Astrid Essed

[6]

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN VOMAR DD 23 APRIL 2023/UW AANBIEDINGSVERKOOP VAN AVOCADO’S AAN BEZETTINGSSTAAT

ISRAEL!

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN VOMAR DD 23 APRIL 2023/Uw aanbiedingsverkoop van avocado’s uit Bezettingsstaat Israel!

ASTRID ESSED VERSUS VOMAR

OVERZICHT

https://www.astridessed.nl/?s=VOMAR

[7]

ZIE NOTEN 1, 3, 4 EN 6

ZIE OOK

BTSELEM.ORG

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

https://www.btselem.org/topic/administrative_detention

In administrative detention, a person is held without trial without having committed an offense, on the grounds that he or she plans to break the law in the future. As this measure is supposed to be preventive, it has no time limit. The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them. This leaves the detainees helpless – facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted.

In the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem), administrative detention is carried out under the Order regarding Security Provisions. The order empowers the military commander of the West Bank, or another commander to whom the power has been delegated, to place individuals in administrative detention for up to six months at a time, if the commander has “reasonable grounds to believe that reasons of regional security or public security require that a certain person be held in detention”. If, prior to the expiration of the order, the military commander has “reasonable grounds to believe” that the same reasons “still require the retention of the detainee in detention”, he may extend the original order for an additional six-month period “from time to time”. The Order regarding Security Provisions places no limit on the overall time that a person can be held in administrative detention, so the detention can be extended over and over. In practice, this allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians who have not been convicted of anything for years on end.

Individuals held in administrative detention must be brought before a military judge within eight days – either of the original detention order or of its extension. The judge may uphold the order, reject it, or shorten the period of detention stipulated in it. Whatever decision the military judge makes, both the detainee and the military commander may appeal it to the Military Court of Appeals, and thereafter, to the High Court of Justice (HCJ). Hearings on administrative detention orders are held in camera, and the judges are permitted to set aside ordinary evidence law. In particular, judges may “accept evidence in the absence of the detainee or their counsel and without disclosing it to them”, if they are convinced that disclosing the evidence may “harm regional security or public security”.

Administrative detention of Israeli citizens and residents is carried out under the Emergency Powers (Detentions) Law. Over the years, Israel has used this measure against several Israeli citizens, including settlers. These are isolated cases, and in most of them, the detention lasted a few months. Since Israel “disengaged” from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, it has used the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law to place Gaza residents under administrative detention. This measure has so far been used in very few cases. The provisions of both these laws are similar in essence to those of the military order that applies in the West Bank.

The Order regarding Security Provisions includes provisions that are ostensibly meant to protect administrative detainees, in keeping with the tenets of international law on this matter, which allow the occupying power to place residents of the occupied territory under administrative detention only in rare, exceptional circumstances. This has not stopped Israel from making extensive use of this measure in the Occupied Territories. Israel routinely uses administrative detention and has, over the years, placed thousands of Palestinians behind by bars for periods ranging from several months to several years, without charging them, without telling them what they are accused of, and without disclosing the alleged evidence to them or to their lawyers. Some of the detainees were under 18 years of age.

During the first and second intifadas, Israel held many hundreds of Palestinians in administrative detention, and the figure crossed the 1,000 mark several times in 2003 (during the second intifada). Yet the widespread use of this extreme measure is not confined to those periods: Since March 2002, not a single month has gone by without Israel holding at least 100 Palestinians in administrative detention.

Moreover, in some cases, the authorities use administrative detention as a quick and easy alternative to criminal trial, rather than to prevent future danger. This occurs primarily when they do not have sufficient evidence for indictment, or when they do not want to reveal the evidence they allegedly possess. This use of administrative detention is absolutely prohibited and totally blurs the distinction between an administrative proceeding that is intended as a prospective, preventive measure, and a criminal proceeding, whose purpose is punitive and retroactive. Israel also exploits this measure to detain Palestinians for their political opinions and for engaging in non-violent political activity.

In addition, the restriction in the Order regarding Security Provisions on the duration of administrative detention is meaningless, as the detention may be extended over and over with no time limit. Such extensions are not rare. At the end of May 2017, for instance, 475 Palestinians were being held under administrative detention in Israel Prison Service facilities. Of these, 128 had been held for six to twelve months, meaning their detention had been extended at least once, and 121 had been held for more than a year, meaning their detention had been extended at least twice.

The military order does require that detainees be brought before a judge, but this does little to prevent abuse of this measure, and the judicial proceedings on administrative detention are mostly a façade of judicial review. In the vast majority of cases, the judges accept the prosecution’s position and approve the detention order.

According to figures provided by the IDF Spokesperson, from the beginning of 2015 to the end of July 2017, 3,909 administrative detention orders were issued. Of these, 2,441 (62.4%) were extensions of existing orders. Only 48 (1.2%) were cancelled by a military court. The remaining detention orders were approved, as follows:

• 2,953 (75.5%) were approved with no amendments or limitations.
• In 390 cases (9.9%), the judges instructed that the orders be shortened, yet placed no limitation on the possibility of renewing them.
• In 501 (12.8%) cases, the judges approved the orders, in some cases shortening them, but stipulated that they could only be extended if new information came to light – which, again, would not be disclosed to the detainee.

(Note: The discrepancy between the total number of orders and the number of court decisions appears in the original. Moreover, despite our request, the IDF Spokesperson did not provide B’Tselem with figures concerning the Military Court of Appeals).

Moreover, the judges always accept the prosecution’s demand that the evidence remain confidential for “reasons of national security”. By following this practice, the judges turn the exception provided for in the administrative detention order into a rule that denies detainees any possibility of mounting a defense against the allegations. The secrecy of the evidence prevents detainees and their counsel from examining the quality, veracity and relevance of the information used against them. True, the military judges and the HCJ justices have stated that, given the confidentiality, they must fill the void and act as defense for the detainees. However, this statement is not followed up in practice. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the judges do not ask to see the ISA’s information, do not examine the military prosecution regarding the information that led to the detention, and simply accept the arguments presented to them as fact.

