BANGLADESH, 2024: REVOLUTIE

WEBSITE PETER STORM

Bangladesh, 2024: revolutie

Geplaatst op 27 augustus 2024 door egel

dinsdag 27 augustus 2024

Geschreven voor Konfrontatie, waar het inmiddels ook al te lezen staat.

Min of meer een longread

Enigszins verbazend is het: de geringe aandacht die er is voor de de revolutie in Bangladesh is, juist in linkse en radicale kringen. De gebeurtenissen verdienen beter. Mede daarom dit, uiteraard verregaand ontoereikende, artikeltje over wat er de afgelopen maanden in dit Zuid-Aziatische land heeft plaatsgevonden.

Half juli viel uit gevestigde media op te maken dat er iets belangwekkends aan de hand was in Bangladesh. Studenten demonstreerden in flinke aantallen tegen een quotastelsel voor overheidsbanen. Knokploegen van de regeringspartij Awami Liga – met daarin ook studenten – vielen de actievoerende studenten aan. Op 15 juli meldde Aljazeera al 150 gewonden, waarvan 20 ernstig.(1) The Guardian meldde op 16 juli al 2 doden.(2) Dat was nadat politie met traangas in de aanval was gegaan tegen de studenten. Zij aan zij met die politie waren er ook weer pro-regeringsknokploegen acties, met machetes en knuppels. Studenten bleven protesteren, met optochten en blokkades van kruispunten. Ze v vochten hard terug.

Waar draaide de het protest om. In het genoemde quotastelsel waren overheidsbanen gereserveerd voor bepaalde groepen: leden van minderheidsgroepen, mensen met een beperking, maar ook: familieleden van mensen die in 1971 voor de onafhankelijkheid hadden gestreden. Omdat iemands vader of grootvader aan die oorlog had deelgenomen, kreeg kind of kleinkind zo’n overheidsbaan. Maar liefst 30 procent van de vrijkomende banen waren voor zulke mensen gereserveerd. In de vrijheidsstrijd die in 1971 tot onafhankelijkheid – tussen 1948 en 1971 maakte het gebied waar nu Bangladesh zich bevindt, deel uit van Pakistan – leidde speelde de Awami Liga, de huidige regeringspartij, een hoofdrol.

Het reserveren van banen voor (klein-)kinderen van vrijheidsstrijders zag er uit als het reserveren van die banen voor kinderen van leden van de regeringspartij. Het zag er uit als vriendjespolitiek, omdat het dat in essentie ook was. Slechts 44 procent van de banen werd op basis van verdienste, buiten de diverse quota-categorieën, verdeeld.(3) Studenten wilden niet perse van alle quota af, maar wel van dat quotum van 30 procent voor nazaten van onafhankelijkheidsstrijders.

Nu zou dat allemaal wellicht nog niet zoveel woede gewekt hebben als banen voor jonge afgestudeerden voor het oprapen lagen in Bangladesh. Maar zo is het dus niet. De economie groeide de afgelopen jaren weliswaar hard: meer dan 6 procent per jaar,l en zo gaat het al geruime tijd. Niet iedereen profiteert, al is de armoede wel gedaald. Maar liefst 37,7 miljoen mensen hebben het afgelopen jaar te maken gehad met voedseltekorten. De werkloosheid van mensen tussen 15 en 24 jaar ligt rond de 12 procent. Maar het aantal mensen in die leeftijdsgroep dat geen baan had en evenmin op school of stage zat, bedroeg in 2023 zo’n 40 procent. Kennelijk zijn dus nogal wat jonge mensen zonder baan, zonder dat ze statistisch als werkloos zijn aangemerkt.(4) Interessant: universitair afgestudeerden maken minder kans op een aansluitende baan dan hun leeftijdsgenoten. De BBC meldt dat er naar schatting maar liefst 18 miljoen jonge mensen in Bangladesh op zoek zijn naar een baan.(5) Ja, dan is het extra onuitstaanbaar als van de weinige vrijkomende overheidsbanen er nogal wat worden gereserveerd voor regeringsaanhangers.

De boosheid bracht al snel grote aantallen actievoerende studenten de straten op. Grof politiegeweld, aangevuld met de knokploegterreur van regeringsaanhangers, leidden tot gewonden en al snel tot flink wat doden ook. Op 19 juli hadden demonstranten al een gevangenis bestormd en zo honderden mensen helpen ontvluchten.(6) Ook een gebouw van de staatsomroep was in de fik gezet door actievoerders. De regering kwam met een avondklok, en met de opdracht aan soldaten om mensen die zich daar niet aan hielden gericht neer te schieten. Op 20 juli meldde Reuters al 114 doden en was het internet afgesloten.(7)

Voor zover dit alles effect had, voedde het eerder de woede. Veel niet-studenten sympathiseerden met het studentenprotest. De afkeer van de repressieve regering van premier Sheik Hasina was groot. Haar macht was al langer omstreden: ze had eerder in 2024 weliswaar verkiezingen gewonnen, maar de oppositie had daar niet aan meegedaan omdat Hasina en haar partij nu niet bepaald ruimte boden om vrijuit campagne te voeren en dergelijke.(8) Studenten kregen actieve steun, bijvoorbeeld van riksja-rijders waarvan sommigen met gevaar voor eigen leven ambulancediensten gingen doen en gewonde studenten naar het ziekenhuis brachten, soms zonder betaling te vragen. Die riksja-rijders vormen een omvangrijke en belangrijke beroepsgroep van rond een half miljoen mensen. Straatarme, keihard zwoegende mensen. Ook velen van hen keerden zich tegen het bewind van Hasina. “Als ons iets gebeurt, ontsteken we vuren in ieder huis”, zo klonk het vanuit riksja-rijders uitdagend.(9)

Op 21 juli 2024 kwam er een keerpunt: het Hooggerechtshof draaide het quotum van voor nakomelingen van onafhankelijkheidsstrijders gereserveerde overheidsbanen terug van 30 naar 5 procent. Dat impliceerde een overwinning voor de actievoerende studenten.(10) Maar de intussen al 150 mensen die intussen om waren gekomen, slachtoffers van de repressie, kregen ze er niet mee terug. Studenten namen geen genoegen met de aanpassing van het quotumstelsel, het was te laat voor halve maatregelen, er was teveel bloed gevloeid. Ze eisten dat de regering verantwoording aflegde voor het dodelijke staatsgeweld tegen hun kameraden. Ze eisten ontslag van betrokken politiefunctionarissen. Ze eisten heropening van de onderwijsinstellingen. Ze eisten nog wel meer.(11) Hier en daar riepen mensen al op het vertrek van premier Hasina zelf. Die wilde daar niet van weten. Ze had duidelijk een zetje nodig. Dat zetje kreeg ze.

Na een paar dagen gespannen rust kwamen de demonstraties weer op gang. De repressie ging intussen door, met een grote arrestatiegolf. Op 23 juli waren er al 2600 mensen opgepakt.(12) Sommige studenten werden door politieagenten ontvoerd, zwaar mishandeld en weer vrijgelaten.(13) De protesten bleven groeien. Het ging daarbij allang niet meer om studenten. ‘“De beweging wordt alleen maar groter en steeds meer mensen uit verschillende lagen van de samenleving steunen ons”, ziet student Raiyan’.(14) Inderdaad!

Op 3 augustus protesteerden wederom enorme menigten. Een studentenactiegroep, Studenten Tegen Discriminatie genaamd, functioneerde als gangmaker, vanuit studentenkringen was intussen een campagne van burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid gelanceerd.(15) Op 4 oktober kwamen vanwege de staatsrepressie nog eens 91 mensen om. Demonstranten waren niet langer de enigen die het leven lieten. ‘Onder de 91 doden zijn 13 agenten die werden doodgesl;agen nadat een bende ene politiebureau in de stad Wirajganj was binnengevallen’, aldus Nu.nl (16). Een ‘bende’, heet het dus als mensen zich georganiseerd en wel tegen de politie keren. Het is maar dat we het weten. Het zieltogende bewind gooide er ook maar weer een internetblackout en een avondklok tegenaan. Welja.

Op 5 augustus kwam de voorlopige climax. ‘Protesterende studenten hebben opgeroepen tot een mars naar de hoofdstad Dhaka in weerwil van de landelijke avondklok om premier Hasina tot aftreden te bewegen’, aldus The Guardian.(17) Niet lang daarna bestormden menigten het presidentieel paleis en vluchtte premier Hasima per helicopter overhaast.(18) Vervolgens werd het feest op straat, een immens bevrijdingsfeest.

Na de val van Hasina was het echter bepaald nog niet voorbij. De politie was van de straten verdwenen, in staking gegaan, de benen genomen voor de immense volkswoede. Studenten regelden vervolgens zelf het verkeer.(18) Bdnews 24, een nieuwssite in Bangladesh, sprak van een ‘politie-loos Dacca’.(19) Mogen we ook eens een politie-loos Den Haag? Graag! Vrijwel meteen doken er echter nare berichten op over aanvallen op leden van de Hindoe-minderheid in het vooral door Moslims bevolkte land.(20) Revolutionaire studenten zagen het gevaar. ‘Studenten waren gezien terwijl ze Hindoe tempels en andere plaatsen van eredienst bewaakten in sociale media verslaggeving en beelden die geverifieerd zijn door Aljazeera’ s fact-checking bureau, onder andere in de stad Chittatong.’ Actievoerders richtten comités op voor dit soort solidaire bescherming.(21).

Al snel bleek trouwens dat er nog iets anders speelde. Soms werden mensen die inderdaad Hindoe waren aangevallen, niet vanwege het lidmaatschap van die religieuze groepering, maar omdat ze verbonden waren aan de inmiddels alom gehate Awami Liga.(22) Dit soort aanvallen zijn geen reactionair geweld tegen ene bevolkingsgroep, maar horen bij de afrekening met een gehaat bewind door een getergde bevolking. Het was evengoed wel heel verstandig van anarchisten in Bangladesh zelf dat ze, terwijl ze de val van Hasina toejuichten, waarschuwden tegen aanvallen op bijvoorbeeld Hindoes en leden van andere minderheidsgroeperingen.(23)

Intussen was duidelijk aan het worden dat Bangladesh niet zomaar wat studentenprotesten had meegemaakt, maar een volksopstand. Feitelijk was in Bangladesh een revolutie op gang gekomen, en die is niet afgelopen. Er is intussen een nieuwe regering, geleid door een keurige neoliberaal, Nobelprijswinnaar Mohammad Yunus. Daar is weinig revolutionairs aan. Maar in die regering waren wel twee studentenactivisten opgenomen.(24) Natuurlijk zitten zulke activisten helemaal verkeerd in wat voor regering dan ook en dreigt langs deze weg het verzet ingekapseld te worden. Maar tegelijk was de opname van deze activisten in de regering een erkenning van de kracht van het volksverzet, van de revolutie. Inkapseling was aan de orde omdat er nogal wat in te kapselen viel. Te hopen valt dat die inkapseling uiteindelijk niet gaat lukken.

Er is over de gebeurtenissen natuurlijk veel meer te zeggen. Hoe dan ook, ik vind het onmogelijk om er niet behoorlijk enthousiast van te worden. Ik zie meerdere redenen voor opgewektheid. Allereerst: de strijd voor vrijheid en solidariteit is een wereldwijde strijd, succes op de ene plek is goed nieuws voor ons allemaal. Dat volksmenigten in Bangladesh erin geslaagd zijn een tiranniek bewind ten val te brengen door aanhoudend en volhardend de straat op te gaan, is reden tot vreugde.

