de regering opriep om schendingen van het internationaal recht door Israël te veroordelen. Sinds haar oprichting steunt de PVV Israël door dik en dun; daar zal ze gezien haar verkiezingsprogramma in volharden. Zolang Israël geen staakt-het-vuren wil, wil de PVV dat ook niet.

Tegen de inzet van uithongering als oorlogswapen in Gaza?

Nee. De PVV stemde tegen de motie die de regering verzocht om Israël op te roepen zich te houden aan resolutie 2417 van de VN-Veiligheidsraad die uithongering als oorlogswapen verbiedt.

Veroordeelt de vele racistische, gewelddadige en genocidale uitspraken van Israëlische politici?

Nee. De PVV is zelf ook voorstander van de etnische zuivering van Palestijnen. Die zouden volgens de partij in Arabische landen als Jordanie en Egypte moeten worden gehuisvest, 

Erkent Palestina?

Nee. Stemt tegen alle moties voor de erkenning van een Palestijnse staat (voorbeeld). De PVV is tegenstander van de tweestatenoplossing, en van mening dat Jordanië al een Palestijnse staat is.

Erkent de realiteit van de Israëlische apartheid?

Nee. Stemde tegen een motie die het apartheidsregime van Israël afkeurt. De PVV staat onvoorwaardelijk achter Israël.

Wil de Nederlandse militaire samenwerking met Israël beëindigen?                       

Nee. De PVV stemde tegen een motie die het beëindigen van militaire handel en samenwerking met Israël bepleitte.

Steunt sancties en maatregelen tegen nederzettingen en andere schendingen van het internationaal recht?

Nee. De PVV stemde tegen een motie die de nederzettingenpolitiek van Israël veroordeelt.

Uit het partijprogramma:

‘De PVV is een grote vriend van de enige echte democratie in het Midden-Oosten, Israël. Ook cultureel is Nederland zeer verbonden aan Israël. De banden met Israël zullen onder meer worden versterkt door onze ambassade te verhuizen naar Jerusalem. De Nederlandse vertegenwoordiging in Ramallah bij de corrupte Palestijnse Autoriteit wordt onmiddellijk gesloten. Nederland heeft immers al een ambassade in Amman, de hoofdstad van de enige echte Palestijnse staat: Jordanië.’ (p. 42)

BOERBURGERBEWEGING

BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB)

BBB voert vooral een nationale agenda en heeft amper een buitenlandbeleid. Op een handjevol tweets over het Israël/Palestina-conflict na wordt dan ook weinig gezegd over het onderwerp. De partij is echter uitgesproken fel tegen antisemitisme, en propageert daartoe de IHRA-definitie die kritiek op de Israëlische politiek als ‘antisemitisch’ tracht te framen.

De partij stemt bij Israël/Palestina-moties onveranderlijk pro-Israël. Ze is tegen het weren van producten uit illegale Israëlische nederzettingen in bezet Palestijns gebied, is tegen erkenning van de staat Palestina, en lijkt geen enkel probleem te hebben met de oorlogsmisdaden die Israël is Gaza pleegt.

Wil een staakt-het-vuren voor Gaza?

Nee. BBB stemde tegen een motie die de regering vroeg om schendingen van het internationaal recht door Israël te veroordelen. Van der Plas heeft zich ook openlijk uitgesproken tegen een staakt-het-vuren.

Tegen de inzet van uithongering als oorlogswapen in Gaza?

Nee. BBB stemde tegen de motie die de regering verzocht om Israël op te roepen zich te houden aan resolutie 2417 van de VN-Veiligheidsraad die uithongering als oorlogswapen verbiedt. Een opmerkelijk standpunt voor agrarisch Nederland.

Veroordeelt de vele racistische, gewelddadige en genocidale uitspraken van Israëlische politici?

Nee. De focus van BBB is strikt eenzijdig. De partij heeft genocidale uitspraken van Israëlische ministers en parlementsleden derhalve niet benoemd, laat staan bekritiseerd.

Erkent Palestina?

Nee. De partij stemde tegen alle moties voor erkenning van een Palestijnse staat. In het verkiezingsprogramma staat niets over het erkennen van Palestina als staat.

Erkent de realiteit van de Israëlische apartheid?

Nee. BBN stemde tegen een motie die vaststelde dat Israël een apartheidsstaat is en dat de Tweede Kamer tégen apartheid is.

Wil de Nederlandse militaire samenwerking met Israël beëindigen?

Nee. De partij stemde tegen een motie die het beëindigen van militaire handel en samenwerking met Israël bepleitte.

Steunt sancties en maatregelen tegen nederzettingen en andere schendingen van het internationaal recht?