Moreover, in their judgments on administrative detention, the justices of the HCJ have agreed that this is an “extreme” measure that must be used carefully and in rare exceptions only. They agreed it must be used only for prevention and never for punitive purposes, and only when the danger is posed specifically by the person under detention. They also agreed that administrative detention, like all other measures, is subject to the principle of proportionality and therefore must be used only when the alleged danger cannot be prevented through criminal proceedings or an administrative measure that is less injurious to human rights. Nonetheless, the justices have upheld nearly all the administrative detention orders brought before them.

The power to incarcerate people who have not been convicted or even charged with anything for lengthy periods of time, based on secret “evidence” that they cannot challenge, is an extreme power. Israel uses it continuously and extensively, routinely holding hundreds of Palestinians at any given moment. The state makes sure to lend this policy a guise of legality by requiring the courts to review every detention order. In these proceedings, the detainees are represented by counsel; they may appeal the judge’s decision, and the hearings follow procedural and evidentiary rules. However, this is merely a façade of judicial review, as the detainees have no real opportunity to mount a reasonable defense against the allegations. Nevertheless, the courts routinely uphold the detention orders. At the end of the day, the military, the Military Advocate General’s Corps and the State Attorney’s Office, military judges and the justices of the HCJ Court are all complicit in creating this state of affairs.

END

BTSELEM.ORG

TORTURE AND ABUSE IN INTERROGATION

https://www.btselem.org/topic/torture

In interrogating Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories, the Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known by the Hebrew acronyms Shin Bet or Shabak) routinely used methods that constituted ill-treatment and even torture until the late 1990s. In doing so, the ISA relied on the 1987 recommendations of a state commission headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau. The commission had held that, in order to “prevent terrorism”, ISA interrogators were permitted to use “psychological pressure” and a “moderate degree of physical pressure”. This permission was grounded, in the commission’s opinion, in the “necessity defense” laid out in Israeli Penal Law. In practice, the interrogation methods used by the ISA during that time went far beyond a reasonable interpretation of the term “moderate physical pressure”.

This state of affairs persisted for years, despite the right not to be subjected to ill-treatment or torture – whether physical or psychological – being one of the few human rights that are considered absolute. As an absolute right, it may never be balanced against other rights and values and cannot be suspended or limited, even in difficult circumstances.

In September 1999, following a series of petitions filed by human rights organizations and by Palestinians interrogated by the ISA, Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruled that Israeli law does not empower ISA interrogators to use physical means in interrogation. The justices ruled that the specific methods discussed in the petitions – including painful binding, shaking, placing a sack on a person’s head for prolonged periods of time and sleep deprivation – were unlawful. However, they also held that ISA agents who exceed their authority and use “physical pressure” may not necessarily bear criminal responsibility for their actions, if they are later found to have used these methods in a “ticking bomb” case, based on the “necessity defense”. Following this ruling, reports of torture and ill-treatment in ISA interrogations did drop. However, ISA agents continued to use interrogation methods that constitute abuse and even torture, relying on the court’s recognition of the “ticking bomb” exception. These methods were not limited to exceptional cases and quickly became standard interrogation policy.

Several joint research reports published by B’Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, based on hundreds of affidavits and testimonials given by Palestinians who underwent ISA interrogations after the HCJ ruling, indicate that the ISA still routinely employs psychological and physical abuse in interrogations. While interrogators steer clear of the specific methods that the court disqualified, the rationale is the same: using isolation from the outside world and harsh incarceration conditions, in addition to the interrogation itself, to psychologically pressure and physically weaken the individual. This combined use of holding conditions and interrogation methods constitutes abuse and inhuman, degrading treatment, at times even amounting to torture. It is regularly employed against Palestinians in ISA interrogations, in blatant violation of international law and basic moral standards.

According to the accounts of Palestinians who have undergone ISA interrogation, they are held in inhuman conditions, including narrow, windowless cells that are sometimes moldy and foul-smelling and are constantly lit with artificial lighting that is painful to the eyes. Some detainees reported being held in solitary confinement, completely cut off from their surroundings. Some reported exposure to extremes of heat and cold, as well as sleep deprivation. Many described abominable hygienic conditions; among other things, they stated that the prison authorities do not allow them to shower, change clothes, brush their teeth or even use toilet paper. The food is intentionally poor in quality and quantity, and detainees lose weight while in custody. In the interrogation room, they are forced to sit bound to a chair, without moving, for hours and even days on end. Interrogators threaten the detainees, including threats to harm their relatives, as well as shouting and employing violence against them.

Most Palestinians who are physically or mental abused in interrogation have no way to complain until the interrogation is over. This is because Palestinian detainees are regularly denied the right to meet with counsel, and HCJ petitions against the denial of this right have been repeatedly dismissed. Also, they usually cannot use the opportunity of coming before a judge in a remand hearing to air their grievances: Most hearings are extremely cursory and, in some of them, detainees are not represented or are denied the opportunity to confer with the lawyer representing them. Most detainees are not aware of the fact that they may approach the judge on their own initiative. In any case, they shy away from sharing what they are undergoing with the judge for fear of reprisal back in the interrogation room. Even when detainees do come forward, the authorities take no action, as years of monitoring by human rights organizations reveal. Since 2001, not a single criminal investigation has been launched into a complaint against an ISA interrogator, despite hundreds of complaints being lodged with the relevant authorities. Although formal changes have been made to the apparatus charged with looking into these complaints – including the appointment of an Inspector of Complaints by ISA Interrogees inside the ISA, and the subsequent transfer of the position to the Ministry of Justice – they have done nothing to alter the situation: Hundreds of complaints, zero criminal investigations.

This system of interrogation, which relies on a combination of holding conditions and interrogator conduct, was shaped by state authorities. It is not the personal initiative of any particular interrogator or prison guard, and the actions described here are not anomalies to be weeded out by the justice system. The cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees is inherent to the ISA’s violent interrogation policy. This policy is dictated from above, and not set by interrogators in the field.