Verder: wat er in Bangladesh gebeurt heeft gewicht. Het betreft een land met 170 miljoen inwoners. Dat zijn er meer dan in bijvoorbeeld Duitsland en Groot-Brittannië en Zuid-Korea en Japan. Het betreft een land met ene snelgroeiende economie, vergelijkbaar met Zuid-Korea in de jaren 1960 en 1970. Het betreft ook nog eens een land dat ligt tussen Myanmar – waar een gewapende revolutie woedt – en India – waar tienduizenden mensen demonstreren en staken tegen de aanhoudende enorme aantallen verkrachtingen die daar plaatsvinden. De geest van de opstand houdt zich niet aan staatsgrenzen, wederzijdse inspiratie is zeer wel denkbaar. Het betreft ook nog eens een land waar nogal wat van onze kleding vandaan komt, gemaakt door de pakweg vier miljoen voornamelijk vrouwelijke textielarbeiders die tegen schandalige lonen lange werkdagen maken.

Het zit er trouwens in dat die lage lonen sterker onder vuur komen te liggen, want ook groepen arbeiders protesteren intussen met stakingen tegen wat in een artikel op een trotskistische website treffend wordt aangeduid als ‘de kleine Hasina’s’, de fabrieksdirecteuren en dergelijke.(25) De revolutie die in Bangladesh door dreunt, is tot nu toe vooral een politieke omwenteling maar heeft wel degelijk diepe sociale dimensies. Hoe diep? Hoe ver zullen arme mensen in Bangladesh gaan in een rechtmatige strijd, niet enkel tegen een gehaat regime maar tegen een kapitalistisch stelsel waarvan dat gehate regime de brute zaakwaarnemer was? Ik weet het niet. Ik weet wel dat nogal wat politiebureaus in Bangladesh door actievoerders zijn belaagd.(26) Zoals dat hoort in een revolutie.

Noten:

(1) ‘At least 100 wounded as Bangladesh students protest government job quotas’, Aljazeera, 15 juli 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/15/dozens-wounded-as-students-protest-government-job-quotas-in-bangladesh

(2) Redwan Ahmed & Hannah Ellis-Petersen, ‘Two die and thousands hurt in crackdown on bangladesh student protests’, The Guardian, 16 juli 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/16/two-dead-and-thousands-injured-as-bangladesh-police-crack-down-on-anti-quota-protests

(3) ‘What’s behind Bangladesh’s violent quota protests?’ Aljazeera, 16 juli 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/16/whats-behind-bangladeshs-violent-quota-protests

(4) Megha Bahree, ‘ Who are the protesters demanding an end to job quotas in Bangladesh?’ Aljazeera, 18 juli 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/7/18/who-are-the-protesters-demanding-an-end-to-job-quotas-in-bangladesh

(5) Anbaras Ethirajan & Hannah Ritchie, What sparked the protests that toppled Vbangladesh’s PM?” BBC, 6 augustus 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5xye1d285o

(6) ‘Al meer dan honderd doden gevallen bij studentenprotesten Bangladesh’, Nu.nl, 20 juli 2024, https://www.nu.nl/buitenland/6321427/al-meer-dan-honderd-doden-gevallen-bij-studentenprotesten-bangladesh.html

(7) ‘Bangladesh imposes curfew as death toll from student rpotests rises’, Aljazeera, 20 juli 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/20/bangladesh-imposes-shutdown-as-death-toll-from-student-protests-mounts

(8) Shamim Chowdhury, ‘Hasima remains the high prieste3ss of Bangladesh’s dynastic democracy’, Aljazeera, 9 januari 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/1/9/hasina-remains-the-high-priestess-of-bangladeshs-dynastic-democracy

(9) Masum Billah & Faisal Mahmud, ‘How Bangladesh ricksaw pullers saved lives amid quota protest clashes’, Aljazeera, 26 juli 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/7/26/dhakas-rickshaw-pullers-turn-life-savers-during-bangladesh-quota-protests

(10) ‘Hooggerechthof Bangladesh schrapt meeste quota voor banen na protesten’, Nu.nl, 21 juli 2024, https://www.nu.nl/buitenland/6321555/hooggerechtshof-bangladesh-schrapt-meeste-quota-voor-banen-na-protesten.html

(11) Shahidul Alam, ‘In Bangladesh, protests are no longer about the quota system’, Aljazeera, 23 juli 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/7/23/bangladesh-protests-are-no-longer-about-the-quota-system

(12) ‘Zeker 174 doden en 2600 arrestaties geteld tijdens protesten in Bangladesh’, NOS, https://nos.nl/artikel/2530015-zeker-174-doden-en-2600-arrestaties-geteld-tijdens-protesten-in-bangladesh

(13) Redwan Ahmed & Hannah Eellis-Peterson, Bangladeshi students allege police ytorture after protest crackdown’., The Guardian, 23 juli 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/23/bangladeshi-students-allege-police-tortured-them-after-protests-crackdown

(14) Devi Boerema, ‘Duizenden mensen gearresteerd in Bangladesh, toch gaan protesten door’, NOS, 31 juli 2024, https://nos.nl/artikel/2531133-duizenden-mensen-gearresteerd-in-bangladesh-toch-gaan-protesten-door

(15) ‘Students renew Bangladesh protests, call for PM Hasina’s resignation’, Aljazeera, 3 augustus 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/3/students-renew-bangladesh-protests-call-for-nationwide-civil-disobedience

(16) ‘Zeker 91 doden bij rellen in Bangladesh, mobiel internet uitgeschakeld’, Nu.nl, 4 augustus 2024, https://www.nu.nl/buitenland/6323377/zeker-91-doden-bij-rellen-in-bangladesh-mobiel-internet-uitgeschakeld.html

(17) ‘Bangladesh students call for march to capital Dhaka a day after clashes kill nearly 100 people’, The Guardian, 5 augustus 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/05/bangladesh-protests-quota-reform-movement-students-dhaka-march

(18) Samira Hussain & Simon Fraser, ‘Inside Bangladesh: BBC finds country in shock but dreaming of change’, BBC, 7 augustus 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dpjgrr3vdo

(19) ‘Buses running, stores opening in police-less Dhaka’, bdnews24.com, 6 augustus 2024, https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/5d6f8fb64531

(20) ‘Meldingen van geweld tegen hoindoetempels na vertrek premier’, Nu.nl, 7 augustus 2024, https://www.nu.nl/buitenland/6323646/meldingen-van-geweld-tegen-hindoetempels-bangladesh-na-vertrek-premier.html

(21) ‘Students, other Muslims protect temples, churches amid Bangladesh unrest’, Aljazeera, 7 augustus 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/7/students-other-muslims-protect-temples-churches-amid-bangladesh-unrest

(22) Faisal Mahmud, ‘The day after in Dhaka’, Aljazeera, 6 augustus 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/6/the-day-after-in-dhaka

(23) Gabriel Fonten, ‘Anarchists warn against attacks on minorities as bangladesh goivernment falls’, Freedom News, 5 augustus 2024, https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/08/05/anarchists-warn-against-attacks-on-minorities-as-bangladesh-government-falls/

(24) Faisal Mahmud, ‘Will Yunus-led interim government bring bangladesh out of its “dark era”?’, Aljazeera, 9 augustus 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/9/will-yunus-led-interim-government-bring-bangladesh-out-of-its-dark-era

(25) Numan Biswas & Ben Curry, ‘ Bangladesh: the workers begin to move’, In Defense of Marxism’, 22 augustus 2024, https://www.marxist.com/bangladesh-the-workers-begin-to-move.htm

(26) Faisal Mahmud, ‘The day after in Dhaka’, Aljazeera, 6 augustus 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/6/the-day-after-in-dhaka

Peter Storm

Palestinian fighters in the northern Gaza Strip ride an Israeli military vehicle that was seized after Hamas entered areas of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 [Ahmed Zakot/Reuters]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/8/what-is-the-group-hamas-a-simple-guide-tothe-palestinian-group

HAMAS, FROM ISLAMIC REVIVAL MOVEMENT TO PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT

19 AUGUST 2006

ASTRID ESSED

Hamas, from islamic revival-movement to Palestinian government

Contary to the leading opinions of the American-European politicians and media, the main aim of Hamas in calling for the “destruction” of the State of Israel, is not to kill or expel the Israeli-Jewish population, but to dismantle the zionistic State Model and to make an end to the 39-year Israeli occupation and settlement policy.

In the Palestinian elections January 25, 2006, Hamas obtained a startling victory.  Of the 132 seats of parliament, the Hamas party, which for the first time was participating in the parliamentary elections, obtained 74 seats, in contrast with the then-reigning Fatah Party, which obtained a mere 43 seats.  The remaining 13 seats were obtained by different smaller political parties, as well as independent candidates.

This great victory for Hamas was no surprise, considering the ongoing corruption of the Fatah-government versus the fundamental political and military resistance by Hamas against the Israeli occupation, as well as the Hamas social activities on behalf of the impoverished population of Palestine, especially Gaza.

In spite of this, leading American-European politicians, as well as the newsmedia, not only showed great astonishment at Hamas’ victory, they also demanded that Hamas renounce the violence against Israel and also acknowledge the State of Israel – and made this demand the condition of continued financial support to the Palestinian Authority.

When the newly-formed Hamas government refused to agree with those American-European demands, the American and Canadian governments, as well the European Union, decided to freeze the financial support to the Palestinian Authority, a measure which mainly affected the already seriously impoverished Palestinian civilian population, since at least 45% of the population [some reports put the number as high as 70 %] are living below the poverty-rate and 15% are living in extreme poverty.

Nutrition, education and medicine have been the areas most affected by the financial and economic boycott of Palestine.  Moreover, 250,000 Palestinians depend on Palestinian Authority salaries, and these government employees support nearly one million people, or 20% of the total Palestinian population.  However, due to the American-European boycott, salaries haven’t been paid since January, and the families of the government employees have had to bear the consequences.

Not only are the boycott measures morally reprehensible in regard with the humanitarian consequences for the Palestinian civilian-population, they have also led to mounting tensions within the Palestinian society.

Many international non-governmental organizations, as well as a number of United Nations agencies, have harshly criticized the economic boycott and blockade of Palestine.

Another consequence of the boycott is that, as a result of the freezing of European Union (EU) financial support, Hamas shall receive increased financial aid from the governments of the Arab and other Islamic countries.  This will lead to the lessening of EU political influence regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the strengthening of the influence of regimes adhering to more radical political Islamic ideologies, such as Iran.  Recently a number of Arab governments, and Iran, have either given or promised financial aid to the Hamas government.

No doubt aware of the above-mentioned political consequences of the diminishing EU influence regarding the Middle-East, the EU, represented by EU Commissioner Louis Michel (former Belgian minister of foreign affairs), has set aside a sum of 34 million euros for emergency aid to the Palestinian territories.  This aid is to be delivered outside of the Palestinian government, mainly through non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Also the World Bank, which has predicted an increasing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories, is exploring, in direct cooperation with the ‘Quartet for Mideast Peace made up of the EU, USA, the Russian Federation and the UN, to resume financial aid to the Palestinian population, by going outside of Hamas channels, bypassing the Hamas-led Palestinian government by providing the aid by way of NGOs which are active in the area.

Double standards:

The basis of the American-European boycott of the financial aid to the Palestinian Authority lies in the refusal of Hamas to renounce violence against Israel and to acknowlegde the State of Israel.
A further argument given in support of the boycott is the fact, that Hamas has played a major role in the incitement to suicide attacks against Israeli civilians and is still continuing this strategy.

It is self-evident that suicide-attacks as military attacks on civilians are not only inhuman, but also illegal according to International Law.  But what is seldom mentioned by the EU and the American-European governments are that these attacks are a matter of cause and effects, since they have been the result of the now 39 years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian land — an occupation which is in violation of the unanimously-accepted UN-Security Resolution 242 of 1967, in which Israel was required to withdraw its troops from the territories conquered during the June 1967 war, including the Palestinian territories.

Also, the boycotting countries are ignoring the fact that the attacks by Hamas do not consist solely of suicide-attacks, but also of the internationally-recognized legitimate acts of defense by an occupied population against the occupying military force — in this case, the Israeli army.