Nee. BBB stemde tegen een motie die het nederzettingenbeleid veroordeelt. Ook stemde de partij tegen moties (zoals deze) die sancties voorstelden tegen het nederzettingenbeleid.

NIEUW SOCIAAL CONTRACT

Nieuw Sociaal Contract (NSC)

Als dé dossiervreter in Den Haag lijkt NSC-voorman Pieter Omtzigt het Israël/Palestina-dossier nog niet goed te hebben bestudeerd. Hij volgt braaf de lijn van de andere conservatieve centrumpartijen: pro-Israël, met weinig tot geen oog voor Israëls schendingen van het internationaal recht. In het partijprogramma staat ook niets over Israël of Palestina. Omzigt stemt vaker dan het CDA en de VVD tégen pro-Palestijnse-, en vóór pro-Israelische moties.

Wil een staakt-het-vuren voor Gaza?

Nee, Omtzigt stemde tegen een motie die de regering vroeg om schendingen van het internationaal recht door Israël te veroordelen. Tijdens een recent debat verdedigde Omtzigt de Nederlandse stemonthouding over de VN-resolutie die opriep tot een staakt-het-vuren (YouTube, minuut 13).

Tegen de inzet van uithongering als oorlogswapen in Gaza?

Nee, NSC stemde tegen de motie die de regering verzocht om Israël op te roepen zich te houden aan resolutie 2417 van de VN-Veiligheidsraad die uithongering als oorlogswapen verbiedt.

Veroordeelt de vele racistische, gewelddadige en genocidale uitspraken van Israëlische politici?

Nee. NSC toont zich meer verontwaardigd over een Palestijnse leus als From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free dan over daadwerkelijk genocidale uitspraken van Israëlische ministers, parlementsleden en hoge militairen. 

Erkent Palestina?

Nee. Omtzigt stemde tegen alle moties die opriepen tot erkenning van een Palestijnse staat. De partij is voor een tweestatenoplossing maar legt niet uit hoe die na de kolonisering en annexatie van de Westelijke Jordaanoever nog bereikt kan worden. In een debat stelde Pieter Omtzigt, mede sprekend namens VVD en CDA, zich op tegen de ‘éénstaatpolitiek’ van DENK. Maar tegen de ‘éénstaatpolitiek’ die de Israelische regering al decennia voert sprak hij zich niet uit; tegen de huidige éénstaatrealiteit evenmin.

Erkent de realiteit van de Israëlische apartheid?

Nee. Omtzigt maakte deel uit van het CDA dat tegen een motie stemde die stelde dat Israël een apartheidsstaat is, en dat de Tweede Kamer tégen apartheid is gekant. Hij steunt daarnaast Israëls ‘recht op zelfverdediging’ en stelt zich bij stemmingen en mediaoptredens allesbehalve kritisch op tegenover Israël.

Wil de Nederlandse militaire samenwerking met Israël beëindigen?

Nee. Omtzigt stemde tegen een motie die het beëindigen van militaire handel en samenwerking met Israël bepleitte. 

Steunt sancties en maatregelen tegen nederzettingen en andere schendingen van het internationaal recht?

Nee. Omtzigt stemde tegen een motie die het nederzettingenbeleid veroordeelt, en tegen moties (zoals deze) die sancties bepleitten tegen het nederzettingenbeleid.

Roept het Internationaal Strafhof op tot onderzoek naar oorlogsmisdaden in bezet Palestina?

Half. Pieter Omzigt heeft de regering gevraagd of de misdaden van Hamas bij het Hof kunnen worden aangebracht.

[20]

NOS

DIT ZIJN DE BELANGRIJKE PLANNEN EN VOORNEMENS UIT

HET COALITIEAKKOORD

Hoop, lef en trots is de naam van het coalitieakkoord van PVV, VVD, NSC en BBB. In 26 pagina’s doen ze uit de doeken wat ze van plan zijn.

“Of het nou gaat om bestaanszekerheid, zorg of geld in de portemonnee, of het beschikbaar zijn van voldoende woningen, onze ambitie is groot”, schrijven de vier in de inleiding van wat ze zelf een hoofdlijnenakkoord noemen. “We willen ook de veel te hoge instroom van asielzoekers en immigranten keren. We willen dat boeren, tuinders en vissers weer een toekomst hebben.”

De nieuwe coalitie heeft het voorgenomen beleid, dat veelal nog moet worden uitgewerkt door het toekomstige kabinet, opgedeeld in tien hoofdstukken. Hieronder de belangrijkste punten per hoofdstuk op een rij:

Bestaanszekerheid en koopkracht

De vier partijen hebben afgesproken dat het eigen risico in de zorg meer dan gehalveerd wordt. Dat gebeurt pas in 2027, omdat eerder niet mogelijk zou zijn. Nu is er nog een verplicht eigen risico van 385 euro per jaar. Dat zou dan 165 euro per jaar worden.