While the ISA runs the system, a broad network of partners collaborates to facilitate it. The Israel Prison Service (IPS) adapts prison conditions to match the interrogation plan designed to break the detainee’s spirit. Medical and mental health personnel greenlight the interrogation of Palestinians who arrive at the facility – including in cases of poor health – and even hand detainees back to the interrogators after caring for physical and mental injuries they sustained in interrogation, knowing full well that they would be subjected to measures of abuse and torture; soldiers and police officers abuse detainees while transporting them to the ISA, with their commanders turning a blind eye and the MAG Corps and State Attorney’s Office not bringing them to justice or holding them fully accountable. Military judges almost automatically sign off on motions for remand in custody and effectively sanction the continued abuse and inhuman conditions. The State Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General have thus far provided ISA interrogators with full immunity. Finally, HCJ judges regularly reject petitions seeking to overturn the denial of detainee’s rights to meet with legal counsel, clearing the way for continued abuse.

All these are party, in one form or another, to the cruel, inhuman, degrading and abusive treatment to which Palestinians are subjected in ISA interrogations. By enabling the existence of this abusive interrogation regime, they all bear responsibility for the severe violations of interrogatees’ human rights and for the mental and physical harm inflicted on these individuals.

END

BTSELEM.ORG

APARTHEID

https://www.btselem.org/topic/apartheid

ZIE VOOR APARTHEID OOK NOOT 4

[8]

[10]

” 7 – Parties to a conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants in order to

spare civilian population and property. Neither the civilian population as such nor civilian persons shall be the

object of attack. Attacks shall be directed solely against military objectives.”

BASIC RULES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN

ARMED CONFLICTS

https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/misc/basic-rules-ihl-311288.htm

The seven fundamental rules which are the basis of the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols.  

 
 1 – Persons hors de combat and those who do not take a direct part in hostilities are entitled to respect for their

lives and their moral and physical integrity. They shall in all circumstances be protected and treated humanely

without any adverse distinction.

 2 – It is forbidden to kill or injure an enemy who surrenders or who is hors de combat .

 3 – The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for by the party to the conflict which has them in its power.

Protection also covers medical personnel, establishments, transports and equipment. The emblem of the red

cross or the red crescent is the sign of such protection and must be respected.

 4 – Captured combatants and civilians under the authority of an adverse party are entitled to respect for their lives,dignity, personal rights and convictions. They shall be protected against all acts of violence and reprisals. They shall have the right to correspond with their families and to receive relief.

 5 – Everyone shall be entitled to benefit from fundamental judicial guarantees. No one shall be held responsible for an act he has not committed. No one shall be subjected to physical or mental torture, corporal punishment or cruel or degrading treatment.

 6 – Parties to a conflict and members of their armed forces do not have an unlimited choice of methods and means of warfare. It is prohibited to employ weapons or methods of warfare of a nature to cause unnecessary losses or excessive suffering.

 7 – Parties to a conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants in order to

spare civilian population and property. Neither the civilian population as such nor civilian persons shall be the

object of attack. Attacks shall be directed solely against military objectives.

END

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL/PALESTINE/GRAVE CONCERNS FOR CIVILIANS IN

GROUND OFFENSIVE

29 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/29/israel/palestine-grave-concerns-civilians-ground-offensive

Laws of War Protect Those Who Can’t, Don’t Flee

(Jerusalem) – Israel began major ground operations in the Gaza Strip on October 28, 2023. During the last major Israeli ground operation into Gaza in July and August 2014, Israeli forces committed numerous violations of the laws of war – including fatally firing on civilians – that amounted to war crimes. These violations were never prosecuted. Palestinian armed groups also deliberately launched numerous rocket attacks towards Israeli communities in 2014, which are war crimes. They also deployed and kept munitions in areas that unnecessarily put civilians at risk.

The following quote can be attributed to Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch:

“Israel’s major ground offensive in Gaza, following weeks of bombardment that have reduced large parts of neighborhoods to rubble, raises grave concerns for the safety of all civilians caught in the fighting. Thousands of children and other civilians have already been killed. Palestinian armed groups are continuing to indiscriminately launch rockets at Israeli communities. All civilians, including the many who cannot or do not want to leave their homes in northern Gaza, retain their protections under the laws of war against deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attacks.”

[11]

BTSELEM.ORG

PROTECT CIVILIANS FROM THE IMPACT OF HOSTILITIES

27 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20231027_protect_civilians_from_the_impact_of_hostilities

Since the start of the war, Israel has dropped thousands of bombs on the Gaza Strip. Gaza is an enclave enclosed on all sides. There are no safe rooms, no shelters, no safe spaces. Residents have no way to protect themselves. They wait, in terror and fear, hoping to survive. Over a million people have already left their homes in an attempt to find a safe place; some have been killed while fleeing, others where they sought shelter. 

Israel, like Hamas and like every country in the world, must follow international humanitarian law. These legal provisions were not enacted by human rights or pro-Palestinian organizations. They were accepted by all nations – including Israel – out of a shared understanding that even during war, there must be rules that minimize the suffering caused to civilians and ensure that they are kept outside the cycle of hostilities to the extent possible. 

Two key principles enable the achievement of this goal. First – the principle of distinction – determines what legitimate targets are: according to Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, only military objects are legitimate targets for attack. They are defined as objects that make an effective contribution to military action and whose destruction would offer a definite military advantage to the attacking side. The second principle – the principle of proportionality – limits how attacks are to be carried out: according to Article 51(5)b of the Protocol, legitimate targets must not be attacked if the expected harm to civilians would be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage. Whether or not an attack is proportionate is not determined by the actual harm inflicted but by the information those responsible for it had or should have had. 