Repeatedly, the Hamas leadership has declared, both pre- and post- the January elections, the group’s willingness to renounce violence against Israel, as soon as Israel is prepared to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories [ie. its international obligation under UN Security Council Resolution 242], to dismantle its settlements in the Palestinian territories, which are illegal according International Law [see also UN-Security Council Resolution 1979], to dismantle the Wall, which is being built across occupied Palestinian territories [see verdict of the International Court of Justice dated 9-7-2004], and its acknowledgement of the internationally-recognized right of return for Palestinian refugees, a right which is confirmed by General Assembly Resolution 194.

All of the Hamas movement’s demands are based on International Law, confirmed by the above-named United Nations resolutions, and are therefore absolutely legitimate demands that should be recognized as such by the international community.

What is striking in this particular case, however, is that the American-European boycotting goverments are demanding that Hamas completely disarm on the one hand, while on the other hand, making no clear demands on Israel regarding the implementation of the above mentioned UN resolutions, which were voted for by many of these same American-European States.

Also this double standard is being applied in regard to Israeli and Palestinian violence.

Although the condemnation of suicide-attacks against Israeli civilians is correct and justified, there is however a strong undervaluation of the serious character of the Israeli human rights violatons and war-crimes which have been committed by the Israeli army since the beginning of the occupation in 1967 (and before).

It is also significant to mention that from EU-side there is no real political pressure on Israel to end the occupation and withdraw from the Palestinian territories.  Seen from that perspective, the American-European criticism against Hamas lacks moral credibility, as the boycotting nations are choosing to call for the enforcement of international law on a very selective basis.  Why should international human rights standards only apply to Hamas?  Why should they not apply to Israel as well?

The false international perception of Hamas ideology

It is a common standard in nearly all American-European newsmedia, as well in statements of politicians, to mention repeatedly that the Hamas ideology is associated with the “destruction” of the State of Israel.

In the context in which this statement is made, it is almost always implied that by calling for Israel’s “destruction”, Hamas intends to expel the Jewish-Israeli inhabitants out of the present Israel or even to kill them.

Before trying to unmask this stubborn American-European assumption I want to throw some light on the political history of the Hamas

Hamas [abbreviation of Harakat al-muqâwama al-islâmiyya, which means islamic resistanc emovement] was founded in 1987 as a religious-nationalistic resistance-organisation with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the spiritual leader.  He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in March 2004, which, being an extra-judicial execution, not only killed him but also killed 7 other innocent bystanders.

However, since the beginning of the eighties, there was a predecessor of Hamas, also under the leadership of Sheikh Yassin, which was mainly an islamic revival movement, mostly directed toward social and charitable goals.

Although that movement of course opposed the Israeli occupation, it did not promote violent resistance, since the group considered the Israeli occupation as a punishment of God because of the lack of religious devotion in Palestine.

In other words, this revival-movement was meant to make the Palestinian population return to the basics of Islam, as explained by the movement, in their daily life.

This revivalist-ideological movement was supported financially by Israel, supposedly as a ‘counterbalance’ to the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Yasser Arafat, which was, in combination with the al-Fatah organization, the most powerful resistance movement against the Israeli occupation at that time.

Even when the official Hamas organization was founded in 1987, initially there was no real resistance against the occupation, despite the anti-zionistic Charterof the group, written in 1988.

Only in the post-Oslo era (1993 on) did the Hamas organization became part of the resistance, resulting in military attacks against the Israeli occupation army, and, beginning in 1994, in suicide-attacks against Israeli civilians.  The immediate cause of the first suicide-attack was the 1994 massacre by the Jewish-Israeli extreme-rightwing terrorist, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, on 29 Palestinians who were praying Palestinians in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

The Hamas Charter

An analysis of the Hamas Charter, that consists of 36 articles, reveals that the purpose of the group is to form a religious resistance against the Israeli occupation, as well as advocating for the dismantlement of the zionistic State of Israel, to be replaced by an Islamic Palestinian State with equal rights for all the inhabitants and religious freedom regarding Jews and Christians.

Seen from this perspective, the Charter has an anti-colonialistic character, because of its fundamental criticism of the colonial character of the foundation of the State of Israel in historical Palestine, first as a colony of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, a British Mandate-area.

Following the plans of the European zionist movement, the foundation of a “Jewish” State in historical Palestine took place in 1948, based on UN General Assembly Resolution 181, passed in 1947, which supported the division of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab part.  The Resolution was made without any consultation of the indigenous Palestinian population, despite the fact that the Palestinians, along with the surrounding Arab states, had proposed at that time an alternative plan that would allow for Jewish immigration into Palestine without the separation of the state into “Jewish” and “Arab” areas, but that alternative was rejected by the United Nations, under pressure from the European Zionist movement.

It is of importance to mention here, that the objections of the Palestinians to Resolution 181 were not against the settlement of Jewish people in Palestine, but against the division of their country in two different States.

Apart from that, the Hamas movement is within its rights under international law to challenge the existence of the Zionist State of Israel in its current form, as the State of Israel in its current form is, at its basis, discriminatory against non-Jews.  

One of the most striking examples of the discriminatory basis of the State of Israel is the fact that any Jewish man, woman or child in the world has the right to settle in Israel, while the internationally-recognized right of return of the Palestinian descendants of the 750,000 Palestinians expelled by Zionist militias in 1948, a right confirmed in General Assembly Resolution 194, passed in 1948, is not acknowledged by Israel.

The statements often made by the American-European politicians and newsmedia that Hamas wants to expel or even kill the Israeli-Jewish inhabitants of Israel is made based on a false reading of the Hamas Charter.

Although in the Charter, reference is made to “the Jews”, a thorough reading makes clear that this is a reference to the Israeli zionist system and the Israeli occupation, and not to the Jews as an ethnic-religious group.  In Hamas bulletins, the group never refers to “the Jews” as such, but rather to the “zionist enemy” or the “zionist entity” – a reference to the political basis of the state of Israel, _not_ to Jewish people as an ethnic or religious group.

Suicide-attacks

In any mention of Hamas in the American-European press, emphasis is always made on the suicide-attacks against Israeli civilians for which Hamas bears responsibility.  It is evident that suicide-attacks are not only inhuman, they are also serious violations of International Humanitarian Law, which states that in any military conflict a clear distinction must be made between combatants [soldiers or fighters] and non-combatants [civilians].

From that point of view it is completely right that those attacks are being severely condemned by the International Community.

But it is important to realize that the cause of those suicide-attacks are rooted in the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian land since 1967.  The attacks began in 1994 after nearly thirty years of continuous oppression, humiliation and unpunished war crimes by Israeli forces in Palestine with no international enforcement of United Nations Resolutions that both recognized and condemned the Israeli actions and war crimes.  

Still, this is no justification whatsoever for any resistance group to also commit war crimes.  According to International Law it is illegal to respond to a violation of one’s human rights by committing a reciprocal violation, even in regard to an occupation.

On the other hand, any military action against an occupation army is considered legitimate resistance by an occupied population against the occupying power.  However, there is little international attention to the fact that an important part of Hamas’ strategy is also the use of this legitimate resistance method.

It is worth noting that Israel, as well as the USA, qualify those military attacks against the occupation army as ‘terrorist acts’, ignoring the internationally-recognized legitimacy of such acts.

Recently, Mr. Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, has confirmed the right of resistance against a foreign occupation.

The Israeli extrajudicial assassination policy

One policy of Israel that is both morally reprehensible and a violation of international law is the policy of extrajudicial assassinations of the leaders and activists of the Palestinian resistance movements like Hamas.

These assassinations began in the beginning of the 1970s and have continued until the present day.  Each successive Israeli government that has been elected has continued the policy unquestioningly.

Israeli assassinations of suspected Palestinian resistance fighters and leaders have taken a number of forms: the frontal shootings of cars, the exploding of mobile telephones and the current method: ‘assassination-by-missile’ – airstrikes by Israeli warplanes onto suspected cars or homes, regardless of whether the target is in a crowded refugee-camp, in a flat full of civilian apartments, or in a marketplace.  All of these have been the sites of missile strikes by Israeli forces in attempted extrajudicial assassinations.

These attacks are severe violations of International Law, which states that every human being has a right on a fair and independent trial.

In the extrajudicial assassinations, which are still being carried out by Israeli forces on a nearly-daily basis, in many cases civilian bystanders are also killed.

In those cases, the extrajudicial assassinations become not just violations of international law, but war crimes.  The fact that civilians are nearly always present at the assassination sites [streets, market-places, cars, apartments and refugee-camps] leads to a high probability of civilians being killed – this is a direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention’s Principle of Proportionality, and thus is considered internationally to be a war crime.

However, despite the high humanitarian risk for the civilian population, the current Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has made clear that those airstrikes are to be continued, despite the continuous loss of Palestinian civilian lives.

It is a striking example of Western ‘selective indignation’ that this Israeli policy of extrajudicial assassinations, which nearly always leads to civilian casualties, is not criticized as harshly as Hamas’ incitement toward suicide-attacks.

No sanctions have been taken against Israel in regard with thosde extrajudicial executions, as well the indiscriminate military attacks on Gaza.  But all financial assistance has been cut to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

Regarding this issue, Israel, being the occupying country, bears the lion’s share in the escalation of the present conflict.  The EU, which claims to consider Palestinian humanitarian concerns in its policies, must be held accountable for its hypocritical double standard in the enforcement of international law in this conflict.

Social-charitable Hamas-activities

One aspect of Hamas’ activities that has long been undervalued internationally is the fact that Hamas has been engaging in social and charitable activities on behalf of the most impoverished in the two Palestinian territories, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.  Ironically, by doing this, Hamas is fulfilling the international-judicial obligation of the Israeli occupying power to take care of the humanitarian needs of the occupied Palestinian population – an obligation that Israel has failed to fulfill.

According one of the most important articles of the 4th Geneva Convention, an occupying power is responsible for the safety, well-being and the welfare of the occupied population, a population which, while under occupation, become “protected persons” – a class of people that have special rights under international law.

The impoverished situation of the Palestinian population is being intensified each day by the Israeli military attacks in Gaza and the West-Bank, which have also resulted in serious human rights violations and war crimes.

When such Israeli measures were taken in the past, Hamas has increased its efforts to support the most impoverished part of the population.  Donors for the projects, which include schools, hospitals and daycare centers, have come from all over the world, but mainly from the Arab world.  Hamas gained a reputation as a focused and devoted group that did not steal money for themselves and their own enrichment (as was the reputation of the ruling Fateh party), but dedicated funding to numerous projects that benefited the least-well-off of the Palestinian society.

Of course, this led to a great popularity of Hamas and the striking outcome of the elections.

Ongoing Israeli violations

In both Gaza and the West Bank, massive home demolitions of Palestinian homes have been carried out by Israeli forces, which is forbidden according to article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Also, in Gaza especially, the border with Israel is often completely closed, causing tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel to lose their jobs — their only means of livelihood.

In July and August 2006, Israeli forces have not only closed the border with Gaza, but also bombed parts of the infrastructure [bridges and main roads], which caused considerable damage and has cut off the water and electricity supply for the entire population.  This was done, according to Israel, as a retaliatory measure for the abduction and imprisonment of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian resistance fighters on June 25th.

Retaliatory measures such as these, as collective punishment of an entire population, are serious breaches of International Law.  In particular, article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids any collective punishment.

Epilogue:

In this article I’ve tried to make clear, that not only is the American-European freezing of the financial help to the Palestinian Authority is immoral, because it is at the cost of the impoverished Palestinian population, it is also a double standard to condemn the violence of Hamas, while not condemning the ongoing violence of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

No resistance organisation in the world can be expected to lay down their arms while the occupation and oppression they are resisting is allowed to continue in the most extreme way.

However, it must also be noted that a resistance movement must also adhere to its obligations according to International Law.

The international community, particularly the European-American nations that have chosen to boycott the Hamas-led Palestinian government, must respect the stand taken by Hamas against the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion policy, as well as Hamas’ fundamental resistance against the zionistic State-model of Israel.  This must not be done by closing our eyes to the serious human rights violations of the group by the part it has played in suicide-attacks against Israeli civilians, but neither can we close our eyes to the ongoing human rights violations by Israel.