Verder wil de coalitie een lastenverlichting op arbeid “bijvoorbeeld via het introduceren van een extra schijf in de Inkomstenbelasting”. En de vier willen zekerheid op de arbeidsmarkt stimuleren, schuldhulpverlening verbeteren en kinderopvang voor ouders bijna gratis maken.

Grip op asiel en migratie

De coalitie koerst zoals aangekondigd op het strengste asielpakket ooit. Zo komt er een tijdelijke Asielcrisiswet met crisismaatregelen. In het geval van een ‘crisis’ kunnen er vergaande maatregelen genomen worden.

De asielvergunning voor onbepaalde tijd wordt afgeschaft en de vergunning voor tijdelijk verblijf wordt aangepast. Asielzoekers die zijn afgewezen, worden “zo veel mogelijk, ook gedwongen, uitgezet”. Ook krijgen statushouders geen voorrang meer bij het toewijzen van sociale huurwoningen. Automatische gezinshereniging wordt eveneens geschrapt en het aantal mensen dat mag nareizen wordt “fors beperkt”.

In het akkoord staat ook dat de spreidingswet ongedaan gemaakt moet worden (tot verdriet van de maker van de wet). De nieuwe coalitie wil de wet, die al door zowel de Tweede als Eerste Kamer is aangenomen, intrekken.

Verder wil de coalitie bij de Europese Commissie om toestemming vragen om niet mee te doen met het Europees asiel- en migratiebeleid, en wil ze meer grensbewaking en invoering van het tweestatusstelsel.

Asiel is niet de enige vorm van migratie die de coalitie wil tegengaan. Er komen extra eisen voor arbeidsmigranten van buiten de EU en “malafide uitzendconstructies” worden hard aangepakt.

Studiemigratie wordt ingeperkt, onder meer door meer opleidingen in het Nederlands te geven, een numerus fixus in te stellen voor buitenlandse studenten en een verhoging van het collegegeld voor niet-EU-studenten.

Wat betreft inburgering willen de vier dat kennis over de Holocaust verplicht wordt en dat de taaleisen omhoog gaan. Onder hetzelfde kopje staat dat er regulering komt van versterkte gebedsoproepen.

Wonen en volkshuisvesting, infrastructuur, openbaar vervoer en luchtvaart

Structureel moeten er 100.000 nieuwe woningen per jaar bij komen. Dat gebeurt onder meer door meer grond om te bouwen beschikbaar te stellen. “Straatje erbij’, binnenstedelijk en buitenstedelijk”, zo staat in het akkoord. Ook moeten procedures om te kunnen bouwen worden versneld.

Voor mensen die al een huis hebben, wil de coalitie de huurverhoging (in de sociale huur) inperken. Van nieuwbouw moet minimaal 30 procent gemiddeld voor sociale huur zijn. Voor huizenbezitters wordt de stijging van de onroerende zaakbelasting gemaximeerd. En ook belangrijk voor deze groep: “er wordt niet getornd aan de hypotheekrenteaftrek”.

Qua infrastructuur mag er in ieder geval “waar mogelijk” weer 130 kilometer per uur gereden worden, ook overdag.

Verder moet de bereikbaarheid van het landelijk gebied worden verbeterd “door het busvervoer tussen dorpskernen op het platteland te versterken” en gaat de aanleg van de Lelylijn, een treinverbinding tussen Lelystad en Groningen door.

Landbouw en visserij, voedselzekerheid en natuur

Wat betreft de landbouw, het speerpunt van de BBB, wil de coalitie “alles op alles zetten” om Europese richtlijnen aan te passen. Er wordt ingezet op aanpassing van de Nitraatrichtlijn en ‘herijking’ van Natura 2000-gebieden. “Gericht op een hoofdstructuur van robuuste natuurgebieden, geen ‘snippernatuur’.”

Ook staat in het akkoord dat Nederland niet langer ambitieuzer natuurbeleid moet voeren dan de rest van Europa.

De coalitie wil geen gedwongen krimp van de veestapel. Ook mag er geen gedwongen onteigening plaatsvinden. Wel moet er ruimhartig vrijwillig worden uitgekocht en moet er volop worden ingezet op innovatie in de landbouw.

Opvallend: de goedkopere ‘rode diesel’ komt weer terug voor boeren, tuinders en loonwerkers. In 2013 werd dat lage accijnstarief voor diesel juist geschrapt.