Israel’s airstrikes since the start of the war are an abject violation of these principles and constitute a war crime. The massive scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip is unprecedented. Entire residential neighborhoods have been destroyed, and, according to Gaza authorities, at least 16,000 residential units have been completely destroyed, while an additional 11,000 have been rendered uninhabitable. The horrifying death toll, which rises every day, is unfathomable: according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 7,000 people have been killed, including almost 3,000 minors, more than 1,700 women, and dozens of families who were killed together when their houses collapsed on them. More than 17,000 people have been injured, about 2,000 are still missing under the rubble. 

These figures cannot be reconciled with the provisions of international law described above: neither with the requirement for each of the thousands of targets bombed to have made “an effective contribution” to Hamas’s activities and their destruction to have offered a “definite military advantage” to Israel; nor with the requirement that even if the targets did meet these conditions, the massive loss of life and damage to property was proportionate. Such an interpretation would be not only legally mistaken but also morally unacceptable. 

Israel says Hamas is to blame for these figures because it uses civilians as human shields, conceals weapons in their homes, and fires at civilian targets in Israel from within a civilian population, allegedly leaving Israel with no choice but to harm civilians in its war against Hamas. According to this view, assigning full responsibility to Hamas means that every action taken by Israel, however horrific the outcome, would be considered legitimate. Such a claim is baseless. Respect for the law, international humanitarian law included, is not subject to reciprocity: failure by one side to comply does not give the other license to do the same.

Fighting Hamas poses difficult challenges to Israel: How to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian ones, when Hamas does not distinguish itself from the rest of the population? How to avoid harming civilians who are not taking part in the hostilities when Hamas members continue to fire on Israeli communities from within population centers? B’Tselem does not pretend to advise the government or the military how to conduct the fighting in Gaza, nor is this the role of a human rights organization. But one thing is clear: The choice whether or not to obey the law is Israel’s. The government and the military must stay respect the law and maintain humanity as they search for the answers.  

On October 7, Hamas committed horrific war crimes. Hundreds of Hamas militants and other residents of Gaza entered Israeli territory, firing at anyone who passed by. They entered communities and homes, shot and killed entire families and party-goers, set homes on fire, and committed atrocities. More than 1,300 people were killed, thousands more were injured, and many are still missing. More than 200 people – including babies, children, women, and the elderly – were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip and are being held hostage. 

There is no way, nor can there be a way, to justify these crimes, and any attempt to do so must be rejected and denounced. But these crimes cannot justify the death and destruction Israel is now inflicting on Gaza’s more than two million residents. Targeting civilians, their property and civilian infrastructure is always prohibited, and Israel must end this immediately. 

Israel, like any other country, is obligated to protect its citizens. However, Israel, like any other country, is also obligated to comply with the restrictions set by international humanitarian law. 

END

[12]

BTSELEM.ORG

PROTECT CIVILIANS FROM THE IMPACT OF HOSTILITIES

27 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20231027_protect_civilians_from_the_impact_of_hostilities

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 11

[13]

NOS

VEEL DODEN BIJ LUCHTAANVAL OP VLUCHTELINGENKAMP

GAZA, VOLGENS ISRAEL HAMAS-SCHUILPLAATS

https://nos.nl/collectie/13959/artikel/2496132-veel-doden-bij-luchtaanval-op-vluchtelingenkamp-gaza-volgens-israel-hamas-schuilplaats

Bij een luchtaanval op het Palestijnse vluchtelingenkamp Jabalia in de Gazastrook zijn vermoedelijk veel doden gevallen. De directeur van een nabijgelegen ziekenhuis spreekt tegen Al Jazeera van meer dan vijftig doden. Volgens hem kan het dodental nog oplopen, want het tellen van de slachtoffers is nog bezig.

Een woordvoerder van Israëlische leger bevestigt tegenover CNN dat het leger de luchtaanval heeft uitgevoerd. Volgens hem was een commandant van Hamas het doelwit van de aanval. “Hij verstopte zich tussen de burgers.” Gevraagd naar de burgers in het vluchtelingenkamp antwoordt de woordvoerder dat dit “de tragedie van oorlog” is. De woordvoerder zegt dat zowel de commandant als een “groot aantal terroristen” is gedood.

Hamas ontkent dat er een Hamascommandant aanwezig was in het vluchtelingenkamp en noemt de bewering van het Israëlische leger op Telegram een “ongegronde leugen”.

De situatie is “ronduit verschrikkelijk”, zegt een woordvoerder van de Rode Halve Maan tegen Al Jazeera. De zusterorganisatie van het Rode Kruis is ter plaatse om hulp te bieden.

De woordvoerder benadrukt dat de ziekenhuizen in de omgeving “op instorten staan” door het tekort aan medicijnen en brandstof. “Ziekenhuizen waren al overweldigd. Ze kunnen het toenemende aantal slachtoffers niet aan.” De directeur van een nabijgelegen ziekenhuis waarschuwt dat het ziekenhuis morgen niet meer kan functioneren vanwege een tekort aan brandstof.

Van kamp tot stad

Jabalia is een vluchtelingenkamp ten noorden van Gaza-stad dat is uitgegroeid tot een stad. Er wonen ongeveer 116.000 Palestijnen op een oppervlakte van 1,4 vierkante kilometer.

Ook bij het vluchtelingenkamp Al-Shati wordt een inslag gemeld. Volgens het Palestijnse persbureau WAFA zijn daar zeker tien mensen gedood bij een Israëlische luchtaanval. Het vluchtelingenkamp ligt net zoals vluchtelingenkamp Jabalia ten noorden van Gaza-stad.

EINDE BERICHT

[14]

BTSELEM.ORG

THREE YEARS SINCE OPERATION CAST LEAD: ISRAELI MILITARY

FAILED TO INVESTIGATE ITSELF

18 JANUARY 2012

https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20120118_3_years_after_cast_lead

Three years after Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military’s argument against independent investigation of its conduct during the operation has proven to be hollow. The military has completely failed to investigate itself, regarding both policy choices and the conduct of the forces in the field in particular cases.