I sincerely hope that Hamas will not yield to the growing American-European political pressure to make the Israeli occupation and settlements policy points of negotiation.

But if Hamas really wants to be respected internationally, the group must refrain from attacks on Israeli civilians.

Every human being, whether Palestinian or Israeli, has the right on the same humane treatment and in my opinion, even living under an occupation as severe as the Israeli occupation of Palestine does not give a person or group the right to violate the rights of their occupiers.

Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands

“Power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny and oppression.”
-Malcolm X

Sources:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm

The 3th Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war:
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68

The 4th Geneva Convention, relative to the protections of civilian persons in time of war:
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5

http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4837.shtml

http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2006/ocha-opt-11apr.pdf

Israeli human rights violations:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/29/isrlpa13662.htm

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/20/israb13595.htm

http://hrw.org/reports/2005/iopt0605/

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/22/isrlpa12345.htm

Hamas human rights violations:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/09/isrlpa11106.htm

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/30/isrlpa12549.htm

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/29/isrlpa12543.htm

Israeli discriminatory measures against Palestinian-Arab children in the Israeli education-system:

http://hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/JILPfinal.pdf

Israeli discriminatory laws:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/23/isrlpa11000.htm

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/23/isrlpa11003.htm

ISRAELISCH KOLONISTENTUIG VALT PALESTIJNSE MAN AAN

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67173344

BITTERE BIJPRODUCTEN VAN DE ISRAELISCHE BEZETTING:

ISRAELISCHE NEDERZETTINGEN IN BEZET PALESTIJNS GEBIED

De Israelische nederzettingen in bezet Palestijns Gebied/illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht

ASTRID ESSED VERSUS NOS TELETEKST/”NOS TELETEKST/BENOEM HET DUIDELIJK; KOLONISTENGEWELD WORDT GESTEUND EN GESTIMULEERD DOOR

HET ISRAELISCHE APARTHEIDSREGIME!”

Amnesty International en Human Rights Watch over het Israelische Apartheidsregime

BRIEF AAN NOS TELETEKST:

De walrus sprak:

De tijd is daar
Om over allerlei te praten”

Een schoen, een schip, een kandelaar,

Of koningen ook liegen

En of de zee soms koken kan

En een biggetje kan vliegen.
Uit het Engels vertaald uit:

 THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTERLEWIS CARROLL: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walrus_and_the_Carpenter

AAN

NOS Teletekstredactie,

Uw berichtgeving dd 16 augustus ”Aanvallen kolonisten in dorp Westoever”

Ik zeg het eerlijk:

Uw berichtgeving is er beslist op vooruitgegaan, omdat ik nu

[al is het nog veel te weinig] steeds vaker zie, dat u niet alleen

meer oog krijgt voor het Palestijnse lijden onder de Israelische

bezetting, maar ook het Internationaal Recht duidelijker benoemt.

Zo hebt u in een eerder bericht vrijwel voor het eerst [want ik

volg uw berichtgeving vrij nauwkeurig] vermeld, dat de Israelische

nederzettingen in strijd zijn met het Internationaal Recht [1]

Daarmee heb ik u dan ook een compliment gemaakt [2]

Dat is  weleens anders geweest [3]

Ook in een van uw recente berichten, ”Aanval kolonisten in dorp

Westoever” [Zie bericht onder P/S] hebt u getoond,  niet alleen

duidelijk oog te hebben voor Palestijns Lijden onder de Israelische bezetting

[die u bij naam en toenaam genoemd hebt, wat in het verleden ook

niet altijd duidelijk gebeurde, een vooruitgang dus], ook hebt

u het kolonistengeweld loud and clear benoemd.

Ook benoemt u hier duidelijk het feit, dat de nederzettingen illegaal zijn

Ik citeer u:

”Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen

willen uitbreiden.’

Zie onder P/S

GOED ZO!

Toch zou het wat duidelijker geweest zijn, als  had toegevoegd, dat de

nederzettingen illegaal zijn VOLGENS HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT [4]

Dat is dan duidelijker voor de lezer

Weet u wat?

Maak er een standaardzin van, dat zodra u bericht over kolonisten

en nederzettingen, dat u even als laatste zin vermeldt

”De in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden Westoever en Oost-Jeruzalem [want daar zijn ook

kolonisten actief] gestichte nederzettingen zijn illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht”

Dan zit u altijd goed

Dat wil echter niet zeggen, dat er op uw berichtgeving geen fundamentele

zaken zijn aan te merken.

En die ga ik nu benoemen:

1

GEWELD KOLONISTEN DOOR ISRAELISCHE STAAT EN LEGER

GESTIMULEERD, GEDEKT EN GESTEUND!

Ten eerste wil ik u erop wijzen, dat dat door u terecht genoemde 

kolonistengeweld [zie uw bericht onder P/S] niet uit de lucht

komt vallen en niet op zichzelf staat:

Het leger en dus ook de Israelische Staat hebben hierin een

flinke vinger in de pap.

Vaak komt het voor, dat  het Israelische leger de zich aan geweld

tegen Palestijnen schuldig makende kolonisten gewoon

hun gang gaan [5] en erger nog: de aangevallen Palestijnen van hun eigen land gooit, waarbij wordt gevuurd met traangas, granaten, rubber kogels or worse [6] 

En vaak ook worden kolonisten bij

hun aanvallen openlijk gesteund door het Israelische leger! [7]

In het Rapport ”STATE BUSINESS, ISRAEL’S MISAPPROPRIATION

OF LAND IN THE WEST BANK THROUGH SETTLER’S VIOLENCE”

[8] heeft de Israelische mensenrechtenorganisatie B’tselem deze kolonisten

praktijken en de gedoging en betrokkenheid van het Israelische leger

en de Staat uitgebreid beschreven. 

Dat dit kolonistengeweld wordt gebacked door Staat en leger moet u dus

ook in uw berichtgeving opnemen.

Want dat relativeert de schijnheilige reactie van premier Netanyahu:

[Ik citeer uw berichtgeving]

”Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld”

Jaja, nadat de Staat en zeker ook zijn fascistische regering [9] jarenlang

de kolonisten hun gang hebben laten gaan en openlijk gesteund!

Laat me niet lachen.

2

GEWELD OP DE WESTOEVER

Ik citeer uw berichtgeving [Zie P/S]

”Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de

Westoever opgelaaid.”

Dat is om verschillende redenen onjuist aangeduid:

In de eerste plaats is de term ”Geweld” te vaag

Het kan duiden op geweld [verzet is een betere term en wel gelegitin=meerd

verzet tegen de bezetter!] van Palestijnse kant, het kan duiden op de

beruchte ”twee partijen”, dus geweld van Palestijnse en Israelische zijde EN het

kan specifiek Israelisch geweld aanduiden.

En inderdaad is het Geweld sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook [zeg ;liever

de Israelische INVAL in de Gazastrook] op de Westoever toegenomen, maar

dan in de vorm van allerhande Israelische terreur tegen de Palestijnse bevolking,

met wel de meest huiveringwekkende consequenties de vrijwel Genocide daar.

Dat zeg ik niet:

Ik baseer mij op de ”ACTIVE GENOCIDE ALERT”, uitgegeven door the Lemkin

Institute for Genocide Prevention. [10]

Trouwens:

De Israelische terreur op de West Bank is weliswaar sinds de oorlog in

Gaza weliswaar veel meer ”opgelaaid” [in uw terminologie: Het ”Geweld”

is veel meer opgelaaid], maar vlak de Israelische bezettingsterreur VOOR

de oorlog in Gaza ook niet uit! [11]

SAMENGEVAT

U hebt een paar goede punten vermeld in uw berichtgeving/GOED ZO

Maar ook een aantal wezenlijke zaken weggelaten of gebagatelliseerd

Dat kolonistengeweld staat niet op zichzelf, maar wordt ondersteund en

in ieder geval gedoogd door de Israelische Sttaat en het Leger [12]

En het ”Geweld” op de Westoever is veel meer dan Geweld:

Er wordt na onderzoek zelfs van genocide gesproken [13]

Bovendien was dat vooral Israelische Staatsgeweld er al jaren en jaren [14]

Drukt u zich dus bij een volgende berichtgeving wat steviger uit, graag

Vriendelijke groeten

Astrid Essed

Amsterdam 

NOTEN

NOTEN 1 T/M 3

Noten 1 t/m 3/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 4

Noot 4/Kolonistengeweld

NOTEN 5 T/M 7

Noten 5 t/m 7/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 8

Noot 8/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 9

Noot 9/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 10

Noot 10/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 11

Noot 11/Kolonistengeweld

NOTEN 12 T/M 14

Noten 12 t/m 14/Kolonistengeweld

P/S

NOS TELETEKST

16 AUGUSTUS 2024

AANVALLEN KOLONISTEN IN DORP WESTOEVER

Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever 

Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.

Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde zijn gevallen.

Vier huizen en zes auto”s zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.

Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de

Westoever opgelaaid.

Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen

willen uitbreiden.

Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld, net als de

ultrarechtse minister Smotrich-zelf een kolonist.

Vorig jaar zei Smotrich nog na een vergelijkbare aanval, dat dat dorp

moest worden uitgeroeid.

EINDE NOS ELETEKSTBERICHT

ORIGINEEL BERICHT

https://nos.nl/teletekst/125

 NOS Teletekst 125 Nederlandse Omroep StichtingNOS.nl - Nieuws, Sport en Evenementen op Radio, TV en Internet

    Aanval kolonisten in dorp Westoever 

 Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben  
 op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever  
 Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.  
 Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde 
 zijn gevallen.Vier huizen en zes auto's
 zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.       
                                        
 Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook
 het geweld op de Westoever opgelaaid.  
 Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het   
 doelwit van kolonisten die hun illegale
 nederzettingen willen uitbreiden.      
                                        
 Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van  
 gisteren scherp veroordeeld,net als de 
 ultrarechtse minister Smotrich - zelf  
 een kolonist.Vorig jaar zei Smotrich   
 nog na een vergelijkbare aanval dat dat
 dorp moest worden uitgeroeid.

ISRAELISCH KOLONISTENTUIG VALT PALESTIJNSE MAN AAN

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67173344

BITTEREBIJPRODUCTEN VAN DE ISRAELISCHE BEZETTING:

ISRAELISCHE NEDERZETTINGEN IN BEZET PALESTIJNS GEBIED

BITTEREBIJPRODUCTEN VAN DE ISRAELISCHE BEZETTING:

ISRAELISCHE NEDERZETTINGEN IN BEZET PALESTIJNS GEBIED

De Israelische nederzettingen in bezet Palestijns Gebied/illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht

Astrid Essed

From:astridessed@yahoo.com

To:reacties@nos.nl,nosbinnenland@nos.nl,publieksreacties@nos.nl,communicatie@nos.nl

Tue, Aug 20 at 4:25 PM

De walrus sprak:

De tijd is daar
Om over allerlei te praten”

Een schoen, een schip, een kandelaar,

Of koningen ook liegen

En of de zee soms koken kan

En een biggetje kan vliegen.
Uit het Engels vertaald uit:

 THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTERLEWIS CARROLL: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walrus_and_the_Carpenter

AAN

NOS Teletekstredactie,

Uw berichtgeving dd 16 augustus ”Aanvallen kolonisten in dorp Westoever”

Ik zeg het eerlijk:

Uw berichtgeving is er beslist op vooruitgegaan, omdat ik nu

[al is het nog veel te weinig] steeds vaker zie, dat u niet alleen

meer oog krijgt voor het Palestijnse lijden onder de Israelische

bezetting, maar ook het Internationaal Recht duidelijker benoemt.