Energie, leveringszekerheid en klimaatadaptatie

De coalitie wil zich qua klimaatbeleid houden aan bestaande doelen, staat in het akkoord. “Alleen als we de doelen niet halen, maken we alternatief beleid.”

Het klimaatfonds blijft ook overeind. Uit dat miljardenfonds, ingesteld door het huidige kabinet, worden klimaatmaatregelen gefinancierd. Het fonds voorziet ook in geld voor de ontwikkeling van kernenergie. De nieuwe coalitie koerst op vier grote nieuwe kerncentrales, en niet twee, zoals eerder gedacht.

De partijen willen überhaupt inzetten op meer energieonafhankelijkheid en eigen duurzame energieproductie. Verder wordt de warmtepomp toch niet verplicht. Het huidige kabinet had dat bedacht, maar daar gaat een streep doorheen. Subsidies voor elektrische auto’s worden per 2025 geschrapt.

Publieke voorzieningen, zorg en onderwijs

De vier partijen willen de eerstelijnszorg versterken, waaronder huisarts, wijkverpleging en mantelzorg. Verder moet werken in de zorg (waar een groot personeelstekort is) aantrekkelijker worden. Dat zou moeten gebeuren “door middel van meer autonomie, loopbaanperspectief, goede arbeidsvoorwaarden en beperking van regeldruk en van administratieve lasten”. Ook moet er betere ouderenzorg komen.

Qua onderwijs moeten gebruikte lesmethoden “bewezen effectief en verder politiek neutraal zijn” en moet de ‘verengelsing’ worden teruggedrongen.

Op medisch ethisch gebied blijft alles zoals het is. “De wettelijke kaders blijven ongewijzigd” rond embryo’s, abortus en euthanasie.

Goed bestuur en een sterke rechtsstaat

De coalitie sorteert voor op een nieuw kiesstelsel voor de Tweede Kamer. Hoe dat er precies uit moet zien, is nader te bepalen. Het moet in ieder geval “de regionale band tussen kiezers en gekozenen” versterken. De bedoeling is dat het stelsel bij de volgende verkiezingen een feit is.

Verder moeten stappen worden gezet voor een grondwetsherziening zodat wetten getoetst kunnen worden aan de Grondwet. En in het verlengde daarvan moet er ook een aanzet worden gemaakt voor de vorming van een constitutioneel hof, dat de toetsing aan de grondwet kan uitvoeren (een vurige wens van NSC-leider Omtzigt).

Ook komt er ‘een recht op vergissen’. “Een enkele fout kan niet langer een burger diep in de problemen duwen”, vindt de nieuwe coalitie. Aanmanings- en incassokosten van de overheid gaan fors omlaag.

Ook moet er gesnoeid worden in het aantal ambtenaren en consultants bij de overheid en is er een bezuiniging ingeboekt van honderd miljoen euro op de publieke omroep. Hotelovernachtingen worden duurder, omdat het btw-tarief weer teruggaat naar 21 procent. Ook de btw op culturele goederen en diensten gaat omhoog, maar dat geldt niet voor bioscopen en dagrecreatie.

Nationale veiligheid

Op het gebied van veiligheid in Nederland willen de vier de aanpak van de georganiseerde misdaad versterken. “Er wordt meer ingezet op confiscatie van vermogen” en “de anti-witwasaanpak wordt geïntensiveerd”.

Verder komen er zwaardere straffen voor zware misdrijven zoals terreur en ernstige gewelds- en zedendelicten. Het jeugdstrafrecht wordt strenger gemaakt, onder andere door het verhogen van maximale straffen.

Internationale veiligheid

“Nederland blijft Oekraïne politiek, militair, financieel en moreel steunen tegen de Russische agressie”, zo valt te lezen in het akkoord. De NAVO-norm van 2 procent voor defensie moet wettelijk worden vastgelegd.

En omstreden: er moet worden onderzocht “wanneer verplaatsing van de ambassade naar Jeruzalem op een daartoe geschikt moment kan plaatsvinden”. De meeste landen hebben hun ambassade in Tel Aviv, vanwege de complexe status van Jeruzalem.

Overheidsfinanciën, economie en vestigingsklimaat

Het vestigingsklimaat moet worden verbeterd, vindt de nieuwe coalitie. En dus worden recente lastenverzwaringen voor ondernemers deels teruggedraaid. Het gaat onder meer om verhoging van de energiebelasting.

De formerende partijen hebben afgesproken om uiteindelijk 14,7 miljard euro per jaar te bezuinigen. Daar staat eenzelfde bedrag aan extra uitgaven (lastenverlichtingen en investeringen) tegenover. Per saldo gaan de uitgaven uiteindelijk met 4,7 miljard euro per jaar omlaag.

EINDE