From 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, the Israeli military carried out an offensive dubbed Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The resulting damage to the civilian population in Gaza was colossal: Israeli security forces killed 1,391 Palestinians, at least 759 of whom (including 318 minors under age 18) were civilians who had not been taking part in the hostilities. More than 5,300 Palestinians were injured, at least 350 of them seriously. The operation also caused extensive damage to homes, industrial plants and the agricultural sector, in addition to the electricity, sanitation, water, and health infrastructure that had already been on the brink of collapse due to Israel’s siege on Gaza. According to UN estimates, the military destroyed more than 3,500 homes, leaving some 20,000 persons homeless.

After the operation ended, B’Tselem and other human rights organizations wrote to the attorney general, demanding that he establish an independent body for investigating the military’s actions during the operation. The attorney general rejected the demand, stating that the military had acted in accordance with international humanitarian law. In addition, he stated that military units were holding operational inquiries into incidents in which civilians had been harmed, and that the findings would be forwarded to the military advocate general and to the attorney general for a decision whether to pursuer further action in each case. The attorney general added that organizations holding concrete information on incidents in which civilians had been harmed could send the details to the relevant officials, who would examine their claims.

The demand was rejected a second time when the organizations wrote again, in March 2009.

B’Tselem’s complaints to the Military Advocate General Corps

Following the attorney general’s response, B’Tselem wrote to the MAG Corps demanding that he order criminal investigations into 20 cases in which the organization’s research indicated suspected breaches of international humanitarian law. In total, these cases involved the killing of 92 Palestinians and the use of three Palestinian civilians as human shields.

No substantive reply was received. However, the Military Police Investigation Unit (MPIU) contacted B’Tselem to request assistance in advancing its investigations. It was only through these requests that B’Tselem learned that MPIU investigations had been opened in nine of the 20 cases, and that another investigation had been opened into a case published on the organization’s website but not sent to the MAG.

At the MPIU’s request, B’Tselem helped arrange the arrival of witnesses for questioning in each of the ten cases. The organization also provided investigators with medical reports and other documents relating to the cases. Only in September 2010, more than a year and a half after the operation, did the MPIU request assistance in arranging the questioning of members of the Samuni family, regarding the incident in which 21 members of their family, including children, had been killed. Since then, B’Tselem has received no requests from the MPIU regarding any of the cases.

The MAG Corps recently informed B’Tselem that another investigation had been opened, raising the total number of investigations opened into cases researched by the organization to 11.

View full list of cases.

MAG Corps updated B’Tselem on investigations – three years after the operation

In the two years after Operation Cast Lead, B’Tselem wrote several times to the MAG Corps and the IDF Spokesperson requesting information on the status of its demands for investigation, but received no reply.

It was not until 1 January 2012, almost three years after the end of the operation, that the MAG Corps sent B’Tselem an update regarding hundreds of complaints that that organization had submitted over the past decade and more, including those relating to Operation Cast Lead. The responses regarding the latter follow:

• In nine cases, the MAG Corps did not order an investigation. Regarding five of them, the response repeated the update sent more than two years ago, after B’Tselem’s initial complaint: “The file has been sent to the relevant military officials for response”. The cases are: 1) the killing of five members of the Abu ‘Easheh family, 2) the killing of five members of the ‘Aleiwa family, 3) the killing of 11 members of the Dib family, 4) the killing of Ibrahim and Muhammad Abu Dakah and Ibrahim Abu Tir, and 5) the killing of five members of the Ermelat family. “The file is being handled” was the response regarding two other cases: 1) the killing of five sisters from the Bau’lusha family, and 2) the killing of the baby Wiam al-Kafarneh. In the two remaining cases, “the request was not located”: 1) the killing of eight persons in the bombing of a truck carrying oxygen tanks, and 2) the killing of three children of the al-Astal family.
• The MAG’s Corps did not respond at all regarding another case that B’Tselem had submitted, and the decision regarding it is unknown: the killing of ‘Atiyyah a-Samuni and his four-year-old son.
• Of the 11 cases in which an MPIU investigation was opened:

• In four cases, the file was closed with no legal proceedings against the persons involved. The cases were: 1) the use of Shafiq Daher as a human shield, 2) the killing of the eight members of the Abu Halimah family, 3) the killing of Rawheyeh a-Najar, and 4) the killing of six members of the ‘Abd a-Dayem family.
• In five cases, the investigation was completed, but the Corps had not yet decided whether to file an indictment or close the file. The cases: 1) the use of Sami Muhammad and Ra’d Abu Seif as human shields, 2) the killing of 21 members of the Samuni family, 3) the killing of a father and two of his sons from the ‘Azzam family, 4) the killing of Mustafa Barakeh and Rasmi Abu Jarir, and 5) the killing of four members of the Haji and ‘Arafat families. Three of these cases have awaited a decision for more than a year and a half, as the MPIU informed B’Tselem in July 2010 that they had been forwarded to the MAG Corps. Regarding the killing of 21 members of the Samuni family, the media reported that the MPIU had questioned Col. Ilan Malka, the Givati Brigade commander at the time of the operation, on suspicion of negligence for having ordered the bombing of the house in which the army had gathered about 100 members of the family. This is one of the few instances in which a senior commander was questioned regarding Operation Cast Lead, to the best of B’Tselem’s knowledge. A recent media report stated that the file against Malka was likely to be closed, and that his promotion would not be further delayed.
• The status of one case, involved the killing of Jihad Ahmad and Rida ‘Ali, is unknown to B’Tselem. The MPIU opened an investigation into the case, apparently based on a testimony published on B’Tselem’s website. The MPIU’s last update regarding the case was in July 2010, when B’Tselem was informed that the investigation was still under way. On 1 January 2012, the MAG Corps replied to B’Tselem that “a complaint was received regarding this case; we do not know of an MPIU investigation into it.”
• In another file – the one involving the killing of Majedah and Rayah Abu Hajaj – the investigation led to the filing of an indictment against a soldier for the manslaughter of an anonymous civilian. According to the MAG’s Corps, during the investigation, the testimonies given by Palestinian witnesses conflicted with those given by soldiers regarding the killing of the two women. However, the soldiers’ testimonies also indicated that soldiers had fired their weapons unlawfully, which caused the death of a person. The indictment was based solely on the soldiers’ version. As far as B’Tselem knows, the MPIU made no effort to reconcile the conflicting testimonies, and the Palestinian witnesses were not summoned to give further testimony after the problem arose. According to media reports, prosecution of the soldier for “manslaughter of an anonymous person” has been suspended until another investigation, regarding cover-up of the incident, is completed.