Zo hebt u in een eerder bericht vrijwel voor het eerst [want ik

volg uw berichtgeving vrij nauwkeurig] vermeld, dat de Israelische

nederzettingen in strijd zijn met het Internationaal Recht [1]

Daarmee heb ik u dan ook een compliment gemaakt [2]

Dat is  weleens anders geweest [3]

Ook in een van uw recente berichten, ”Aanval kolonisten in dorp

Westoever” [Zie bericht onder P/S] hebt u getoond,  niet alleen

duidelijk oog te hebben voor Palestijns Lijden onder de Israelische bezetting

[die u bij naam en toenaam genoemd hebt, wat in het verleden ook

niet altijd duidelijk gebeurde, een vooruitgang dus], ook hebt

u het kolonistengeweld loud and clear benoemd.

Ook benoemt u hier duidelijk het feit, dat de nederzettingen illegaal zijn

Ik citeer u:

”Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen

willen uitbreiden.’

Zie onder P/S

GOED ZO!

Toch zou het wat duidelijker geweest zijn, als  had toegevoegd, dat de

nederzettingen illegaal zijn VOLGENS HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT [4]

Dat is dan duidelijker voor de lezer

Weet u wat?

Maak er een standaardzin van, dat zodra u bericht over kolonisten

en nederzettingen, dat u even als laatste zin vermeldt

”De in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden Westoever en Oost-Jeruzalem [want daar zijn ook

kolonisten actief] gestichte nederzettingen zijn illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht”

Dan zit u altijd goed

Dat wil echter niet zeggen, dat er op uw berichtgeving geen fundamentele

zaken zijn aan te merken.

En die ga ik nu benoemen:

1

GEWELD KOLONISTEN DOOR ISRAELISCHE STAAT EN LEGER

GESTIMULEERD, GEDEKT EN GESTEUND!

Ten eerste wil ik u erop wijzen, dat dat door u terecht genoemde 

kolonistengeweld [zie uw bericht onder P/S] niet uit de lucht

komt vallen en niet op zichzelf staat:

Het leger en dus ook de Israelische Staat hebben hierin een

flinke vinger in de pap.

Vaak komt het voor, dat  het Israelische leger de zich aan geweld

tegen Palestijnen schuldig makende kolonisten gewoon

hun gang gaan [5] en erger nog: de aangevallen Palestijnen van hun eigen land gooit, waarbij wordt gevuurd met traangas, granaten, rubber kogels or worse [6] 

En vaak ook worden kolonisten bij

hun aanvallen openlijk gesteund door het Israelische leger! [7]

In het Rapport ”STATE BUSINESS, ISRAEL’S MISAPPROPRIATION

OF LAND IN THE WEST BANK THROUGH SETTLER’S VIOLENCE”

[8] heeft de Israelische mensenrechtenorganisatie B’tselem deze kolonisten

praktijken en de gedoging en betrokkenheid van het Israelische leger

en de Staat uitgebreid beschreven. 

Dat dit kolonistengeweld wordt gebacked door Staat en leger moet u dus

ook in uw berichtgeving opnemen.

Want dat relativeert de schijnheilige reactie van premier Netanyahu:

[Ik citeer uw berichtgeving]

”Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld”

Jaja, nadat de Staat en zeker ook zijn fascistische regering [9] jarenlang

de kolonisten hun gang hebben laten gaan en openlijk gesteund!

Laat me niet lachen.

2

GEWELD OP DE WESTOEVER

Ik citeer uw berichtgeving [Zie P/S]

”Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de

Westoever opgelaaid.”

Dat is om verschillende redenen onjuist aangeduid:

In de eerste plaats is de term ”Geweld” te vaag

Het kan duiden op geweld [verzet is een betere term en wel gelegitin=meerd

verzet tegen de bezetter!] van Palestijnse kant, het kan duiden op de

beruchte ”twee partijen”, dus geweld van Palestijnse en Israelische zijde EN het

kan specifiek Israelisch geweld aanduiden.

En inderdaad is het Geweld sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook [zeg ;liever

de Israelische INVAL in de Gazastrook] op de Westoever toegenomen, maar

dan in de vorm van allerhande Israelische terreur tegen de Palestijnse bevolking,

met wel de meest huiveringwekkende consequenties de vrijwel Genocide daar.

Dat zeg ik niet:

Ik baseer mij op de ”ACTIVE GENOCIDE ALERT”, uitgegeven door the Lemkin

Institute for Genocide Prevention. [10]

Trouwens:

De Israelische terreur op de West Bank is weliswaar sinds de oorlog in

Gaza weliswaar veel meer ”opgelaaid” [in uw terminologie: Het ”Geweld”

is veel meer opgelaaid], maar vlak de Israelische bezettingsterreur VOOR

de oorlog in Gaza ook niet uit! [11]

SAMENGEVAT

U hebt een paar goede punten vermeld in uw berichtgeving/GOED ZO

Maar ook een aantal wezenlijke zaken weggelaten of gebagatelliseerd

Dat kolonistengeweld staat niet op zichzelf, maar wordt ondersteund en

in ieder geval gedoogd door de Israelische Sttaat en het Leger [12]

En het ”Geweld” op de Westoever is veel meer dan Geweld:

Er wordt na onderzoek zelfs van genocide gesproken [13]

Bovendien was dat vooral Israelische Staatsgeweld er al jaren en jaren [14]

Drukt u zich dus bij een volgende berichtgeving wat steviger uit, graag

Vriendelijke groeten

Astrid Essed

Amsterdam 

NOTEN

NOTEN 1 T/M 3

Noten 1 t/m 3/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 4

Noot 4/Kolonistengeweld

NOTEN 5 T/M 7

Noten 5 t/m 7/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 8

Noot 8/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 9

Noot 9/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 10

Noot 10/Kolonistengeweld

NOOT 11

Noot 11/Kolonistengeweld

NOTEN 12 T/M 14

Noten 12 t/m 14/Kolonistengeweld

P/S

NOS TELETEKST

16 AUGUSTUS 2024

AANVALLEN KOLONISTEN IN DORP WESTOEVER

Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever 

Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.

Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde zijn gevallen.

Vier huizen en zes auto”s zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.

Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de

Westoever opgelaaid.

Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen

willen uitbreiden.

Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld, net als de

ultrarechtse minister Smotrich-zelf een kolonist.

Vorig jaar zei Smotrich nog na een vergelijkbare aanval, dat dat dorp

moest worden uitgeroeid.

EINDE NOS ELETEKSTBERICHT

ORIGINEEL BERICHT

https://nos.nl/teletekst/125

 NOS Teletekst 125 Nederlandse Omroep StichtingNOS.nl - Nieuws, Sport en Evenementen op Radio, TV en Internet

    Aanval kolonisten in dorp Westoever 

 Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben  
 op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever  
 Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.  
 Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde 
 zijn gevallen.Vier huizen en zes auto's
 zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.       
                                        
 Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook
 het geweld op de Westoever opgelaaid.  
 Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het   
 doelwit van kolonisten die hun illegale
 nederzettingen willen uitbreiden.      
                                        
 Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van  
 gisteren scherp veroordeeld,net als de 
 ultrarechtse minister Smotrich - zelf  
 een kolonist.Vorig jaar zei Smotrich   
 nog na een vergelijkbare aanval dat dat
 dorp moest worden uitgeroeid.

[1]

”BERICHTGEVING NOS TELETEKST

NOS TELETEKST

ISRAEL BOUWT MEER HUIZEN WESTOEVER

7 MAART 2024

Israel zet zijn plannen door om op de bezette

Westelijke Jordaanoever meer dan 3300 nieuwe woningen voor

Israelische kolonisten.

Vorige maand kondigde de minister van Financien aan, dat

de woningen worden gebouwd uit wraak voor een terroristische

aanslag van Palestijnen.

Volgens de krant Haaretz komen er zo’n 2450 woningen bij in Maale

Adumim, een nederzetting ten oosten van Jeruzalem.

De andere komen in Efrat en Kedar, die wat zuidelijker liggen.

Op de Westoever wonen zo’n drie miljoen Palestijnen en

ruim 600 000 kolonisten.

Volgens het Internationaal Recht zijn de nederzettingen illegaal.

EINDE NOS TELETEKSTBERICHT

ORIGINELE TELETEKSTBERICHT

https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=129
 Israël bouwt meer huizen Westoever   Israël zet zijn plannen door om op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever meer dan 3300 nieuwe woningen te bouwen voor Israëlische kolonisten.Vorige maand kondigde de minister van Financiën aan dat de woningen worden gebouwd uit wraak voor een terroristische aanslag van Palestijnen. Volgens de krant Haaretz komen er zo’n 2450 woningen bij in Maale Adumim,een nederzetting ten oosten van Jeruzalem. De andere komen in Efrat en Kedar,die wat zuidelijker liggen. Op de Westoever wonen zo’n 3 miljoen Palestijnen en ruim 600.000 kolonisten.

– NOS Teletekst

Volgens het internationaal recht zijn de nederzettingen illegaal.

UIT

Mail Astrid Essed aan NOS Teletekst/”Uw berichtgeving dd 7 maart 2024: ”Israel bouwt meer huizen Westoever”/DEZE KEER EEN COMPLIMENT!

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN NOS TELETEKST/”UW BERICHTGEVING DD 7 MAART 2024: ”ISRAEL BOUWT MEER HUIZEN WESTOEVER/DEZE KEER EEN 

COMPLIMENT!

ASTRID ESSED

Mail Astrid Essed aan NOS Teletekst/”Uw berichtgeving dd 7 maart 2024: ”Israel bouwt meer huizen Westoever”/DEZE KEER EEN COMPLIMENT!

[2]

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN NOS TELETEKST/”UW BERICHTGEVING DD 7 MAART 2024: ”ISRAEL BOUWT MEER HUIZEN WESTOEVER/DEZE KEER EEN 

COMPLIMENT!

ASTRID ESSED

Mail Astrid Essed aan NOS Teletekst/”Uw berichtgeving dd 7 maart 2024: ”Israel bouwt meer huizen Westoever”/DEZE KEER EEN COMPLIMENT!

[3]

”Maar ik heb ook kritiek, want zoals bij u helaas wel

vaker het geval is, is uw berichtgeving incompleet, wat

bij de lezer tot onduidelijkheid en/of verwarring kan leiden.

Want weliswaar bericht u over de gruweldaden van kolonisten,

maar u legt niet uit, wat kolonisten precies zijn en hoe

zij zich verhouden tot het Internationaal Recht.

IN STRIJD MET HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT

Kolonisten zijn bewoners van op bezet Palestijns gebied gebouwde 

Israelische nederzettingen en deze nederzettingen zijn in strijd

met het Internationaal Recht, gebaseerd op artikel 49, 4e Conventie

van Geneve en het Haags Verdrag uit 1907

Zie noot 9 

In artikel 49, 4e Conventie van Geneve wordt gezegd [ik citeer

Amnesty International] ”Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” [10]

Duidelijk dus en voor u nog even ter toelichting:

Het is aan de Bezettende Macht [u weet uiteraard, dat Israel de Palestijnse

gebieden bezet] om zijn bevolking over te brengen naar bezet gebied.

En dat gebeurt met die nederzettingenpolitiek, omdat Joodse Israeli’s

zich in die nederzettingen vestigen met toestemming van de

Israelische Overheid, die het op allerlei wijzen stimuleert, bijvoorbeeld

door uitbreidingen van die nederzettingen [11]

Ook heeft de EU de Israelische nederzettingen altijd veroordeeld

als zijnde in strijd met het Internationaal Recht, nog in maart 2023! [12]

Daarbij is het duidelijk, dat het ook nog eens landdiefstal is,

omdat het bezet gebied is en Israel, noch die kolonisten,

daar iets te zoeken hebben, wat hun terreur en gewelddaden nog

bizarder maakt.

Van het grootste belang is het dus, dat u, naast uw berichtgeving

over de gewelddaden van de kolonisten, ook vermeldt wie die

kolonisten nu eigenlijk zijn, met de o zo noodzakelijke informatie

dat hun behuizingen, die nederzettingen, in strijd zijn met

het Internationaal Recht!

Ik reken er dus op, dat u dat bij een volgende berichtgeving

WEL vermeldt.”

MAIL AAN NOS TELETEKSTREDACTIE/KRITIEK EN LOF

OVER BERICHTGEVING/”KOLONISTEN RICHTEN BLOEDBADEN AAN”

ASTRID ESSED

Mail aan NOS Teletekstredactie/Kritiek en lof over berichtgeving: ”Kolonisten richten bloedbaden aan”

ISRAEL BREIDT NEDERZETTINGEN UIT/COMMENTAAR OP

NOS BERICHTGEVING

ASTRID ESSED

12 AUGUSTUS 2013

Israel breidt nederzettingen uit/Commentaar op NOS berichtgeving

ISRAEL WIL WEER BOUWEN OP WESTOEVER/NOS TELETEKSTREDACTIE, VERMELD DE ILLEGALITEIT

VAN DE NEDERZETTINGEN!

ASTRID ESSED

12 JANUARI 2021

Israel wil weer bouwen op Westoever/NOS Teletekstredactie, vermeld de illegaliteit van de nederzettingen!

[4]

DE ISRAELISCHE NEDERZETTINGEN IN BEZET PALESTIJNS GEBIED/ILLEGAAL VOLGENS HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT

De Israelische nederzettingen in bezet Palestijns Gebied/illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht

” the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible; 

 the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory; ”

……

……

”As regards Israel’s settlement policy (paras. 111-156), the Court reaffirms what it stated in its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of 9 July 2004, that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the régime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law. The Court notes with grave concern reports that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding since the Court’s 2004 Advisory Opinion.”

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

LEGAL CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM THE POLITICS AND PRACTICES

OF ISRAEL IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, INCLUDING EAST

JERUSALEM

19 JULY 2024

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-pre-01-00-en.pdf

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE 

Peace Palace, 

Carnegieplein 2, 

2517 KJ The Hague, 

Netherlands 

Tel.: +31 (0)70 302 2323

 Fax: +31 (0)70 364 9928 

Website X YouTube LinkedIn  

Press Release 

Unofficial  

 No. 2024/57 

July 2024   

Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem 

The Court gives its Advisory Opinion and responds to the questions posed by the General Assembly 

THE HAGUE, 19 July 2024. 

The International Court of Justice has today given its Advisory Opinion in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. 

  It is recalled that, on 30 December 2022, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution A/RES/77/247 in which, referring to Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, it requested the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on the following questions:

(a) 

What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?

  (b) How do the policies and practices of Israel referred to . . . above affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”

In its Advisory Opinion, the Court responds to the questions posed by the General Assembly by concluding that: 

 the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful; 

 the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible; 

 the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory; 

 the State of Israel has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; 

PAGE 2

  – 2 –

  all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;   

   international organizations, including the United Nations, are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and

the United Nations, and especially the General Assembly, which requested the opinion, and the Security Council, should consider the precise modalities and further action required to bring to an end as rapidly as possible the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

Reasoning of the Court 

After concluding that it has jurisdiction to render the requested opinion and that there are no compelling reasons for it to decline to give an opinion (paras. 22-50), the Court recalls the general context of the case (paras. 51-71) and addresses the scope and meaning of the two questions posed by the General Assembly (paras. 72-83).

  The Court then assesses the conformity of Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as identified in question (a), with its obligations under international law. In particular, the Court’s analysis examines, in turn, the questions of the prolonged occupation, Israel’s policy of settlement, the question of the annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and Israel’s adoption of related legislation and measures that are allegedly discriminatory (paras. 103-243).

  With regard to the question of the prolonged occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which has lasted for more than 57 years (paras. 104-110), the Court observes that, by virtue of its status as an occupying Power, a State assumes a set of powers and duties with respect to the territory over which it exercises effective control. 

The nature and scope of these powers and duties are always premised on the same assumption: that occupation is a temporary situation to respond to military necessity, and it cannot transfer title of sovereignty to the occupying Power.

  In the Court’s view, the fact that an occupation is prolonged does not in itself change its legal status under international humanitarian law.

Although premised on the temporary character of the occupation, the law of occupation does not set temporal limits that would, as such, alter the legal status of the occupation 

Occupation consists of the exercise by a State of effective control in foreign territory.

 In order to be permissible, therefore, such exercise of effective control must at all times be consistent with the rules concerning the prohibition of the threat or use of force, including the prohibition of territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force, as well as with the right to self‑determination. 

Therefore, the fact that an occupation is prolonged may have a bearing on the justification under international law of the occupying Power’s continued presence in the occupied territory.    

  As regards Israel’s settlement policy (paras. 111-156), the Court reaffirms what it stated in its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of 9 July 2004, that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the régime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law. The Court notes with grave concern reports that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding since the Court’s 2004 Advisory Opinion.

PAGE 3

– 3 – 

As regards the question of the annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (paras. 157-179), it is the view of the Court that to seek to acquire sovereignty over an occupied territory, as shown by the policies and practices adopted by Israel in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, is contrary to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations and its corollary principle of the non-acquisition of territory by force.

  The Court then examines the question of the legal consequences arising from Israel’s adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures (paras. 180-229).

It concludes that a broad array of legislation adopted and measures taken by Israel in its capacity as an occupying Power treat Palestinians differently on grounds specified by international law. 

The Court notes that this differentiation of treatment cannot be justified with reference to reasonable and objective criteria nor to a legitimate public aim. 

Accordingly, the Court is of the view that the régime of comprehensive restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitutes systemic discrimination based on, inter alia, race, religion or ethnic origin, in violation of Articles 2, paragraph 1, and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.     

  The Court then turns to the aspect of question (a) that enquires as to the effects of Israel’s policies and practices on the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self‑determination (paras. 230-243).

In this regard, the Court is of the view that, as a consequence of Israel’s policies and practices, which span decades, the Palestinian people has been deprived of its right to self‑determination over a long period, and further prolongation of these policies and practices undermines the exercise of this right in the future. 

For these reasons, the Court considers that Israel’s unlawful policies and practices are in breach of Israel’s obligation to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self‑determination. 

Turning to the first part of question (b), the Court examines whether and, if so, how the policies and practices of Israel have affected the legal status of the occupation in light of the relevant rules and principles of international law (paras. 244-264).  

  In this respect, the Court first considers that the first part of question (b) is not whether the policies and practices of Israel affect the legal status of the occupation as such.

Rather, the Court is of the view that the scope of the first part of the second question concerns the manner in which Israel’s policies and practices affect the legal status of the occupation, and thereby the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

This legality is to be determined under the rules and principles of general international law, including those of the Charter of the United Nations.    

  In this context, the Court is of the view that Israel’s assertion of sovereignty and its annexation of certain parts of the territory constitute a violation of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force

This violation has a direct impact on the legality of Israel’s continued presence, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The Court considers that Israel is not entitled to sovereignty over or to exercise sovereign powers in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory on account of its occupation. 

Nor can Israel’s security concerns override the principle of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force.     

  The Court further observes that the effects of Israel’s policies and practices, and its exercise of sovereignty over certain parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, constitute an obstruction to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination.

The effects of these policies and practices include Israel’s annexation of parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the fragmentation of this territory, undermining its integrity, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of the enjoyment of the natural resources of the territory and its impairment of the Palestinian people’s right to pursue its economic, social and cultural development. 

PAGE 4   

  – 4 – 

The Court is of the view that the above-described effects of Israel’s policies and practices, resulting, inter alia, in the prolonged deprivation of the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination, constitute a breach of this fundamental right.   

  This breach has a direct impact on the legality of Israel’s presence, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The Court is of the view that occupation cannot be used in such a manner as to leave indefinitely the occupied population in a state of suspension and uncertainty, denying them their right to selfdetermination while integrating parts of their territory into the occupying Power’s own territory  

  In light of the foregoing, the Court turns to the examination of the legality of the continued presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (paras. 259-264).

The Court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful. 

This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967. 

This is the territorial unit across which Israel has imposed policies and practices to fragment and frustrate the ability of the Palestinian people to exercise its right to self‑determination, and over large swathes of which it has extended Israeli sovereignty in violation of international law The entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is also the territory in relation to which the Palestinian people should be able to exercise its right to self-determination, the integrity of which must be respected.     

  * The Court has found that Israel’s policies and practices referred to in question (a) are in breach of international law. 

The maintenance of these policies and practices is an unlawful act of a continuing character entailing Israel’s international responsibility.  

  The Court has also found in reply to the first part of question (b) that the continued presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal

The Court therefore addresses the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices referred to in question (a) for Israel, together with those arising from the illegality of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory under question (b), for Israel, for other States and for the United Nations (paras. 267-281).   

   President SALAM appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; VicePresident SEBUTINDE appends a dissenting opinion to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; 

Judge TOMKA appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; 

Judges TOMKA, ABRAHAM and AURESCU append a joint opinion to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; 

Judge YUSUF appends a separate opinion to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; 

Judge XUE appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; 

Judges IWASAWA and NOLTE append separate opinions to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; 

Judges NOLTE and CLEVELAND append a joint declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;

 Judges CHARLESWORTH and BRANT append declarations to the   

PAGE 5

  – 5 – 

Advisory Opinion of the Court; Judges GÓMEZ ROBLEDO and CLEVELAND append separate opinions to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; Judge TLADI appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court.  

  ___________ 

A full summary of the Advisory Opinion appears in the document entitled “Summary 2024/8”, to which summaries of the declarations and opinions are annexed. This summary and the full text of the Advisory Opinion are available on the case page on the Court’s website.  

  ___________

 Earlier press releases relating to this case are also available on the website.

 ___________ 

Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only and do not constitute official documents.   

  The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. 

The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations. 

The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system.    

  Information Department: 

Ms Monique Legerman, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department: +31 (0)70 302 2336 

Ms Joanne Moore, Information Officer: +31 (0)70 302 2337 

Email: info@icj-cij.org

ZIE HET HELE RAPPORT

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf

[5]

” The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. Israeli security forces routinely enable settler violence against Palestinians and their property.”

BTSELEM.ORG

SETTLER VIOLENCE = STATE VIOLENCE

https://www.btselem.org/settler_violence

Settler Violence = State Violence

Settler Violence = State Violence

Updated: 25 November 2021

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Since occupying the West Bank in 1967, Israel has misappropriated more than two million dunams of land (200,000 hectares) throughout the West Bank. Israel uses this land for its own purposes, including building new settlements, expanding the territory they control – including farmland and industrial zones – and paving roads that mainly serve the settler population.

West Bank settlements dominate hundreds of thousands of dunams [1 dunam = 1,000 square meters] to which Palestinians have limited access or none at all. Israel has taken over some of these areas using official means: issuing military orders, declaring the area “state land,” a “firing zone” or a “nature reserve,” and expropriating land. Other areas have been effectively taken over by settlers through daily acts of violence, including attacks on Palestinians and their property.

The two tracks appear unrelated: The state takes over land openly, using official methods sanctioned by legal advisors and judges, while the settlers, who are also interested in taking over land to further their agenda, initiate violence against Palestinians for their own reasons. Yet in truth, there is only one track: Settler violence against Palestinians is part of the strategy employed by Israel’s apartheid regime, which seeks to take over more and more West Bank land. The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation. The state legitimizes this reality in two complementary ways:

A. Legalizing land takeover

The state allows settlers to use land violently taken from Palestinians. Dozens of outposts and “farms” – settlements for all intents and purposes, which were built without authorization by the government and without plans that enable construction in them – receive support from Israeli authorities and remain standing. Israel has ordered the military to defend the outposts or paid for their security, as well as paved roads and laid down water and electricity infrastructure for most of them. It has provided support through various government ministries, the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization and regional councils in the West Bank. It has also subsidized financial endeavors in the outposts, including agricultural facilities, provided support for new farmers and for shepherding, allocated water and legally defended outposts in petitions for their removal.