Foreign Ministry: We are investigating

Two official documents issued by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, in January 2010 and in July 2010, provided figures on the number of MPIU investigations that had been opened regarding the military’s conduct in Operation Cast Lead, without detailing specific cases. To the best of B’Tselem’s knowledge, the most updated data was published on the MAG Corps’ website in March 2011, according to which 52 MPIU investigations had been opened. No other Israeli entity has ever published which cases were investigated, what the status of the investigations was, or how many of the investigations led to filing indictments.

Conclusion: No accountability for the military’s actions during Operation Cast Lead

Three years after the end of the operation, the dozens of MPIU investigations opened into cases of harm to civilians have yet to yield results. The Military Advocate General Corps has created a haze around them, preventing any possibility of examining their effectiveness. The Corps’ responses to B’Tselem, combined with media reports, indicate that three indictments have been filed against soldiers who took part in the operation: for theft of a credit card from a Palestinian civilian, for use of a nine-year-old Palestinian child as a human shield, and for “manslaughter of an anonymous person.”

In three other cases, disciplinary action alone was taken. Two officers were disciplined for firing explosive shells that struck an UNRWA facility; three officers were disciplined for shelling the al-Maqadmeh Mosque, in which 15 Palestinians were killed, nine of them civilians; and one officer was disciplined for the use of Palestinian civilian Majdi ‘Abd Rabo as a human shield, after the Adalah organization wrote to the MAG Corps demanding an investigation into the case.

These meager results are not surprising. The investigations were all opened at a very late stage – the first, to B’Tselem knowledge, in October 2009, a full ten months after the operation had ended. At present, three years after the operation, there is hardly a chance that investigations will lead to further indictments.

There has never been a serious investigation into the suspicions raised by B’Tselem and additional Israeli, Palestinian and international organizations regarding breaches of international humanitarian law by the military during the operation. Most of B’Tselem’s demands for investigation were not met. The investigations that were opened did not, to B’Tselem’s knowledge, address the responsibility of high-ranking commanders, but rather focused on the conduct of individual soldiers.

Israel’s choice to investigate only isolated incidents, and not the military’s conduct as a whole during the operation, gives cause for concern that persons responsible for extremely grave breaches of law have not been questioned. Among the issues that have not been investigated are the following:

• The policy that guided the forces during the offensive;
• the legality of the orders given to the soldiers;
• the choice of targets for bombing;
• the means taken to protect the civilian population.

These questions lie at the very heart core of international humanitarian law. Their resolution is vital to examining the legality of the military’s conduct during Operation Cast Lead.

END

BTSELEM.ORG

BOMBING CIVILIAN OBJECTS IS A WAR CRIME

20 MAY 2021

https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20210520_bombing_civilian_objectives_is_a_war_crim

Since launching its latest offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel has bombed dozens of structures, including apartments, offices, government facilities and businesses, as well as civilian infrastructure such as roads. In addition to airstrikes against high-rises – reducing some to rubble – that housed offices, homes and TV stations, Israel has bombed the homes of Hamas commanders and of other Gaza residents, killing dozens of people.

International humanitarian law places restrictions on the parties engaged in hostilities and defines what may – and especially what may not – be done as part of the fighting. Among other things, it limits attacks strictly to military objectives. These objectives are defined in Article 52(2) of the first Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions, which is universally binding. According to the article, “military objectives” are defined by two cumulative criteria:

1. They make “an effective contribution to military action”.

2. Attacking them “offers a definite military advantage”.

Ascertaining whether an attack meets the criteria requires information about the actual use of the bombed structure. Legitimate military objectives listed in the relevant literature include military structures, arms depots and means of transportation that serve the fighters. If only part of the structure meets the criteria for a military objective, the rest of the structure is still considered a civilian object and may not be attacked. In any case of doubt regarding the use of a particular structure, it is considered a civilian object.

Over the course of the current fighting, the Israeli military has not provided justification for all the attacks, nor has it stated the connection between the structure it targeted and specific military activity carried out within it. Instead, in almost all cases, official statements have made do with general claims of hitting “Hamas terror infrastructure”, “combat operation infrastructure” and so on.

Without concrete information regarding the effective contribution of every one of the targeted structures to military action, and the definite military advantage its destruction is expected to give Israel, it is impossible to ascertain the lawfulness of every airstrike carried out in recent days. What can already be determined is that bombing homes only because senior Hamas members live in them does not meet the criteria laid out in international humanitarian law. Also, claiming that a structure was used for intelligence activity or that orders to attack Israel were issued from a particular apartment within it is not enough to establish the legitimacy of a strike against the structure. Establishing the lawfulness of the attack requires knowing exactly what was hit – other than the structure itself – and how that offers a definite military advantage. Clearly, attacks carried out in order to demoralize residents, and spur them to pressure the government, or purely for retaliation – are unlawful.

Israel has tried to justify some of the attacks by claiming it did everything in its power to avoid harm to civilians – by giving them advance warning to evacuate the premises. However, whether or not civilians were harmed is a separate question. If an object is civilian, attacking it is unlawful even if not a single person is killed.

In previous rounds of fighting, Israel applied a broad interpretation – extending beyond the criteria cited above – to the definition of a legitimate military objective: in Operation Cast Lead in December 2008-January 2009, in Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, and in Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. Despite the horrifying, lethal consequences of intentionally bombing civilian objectives – which constitutes a war crime – Israel has never been held accountable, or forced to pay any price, for implementing this policy.