In the past, the state announced its intention to enforce the law on outposts in the future and even gave the international community assurances to that effect. These promises were never fulfilled. In March 2011, the state changed its policy and introduced a distinction: on one hand, outposts built on land registered as “state land”, on land Israel declared as such, or on “survey land” (land whose status is yet to be resolved); on the other, outposts built on land recognized as privately owned by Palestinians – which are the only ones it intends to remove. This distinction, which has no legal basis, was accepted by Israel’s Supreme Court and ultimately, almost all the outposts have remained in place.

B. Legitimizing physical violence against Palestinians

Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation. It is recorded in countless government documents and dossiers, in thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers, in books, in reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations – including B’Tselem, from its inception – and in thousands of media stories. Yet this ongoing, comprehensive documentation has had almost no effect on settler violence against Palestinians, which has long since become part and parcel of life under the occupation in the West Bank.

The violent acts include beating, throwing stones, issuing threats, torching fields, destroying trees and crops, stealing crops, damaging homes and cars, blocking roads, using live fire, and, in rare cases, killing. Settlers from so-called farms violently chase Palestinian farmers and shepherds away from their fields, and from pastureland and water sources they have used for generations. They initiate violent altercations on a daily basis and use drones to scare flocks belonging to Palestinians into scattering.

The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. Israeli security forces routinely enable settler violence against Palestinians and their property. As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only, or firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds. Sometimes, soldiers actively participate in the settler attacks or look on from the sidelines.

Israel’s inaction continues after settler attacks on Palestinians have taken place, with enforcement authorities doing their utmost to avoid responding to these incidents. Complaints are difficult to file, and in the very few cases in which investigations are in fact opened, the system quickly whitewashes them. Indictments are hardly ever filed against settlers who harm Palestinians and, when they do, usually cite negligible offenses with token penalties to match. According to figures published by Yesh Din in January 2020, summarizing 15 years of monitoring investigations into settler violence, 91% of the files were closed without an indictment. Of more than 1,200 investigation files, indictments were served only in 100.

Settler violence has far reaching implications on living conditions in the Occupied Territories, as it has a lasting chilling effect, undermining the bedrock of Palestinian communities’ lives and diminishing their income. Residents describe how without protection, under the pressure of violence and fear and with no other choice, Palestinian communities abandon or scale back traditional vocations such as sheep and goat farming or various seasonal crops, which allowed them to make a dignified living and live comfortably for generations. Palestinian residents stay away from pastureland and water sources that once served their communities, and limit cultivation of farmland. In other areas, Palestinians dare not access their farmlands without accompaniment from Israeli civilians or the Israeli military. Some farmlands have been so badly damaged or neglected they barely yield crops, making the effort involved in reaching them unfeasible for the owners. The result is barriers scattered throughout the West Bank, which, though invisible, Palestinians know not to cross; otherwise, they risk being exposed to violence that may even be life threatening.

State violence – official and otherwise – is part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid regime, which aims to create a Jewish-only space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The regime treats land as a resource designed to serve the Jewish public, and accordingly uses it almost exclusively to develop and expand existing Jewish residential communities and to build new ones. At the same time, the regime fragments Palestinian space, dispossesses Palestinians of their land and relegates them to living in small, over-populated enclaves.

The apartheid regime is based on organized, systemic violence against Palestinians, which is carried out by numerous agents: the government, the military, the Civil Administration, the Supreme Court, the Israel Police, the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and others. Settlers are another item on this list, and the state incorporates their violence into its own official acts of violence. Settler violence sometimes precedes instances of official violence by Israeli authorities, and at other times is incorporated into them. Like state violence, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal.

The combination of state violence and nominally unofficial violence allows Israel to have it both ways: maintain plausible deniability and blame the violence on settlers rather than on the military, the courts or the Civil Administration while advancing Palestinian dispossession. The facts, however, blow plausible deniability out of the water: When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence. The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding.

EINDE

[6]

”As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only, or firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds.”

BTSELEM.ORG

SETTLER VIOLENCE = STATE VIOLENCE

https://www.btselem.org/settler_violence

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 5

[7]

[7]

”Sometimes, soldiers actively participate in the settler attacks or look on from the sidelines.”

BTSELEM.ORG

SETTLER VIOLENCE = STATE VIOLENCE

https://www.btselem.org/settler_violence

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 5

[8]

BTSELEM.ORG

STATE BUSINESS: ISRAEL’S MISAPPROPRIATION OF LAND

IN THE WEST BANK THROUGH SETTLER’S VIOLENCE

https://www.btselem.org/publications/202111_state_business

Summary, November 2021

Israel has built more than 280 settlements in the West Bank, which are home to more than 440,000 settlers. Of these settlements, 138 were officially established and recognized by the state (not including the 12 neighborhoods Israel built in the areas it annexed to Jerusalem), and some 150 are outposts not officially recognized by the state. About a third of the outposts have been built over the past decade, most of them referred to as “farms”.

West Bank settlements dominate hundreds of thousands of dunams [1 dunam = 1,000 square meters] to which Palestinians have limited access or none at all. Israel has taken over some of these areas using official means: issuing military orders, declaring the area “state land,” a “firing zone” or a “nature reserve”, and expropriating land. Other areas have been effectively taken over by settlers through daily acts of violence, including attacks on Palestinians and their property.

The two tracks appear unrelated: The state takes over land openly, using official methods sanctioned by legal advisors and judges, while the settlers, who are also interested in taking over land to further their agenda, initiate violence against Palestinians for their own reasons. Yet in truth, there is only one track: Settler violence against Palestinians serves as a major informal tool at the hands of the state to take over more and more West Bank land. The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation.

The state legitimizes this reality in two complementary ways: 

A.     Legalizing land takeover 

The state allows settlers to live, farm and graze livestock on land violently taken from Palestinians. Dozens of outposts and “farms” – settlements for all intents and purposes, which were built without formal authorization by the government and without plans that enable construction in them – receive support from the Israeli authorities and remain standing. Israel has ordered the military to defend the outposts or paid for their security, as well as paved roads and laid down water and electricity infrastructure for most of them. It has provided support through various government ministries, the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization and regional councils in the West Bank. It has also subsidized financial endeavors in the outposts, including agricultural facilities, provided support for new farmers and for shepherding, allocated water and legally defended outposts in petitions for their removal. 

In the past, the state announced its intention to enforce the law on outposts in the future and evengave the international community assurances to that effect. In March 2011, the state announced it would, from now on, make an official distinction between outposts built on land recognized as privately owned by Palestinians and land Israel considers “state land” or “survey land” (land that can be declared “state land”, although the declaration has not yet been issued). The state claimed it had only intended to  remove outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land.  This distinction, which has no legal basis, was accepted by Israel’s Supreme Court. At the end of the day, nearly all the outposts remain in place. 

B.     Legitimizing physical violence against Palestinians 

Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation in countless government documents and dossiers, thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers, books, reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations, and thousands of media stories. This broad, consistent documentation has had almost no effect on settler violence against Palestinians, which has long since become part and parcel of life under the occupation in the West Bank.  

The violent acts include beating, throwing stones, issuing threats, torching fields, destroying trees and crops, stealing crops, using live fire, damaging homes and cars, and, in rare cases, homicide. In recent years, settlers in so-called farms have been violently chasing Palestinian farmers and shepherds away from their fields and from pastureland and water sources they used for generations. They initiate violent altercations on a daily basis and intimidate flocks belonging to Palestinians in order to scatter them.

The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them.  As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only, or firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds.  Sometimes, soldiers actively participate in the settler attacks or look on from the sidelines. 

Israel’s inaction continues after settler attacks on Palestinians have taken place, with enforcement authorities doing their utmost to avoid responding to these incidents. Complaints are difficult to file, and in the very few cases in which investigations are in fact opened, the system quickly whitewashes them. Indictments are hardly ever filed against settlers who harm Palestinians and when they do, usually cite minor offenses, with token penalties to match in the rare instance of a conviction. 

The report presents five case studies that illustrate how continuous, systemic violence meted out by settlers is part of Israel’s official policy, driving massive takeover of Palestinian farmland and pastureland. In the testimonies collected as part of the research, Palestinians describe how this violence undermines the bedrock of Palestinian communities’ lives and diminishes their income. Residents describe how without protection, under the pressure of violence and fear and with no other choice, Palestinian communities abandon or scale back traditional vocations such as sheep and goat farming or various seasonal crops, which allowed them to make a dignified living and live comfortably for generations. Palestinian residents stay away from pastureland and water sources that once served their communities, and limit cultivation of farmland. At that point, the state can take over their land for its own purposes. 

State violence – official and otherwise – is part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid regime, which aims to create a Jewish-only space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.  The regime treats land as a resource designed to serve the Jewish public, and accordingly uses it almost exclusively to develop and expand existing Jewish residential communities and to build new ones. At the same time, the regime fragments Palestinian space, dispossesses Palestinians of their land and relegates them to living in small, over-populated enclaves. 

The apartheid regime is based on organized, systemic violence against Palestinians, which is carried out by numerous agents:  the government, the military, the Civil Administration, the Supreme Court, the Israel Police, the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and others. Settlers are another item on this list, and the state incorporates their violence into its own official acts of violence. Settler violence sometimes precedes instances of official violence by Israeli authorities, and at other times is incorporated into them. Like state violence, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal. 

The combination of state violence and nominally unofficial violence allows Israel to have it both ways: maintain plausible deniability and blame the violence on settlers rather than on the military, the courts or the Civil Administration while advancing Palestinian dispossession. The facts, however, blow plausible deniability out of the water: When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence. The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding.

EINDE

ZIE VOLLEDIGE RAPPORT

https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202111_state_business_eng.pdf

[9]

NOS

MEEST RECHTSE REGERING IN DE GESCHIEDENIS VAN ISRAEL GEINSTALLEERD

29 DECEMBER 2023

https://nos.nl/artikel/2458140-meest-rechtse-regering-in-de-geschiedenis-van-israel-geinstalleerd

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/ASTRID

ESSED ZIT DE NOS OP DE HUID!

20 JANUARI 2023

Continuing Story/De NOS en de fascistische Israelische regering/Astrid Essed zit de NOS op de Huid!

[10]

ISRAEL IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE ACROSS PALESTINE: 

ACTIVE GENOCIDE ALERT CONDEMNING ONGOING VIOLENCE 

IN THE WEST BANK

8 APRIL 2024

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/active-genocide-alert-1/israel-is-committing-genocide-across-palestine:-active-genocide-alert-condemning-ongoing-violence-in-the-west-bank

The Lemkin Institute is horrified by the dire situation transpiring in the West Bank. During what has already been a devastating six months of conflict in Gaza, the Israeli military and far-right settlers have used the cover of war to conduct continuous attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, often leading to death and forced displacement. These attacks have been underreported in the mainstream Western press, which has also failed to tie Israel Defense Force (IDF) and settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the genocide being committed in Gaza. These processes are all part of an overwhelming push on the part of Israeli authorities to oust Palestinians from their remaining ancestral lands. In other words, Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians across Palestine.

With international eyes on Gaza, Israeli military forces continue a campaign of genocide and unprecedented violence in the West Bank. The targeting of Palestinians has largely gone unchecked by media coverage or public diplomatic intervention. Before the events of 7 October and Israel’s ensuing response, violence in the West Bank was already on pace to eclipse that of any year on record, with Israeli military forces killing roughly 200 Palestinians in the West Bank in the first nine months of 2023, more than in any year recorded since the UN began tracking annual Palestinian fatalities in 2005.

In the months following 7 October, state-sanctioned violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has been at an all-time high. On pace to shatter previous records, the past five months have been marked by thousands of arrests, hundreds of killings, and forced evictions of Palestinians, which have reached levels that can only be understood as a campaign seeking to rid whole sections of the West Bank of Palestinians. In only three months, from 7 October to 27 December 2023, the Israeli military and illegal settlers killed at least 300 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 76 children, dwarfing the previous high of 154 in all of 2022.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli forces killed 509 Palestinians in total during 2023 in the West Bank, with over 350 deaths occurring from October 2023 to January 2024 alone.

Throughout 2023, at least 4,000 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank were forced from their homes, had their properties demolished, or were otherwise forcibly displaced.

Across Palestinian land in 2023, Israeli forces demolished or forced Palestinians to destroy over 1,100 structures. Of the more than 4,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced in 2023, 2,246 Palestinians, including 1,039 children, were displaced in this manner. Hundreds of these demolitions occurred in East Jerusalem. Palestinians are frequently forced or coerced to destroy their own property following continuous threats from Israeli authorities, with the demolitions undertaken in fear of retribution and arrest by Israeli forces.

Not only have regular Israeli soldiers conducted demolitions, but armed Israeli settlers have forced out whole communities from their ancestral homes. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has highlighted such evictions at the hands of settlers:

“Shortly after armed Israeli settlers threatened to kill them if they did not leave, 24 Palestinian households totaling 141 people, half of whom are children, were displaced from Khirbat Zanuta in the southern West Bank. On 28 October 2023, the families dismantled about 50 residential and animal structures and vacated the area with their 5,000 livestock.”
– UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Khirbat Zanuta is not an exception but the blueprint. Prior to its residents fleeing for their lives, the village was attacked by armed Israeli settlers on three occasions between 7 October and 28 October, when the Palestinian residents fled. Forcing people from their homes without cause, whether by expulsion or by other coercive acts, can amount to crimes against humanity, war crimes, or both. These acts can also amount to genocide if the intent is to destroy an identity in whole or in part.

For years, Israel has undertaken an explicit policy to “Judaize” East Jerusalem by evicting long-time Palestinian residents and placing Jewish settlers in their homes. Since 7 October, this effort has been rejuvenated by the far-right settler government. The state-led effort, supported by Netanyahu’s administration, seeks to establish Jewish-only communities within existing Palestinian neighborhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, and the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. According to the Israeli investigative newspaper Haaretz, the construction of Jewish-only neighborhoods would include the redeployment of armored vehicles, access roads (often only accessible to Jewish residents/settlers), facial recognition technology, and a perimeter fence.

Forced demolition and evictions in East Jerusalem reached unprecedented levels in 2023. Last year alone, Israeli forces demolished or forced Palestinian owners to demolish 220 structures, forcibly displacing 597 Palestinians. Both numbers are the highest on record since the recording of such numbers began in 2009.

2023 was also a year that saw the most violent and destructive Israeli raids in cities, towns, and refugee camps in the West Bank, namely Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem since 2009. From 2009 to 2022, Israeli forces destroyed 27 structures during military operations in the West Bank, resulting in the displacement of 86 Palestinians. This past year saw one of the most dramatic spikes in IDF incursions into the West Bank. During solely military operations in 2023, Israeli forces demolished 222 structures. The destruction caused by the IDF during incursions into the West Bank led to the forcible displacement of 921 Palestinians, accounting for nearly a quarter of all those displaced in 2023. The number of structures destroyed does not account for roads, wastewater facilities, and urban infrastructure destroyed by Israeli military vehicles, such as that seen in Jenin.

Forced evictions, home demolitions, and the destruction of homes and businesses during military operations are tangible results of Israeli policy that show little to no regard for the lives and well-being of Palestinians in the West Bank. The visible arm of the Israeli state is ever present in the West Bank from its array of checkpoints strategically placed to complicate the movement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank, its defense of illegal settlements, and the consistent raids by the Israeli military into towns, villages, and refugee camps throughout the West Bank. However, violence wrought against Palestinians does not stop with the Israeli military; illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been the vanguard for forcibly displacing entire Palestinian villages and towns.

Of the thousands of Palestinians displaced in 2023, Israeli settler violence is directly responsible for the forced evictions and displacement of 1,539 Palestinians. Most Palestinians who left their homes, many of which had been in their families for generations, did so due to increased settler violence and shrinking land to graze animals. Those forced from their homes in 2023 due to settler violence are nearly double that of the number in 2022 when 774 Palestinians were forced from their homes by settler violence.

Further indicative of a connection between Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its aims in the West Bank is the fact that the bulk of settler violence targeting Palestinians has come after 7 October. Emboldened by Israel’s eliminationist approach to its war on Gaza, Israeli settlers have evicted over 1,200 Palestinians from their homes since 7 October alone. This number accounts for 81 percent of all those forcibly removed from their homes by settler violence. More often than not, settlers are backed directly by the Israeli military. At best, the Israeli military is conveniently absent when settler violence occurs and is often unwilling or unable to search for and bring perpetrators to justice. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 14 Palestinian communities were depopulated entirely by Israeli military or settler forces, with the Israeli army demolishing the remaining structures.

In addition to forced displacement and killing, Israel has also used administrative detention to threaten the collective life of Palestinians and force them to leave. This form of harassment and criminalization of an entire population rarely breaks into the international news. Administrative detention is one of the more controversial aspects of Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The law supporting administrative detentions is a holdover law from the time of the British Mandate in Palestine; it allows Israeli military forces to detain any Palestinian for six months to a year without charge, trial, or appeal. Living under military occupation in the West Bank, Palestinians have little recourse but to petition the Supreme Court for family members in administrative detention; this is often futile.

Israeli authorities use administrative detention in such a manner that in a 2012 European Parliament report, the practice was referred to as being used “principally to constrain Palestinian political activism.” Later, in 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) called administrative detention “an anathema in any democratic society that follows the rule of law.” At the time, in 2020, over 300 Palestinians were being held without charge in administrative detention.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), an NGO that works with families of those detained, the number of Palestinians detained in administrative detention is nearly 3,500 people, including women and children. Palestinians held in Israeli jails rarely receive medical attention or adequate food and water. Dozens of released detainees have attested to rampant abuse and torture while detained, including sexual violence. To date, since 7 October, eight Palestinians have died in Israeli jails, likely at the hands of their captors or due to extreme neglect.

In addition to killing, forced displacement, and administrative detention, Israel is also pursuing acts of cultural genocide against Palestinians. For example, a report released by the UN in November 2023 calls for the protection of olive trees and Palestinian farmers, highlighting that olives in the West Bank have been going unharvested “due to unprecedented threats to olive farmers and their livelihoods.” This destruction is a continuation of Israel’s ongoing taking, uprooting, and burning of olive groves by settlers and Israeli authorities. Specifically, since 1976, Israeli authorities and settlers have uprooted 800,000 olive trees in the occupied West Bank.

While olives are the largest single agricultural product in the West Bank, sustaining Palestine’s economy and individual livelihoods, these trees are also at the heart of Palestinian culture. Without having access to the trees, Palestinian farmers are deprived of a harvest season that is traditionally “a special and joyful time for Palestinians” with families and communities singing and sharing food. Palestinians hold a deep-rooted connection with olive trees, many of which are ancient, as they connect Palestinians to their identity and homeland. Palestinian farmer Mahfodah Shtayye conveys this deep connection, explaining that “I felt like I was hugging my child… I raised the tree like my child.” Ultimately, the targeting of olive trees contributes to the cultural genocide of Palestinians as the trees “[lie] at the heart of Palestinian culture, history, its economy and identity.”

A slow, structural genocide targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has been in place for decades. It is now escalating against the backdrop of the genocide in Gaza. The Lemkin Institute has been consistent in labeling Israel’s war on Gaza as genocidal and in pointing out the genocidal structural dynamics of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. It is misleading to separate the Israeli campaign in Gaza from its actions in the West Bank. The tactics employed by Israel in both locations are part of the same eliminationist, genocidal campaign.

The Lemkin Institute condemns all efforts to persecute, arrest, forcibly displace, and kill Palestinians. We further condemn the destruction of important symbols of Palestinian collective and transgenerational life, such as olive trees. We call on our fellow human rights organizations to recognize the policies implemented in Gaza as a larger, more intense version of the same policy in the West Bank: depopulating Palestinian towns and villages and replacing Palestinian localities with Jewish-only communities to create a permanent Jewish majority from the river to the sea. We call on the United States, the United Nations, and NGOs around the globe to join our recognition of Israeli efforts in the West Bank as genocidal. The Lemkin Institute calls on states and companies around the world to pressure Israel to engage in genuine peace negotiations, including by threat of sanctions and withdrawal of military aid. We remind everyone that states and private entities found to aid or abet actors perpetrating genocide may find themselves liable to prosecution for complicity under the Genocide Conventions.

THE RIGHTS FORUM

”ISRAEL PLEEGT GENOCIDE IN GAZA, OP DE WESTOEVER EN IN OOST-JERUZALEM”

12 JULI 2024

‘Israël pleegt genocide in Gaza, op de Westoever en in Oost-Jeruzalem’

In alle bezette gebieden is de verdrijving van de lokale Palestijnse bevolking het doel, schrijft het Lemkin Institute. Sinds 7 oktober is dat Israëlische streven geëscaleerd.

Het in New York gevestigde Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention gaf in april een waarschuwing af voor genocide in alle door Israël bezette Palestijnse gebieden: Gaza, de Westelijke Jordaanoever en Oost-Jeruzalem. Het gerenommeerde instituut wordt algemeen beschouwd als kanarie in de kolenmijn. Het slaat alarm op het moment dat nog kan worden ingegrepen voordat alle mijnwerkers het loodje leggen.

Verdrijving

Het instituut concentreert zich bij zijn waarschuwing op de door Israël sinds 1967 bezette Westoever en Oost-Jeruzalem. Onder dekking van de oorlog in Gaza is het Israëlische geweld daar geëscaleerd. En net als in Gaza is de verdrijving van de lokale Palestijnse bevolking het doel:

These processes are all part of an overwhelming push on the part of Israeli authorities to oust Palestinians from their remaining ancestral lands. In other words, Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians across Palestine.

Dat Israëlische streven is niet nieuw, schrijft het instituut, maar heeft zich sinds 7 oktober 2023 – de dag van de Hamas-aanval op Zuid-Israël, en de start van de Israëlische genocidale campagne in de Gazastrook – verdiept:

In the months following 7 October, state-sanctioned violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has been at an all-time high. […] the past five months have been marked by thousands of arrests, hundreds of killings, and forced evictions of Palestinians, which have reached levels that can only be understood as a campaign seeking to rid whole sections of the West Bank of Palestinians.

Explosieve trend

Het instituut onderbouwt zijn harde waarschuwing met harde cijfers. Zo werden door Israëlische militairen en (uit kolonisten bestaande) burgermilities in 2023 op de Westoever 509 Palestijnen gedood; tweehonderd vóór 7 oktober, de overigen erna. In 2022 werden op de Westoever 154 Palestijnen gedood; dat was toen een recordaantal.

Die explosieve trend is zichtbaar op elk terrein. Niet eerder werden op de Westoever zoveel Palestijnen uit hun huizen of van hun land verdreven (ruim vierduizend in 2023). Niet eerder werden door Israëlische militairen en kolonisten zoveel Palestijnse huizen en andere bouwwerken gesloopt (ruim elfhonderd in 2023). Ook het aantal Palestijnen dat gedwongen werd zijn eigen huis te slopen bereikte recordhoogte (220 in 2023).

Kolonisering

Met deze en andere voorbeelden toont het instituut aan hoe Israël de Palestijnse bewoners planmatig uit bezet Palestijns gebied verdrijft. Dit om hen te vervangen door kolonisten, waarvan er intussen minstens 750 duizend in illegale ‘Joodse nederzettingen’ (kolonies) in bezet gebied leven. Uit hun rangen komen de milities die de lokale Palestijnse bevolking terroriseren, doden of verdrijven.

Dit proces van verdringing heeft ook componenten die door het instituut niet worden genoemd of uitgediept. De belangrijste: de confiscatie en feitelijke annexatie van Palestijns land door Israël; de bouw van woningen voor Joodse kolonisten op het geconfisqueerde land; en de ‘legalisering’ van ‘wilde nederzettingen’ die door rabiate kolonisten werden gesticht. Ook op die gebieden worden eerdere records verpulverd.

De komende dagen zullen we deze trends en cijfers actualiseren in artikelen over de Westelijke Jordaanoever en Oost-Jeruzalem.

EINDE BERICHT