This reality will change only when the international community intervenes and uses its leverage to force Israel to change course, before this policy takes a toll on even more lives.

END

NOS

ISRAEL VERNIETIGT FLATGEBOUW IN GAZA MET KANTORENINTERNATIONALE MEDIA

https://nos.nl/collectie/13864/artikel/2380835-israel-vernietigt-flatgebouw-in-gaza-met-kantoren-internationale-media

In Gaza-Stad is een pand waarin meerdere mediaorganisaties zijn ondergebracht, gebombardeerd door het Israëlische leger. Het pand van twaalf verdiepingen, waarin ook appartementen en kantoren zaten, is ingestort. Volgens het internationale persbureau AP werd de eigenaar van het pand een uur van tevoren door het Israëlische leger gewaarschuwd dat het gebouw bestookt zou worden.

Twee raketten raakten het gebouw kort na elkaar. Journalisten hadden vlak daarvoor tevergeefs gevraagd om spullen uit het complex te halen. Ze moesten toezien hoe het gebouw na de tweede inslag instortte

Voor zover bekend raakte niemand gewond. Volgens het Israëlische leger was het gebouw een legitiem militair doelwit omdat onder meer de inlichtingendienst van Hamas er actief was. Het leger stelt dat Hamas de mediaorganisaties gebruikte als menselijk schild.

In het gebouw hadden onder meer nieuwszender Al Jazeera en persbureau AP hun kantoren. Het aanwezige personeel ontvluchtte volgens ooggetuigen in paniek het pand. De inslag was live te zien op Al Jazeera.

Een verslaggever van persbureau AP schrijft op Twitter dat hij en zijn collega’s vanaf de 11e verdieping via de trap naar beneden zijn gerend, en vanaf een afstand de toren in de gaten hebben gehouden. AP noemt de raketaanval “een nieuwe stap van het Israëlische leger om de verslaggeving vanuit het gebied aan banden te leggen”.

Geschokte reacties

Van veel kanten is geschokt gereageerd op de aanval op het persgebouw. Onder meer Turkije heeft een veroordeling uitgesproken.

Het Witte Huis heeft Israël laten weten dat het land de veiligheid van journalisten moet garanderen. Dat is hun “grootste verantwoordelijkheid”, zo zegt de woordvoerder van het Witte Huis. President Biden heeft na de vernietiging van het flatgebouw met zowel de Israëlische premier Netanyahu als de Palestijnse leider Abbas gebeld.

Directeur Pruitt van AP zegt: “We konden maar net voorkomen dat er doden vielen. Door wat er vandaag is gebeurd, weet de wereld minder goed wat zich in Gaza afspeelt.”

Ook Al Jazeera wijst daarop. “Al Jazeera roept media en humanitaire organisaties op om gezamenlijk deze meedogenloze bombardementen af te wijzen. De directeur-generaal van Al Jazeera, Mostefa Souag, sprak van een oorlogsmisdaad.

Volgens persbureau Reuters zijn sinds maandag zeker 140 mensen om het leven gekomen in de Gazastrook, onder wie 39 kinderen. In Israël zijn tien mensen om het leven gekomen, onder wie twee kinderen.

Bombardementen

Bij Israëlische bombardementen kwamen vannacht en vandaag tot dusver 15 Palestijnen om het leven, zeggen medici tegen Reuters, onder wie een vrouw en vier van haar kinderen. Dat gebeurde bij een bombardement op een vluchtelingenkamp. Ook vijf anderen kwamen om het leven. Israël zegt dat het een appartement heeft geraakt dat door Hamas werd gebruikt.

Militanten van Hamas vuren al de hele dag raketten af op Israël. In een aantal Israëlische plaatsen en steden ging vandaag meerdere keren het luchtalarm af, berichten Israëlische media. In de plaats Ramat Gan, ten oosten van Tel Aviv, kwam een man om het leven toen zijn huis werd geraakt door scherven van een raket.

Na de aanval op het kantoor in Gaza-Stad heeft Hamas gedreigd met aanvallen op Tel Aviv. “De inwoners van Tel Aviv moeten zich voorbereiden op een reactie die de aarde zal doen schudden”, zegt een woordvoerder volgens lokale media.  

EINDE BERICHT

THE RIGHTS FORUM

TIENTALLEN DODEN IN GAZA NA ISRAELISCHEBOMBARDEMENTEN

11 MEI 2021

https://rightsforum.org/tientallen-doden-in-gaza-na-israelische-bombardementen/

Waarvoor velen vreesden is gebeurd. De Israëlische provocaties in Jeruzalem leidden maandagavond tot raketbeschietingen van Hamas op Israël en Israëlische bombardementen op de Gazastrook. In Gaza vielen 27 doden, onder wie negen kinderen. In Israël vonden twee vrouwen de dood. De beschietingen houden ook vandaag aan.

De vrees voor meer geweld die wij maandag in ons artikel over Jeruzalem uitspraken, werd nog diezelfde dag bewaarheid. In de vooravond schoot de militaire tak van Hamas na een ultimatum aan Israël vanuit de Gazastrook zeven raketten af. Israël antwoordde met bombardementen op de strook, waarna de wederzijdse beschietingen escaleerden. Ook vandaag houdt het geweld aan.

In Gaza vielen 27 doden, onder wie negen kinderen, en meer dan honderd gewonden. In Ashkelon vonden twee Israëlische vrouwen de dood. Daar en in andere plaatsen in Zuid-Israël raakten circa veertig Israëli’s gewond, van wie er één in kritieke toestand zou verkeren. In de Israëlische stad Lod werd tijdens een demonstratie een Palestijnse Israëli gedood door een Joodse inwoner.

Escalatie

Het ultimatum van de Al-Qassam-brigades, de militaire tak van Hamas, volgde op een nieuwe bestorming door Israëlische troepen van de Al-Aqsa-moskee in bezet Oost-Jeruzalem, en provocaties van Israëlische politici in de wijk Sheikh Jarrah in hetzelfde stadsdeel, waar 78 Palestijnse families hun woningen dreigen te worden uitgezet ten gunste van Israëlische kolonisten. In de namiddag dreigde Al-Qassam met vergelding als Israël niet voor zes uur ‘s avonds zijn troepen zou hebben teruggetrokken uit het gebied rond de Al-Aqsa-moskee en de wijk Sheikh Jarrah. Ook werd de vrijlating geëist van alle recent in Jeruzalem gearresteerde Palestijnen. Israël negeerde de eisen.

Even na zes uur maakten de brigades bekend vanuit de Gazastrook een aantal raketten te hebben afgeschoten in de richting van Jeruzalem. In de stad klonk het luchtalarm en werd het parlement kort ontruimd. Israëlische media maakten melding van zes raketten die de stad niet hadden bereikt en geen schade hadden aangericht. Een zevende werd onderschept door de Iron Dome-luchtafweer. Israël reageerde met bombardementen op Gaza. Het beschieten van Israëlische bevolkingscentra met raketten is een oorlogsmisdaad, zoals door mensenrechtenorganisaties als Human Rights Watch veelvuldig onderstreept, en hetzelfde geldt voor Israëlische bombardementen die niet op militaire doelen gericht zijn.

Het was de opmaat tot een nacht van wederzijdse beschietingen en bombardementen. Rond middernacht waren volgens het Israëlische leger 150 raketten op Israël afgeschoten door de Al-Qassam-brigades en Islamitische Jihad, die veelal door Iron Dome waren onderschept en nauwelijks schade aanrichtten. Eén Israëli raakte gewond toen zijn auto werd geraakt door een anti-tankraket. In de vroege dinsdagochtend werden raketten afgeschoten op de Israëlische stad Ashkelon en later ook op andere plaatsen, waaronder Ashdod. In beide steden zouden gebouwen zijn geraakt. Daar vielen ook de twee Israëlische doden en de meeste Israëlische gewonden.

Een woordvoerder van het Israëlische leger maakte vanochtend bekend dat Israël 130 aanvallen op militaire doelen in de Gazastrook had uitgevoerd met gevechtsvliegtuigen en -helikopters. Daarbij zouden 15 commandanten van Hamas en Islamitische Jihad zijn omgekomen. Volgens het ministerie van Gezondheid in Gaza en journalisten ter plaatse kwamen echter ook negen kinderen om het leven. Israël heeft de Gazastrook volledig afgesloten van de aanvoer van hulpgoederen.

Bestorming Al-Aqsa-moskee

De escalatie volgt op weken van Israëlische provocaties en geweld tegen Palestijnen in bezet Oost-Jeruzalem. De dreigende huisuitzettingen in Sheikh Jarrah en andere wijken en het geweld tegen Palestijnse demonstranten en tegen gelovigen in de Al-Aqsa-moskee kregen harde internationale kritiek.

Maandagochtend bestormden Israëlische troepen opnieuw met grof geweld het complex rond de Al-Aqsa-moskee. Daarbij raakten gelovigen, verzameld voor het ochtendgebed, ingesloten. Op beelden is te zien hoe de Israëlische politie traangas en schokgranaten op de duizenden bezoekers afschiet. Palestijnen schreeuwden om hulp via de luidsprekers op de minaret. Bij de bestorming raakten 305 Palestijnen gewond, van wie er 228 naar ziekenhuizen werden vervoerd.

In de middag bezochten de parlementsleden Itamar Ben-Gvir en Bezalel Smotrich van de partij Religieus Zionisme de wijk Sheikh Jarrah. Beiden zijn notoire ophitsers, die Palestijnen als minderwaardig aan Joden beschouwen en het liefst vandaag nog alle Palestijnen uit Jeruzalem zien vertrekken. Alleen al hun aanwezigheid is voldoende om de gemoederen te verhitten.

Elders in de stad maakten grote groepen religieus-nationalistische Israëli’s zich op voor de jaarlijkse ‘vlaggenparade’ door de Oude Stad van Oost-Jeruzalem ter gelegenheid van ‘Jeruzalemdag’, de viering van de Israëlische bezetting van Oost-Jeruzalem in 1967. De parade gaat altijd gepaard met provocaties en geweld, en gezien de explosieve situatie had afgelasting door de autoriteiten voor de hand gelegen. Pas op het laatste moment pasten die de geheel door veiligheidstroepen afgezette route enigszins aan. Halverwege de tocht werden de organisatoren door de politie opgeroepen de parade te ontbinden wegens het ultimatum van Al-Qassam. De meeste deelnemers zetten de tocht niettemin voort. Tot botsingen met Palestijnen kwam het dit keer niet.

‘s Avonds vielen Israëlische troepen opnieuw het complex rond de Al-Aqsa-moskee aan – de derde aanval na vrijdagavond en maandagochtend –, waarbij opnieuw zwaar geweld werd gebruikt. Naar verluidt raakten vijfhonderd gelovigen ingesloten in de Qibli-moskee op het terrein. Volgens de Palestijnse Rode Halve Maan raakten maandag in Jeruzalem in totaal 520 Palestijnen gewond, van wie er 333 in het ziekenhuis behandeld moesten worden.

Olie op het vuur

Dat Israël geenszins van plan is het geweld en de provocaties in Jeruzalem te staken maakten de autoriteiten gisteren in alle toonaarden duidelijk. Israëls hoofd van politie Kobi Shabtai liet weten dat de politie tot dusver uiterst ‘terughoudend’ had geopereerd, maar die houding nu liet varen: ‘De kinderhandschoenen gaan uit.’

Premier Benjamin Netanyahu maakte bekend dat de regering het optreden van de politie voluit steunt. Hij stelde het geweld in Jeruzalem voor als ‘een gevecht om het hart van Jeruzalem tussen [de krachten van] intolerantie en tolerantie, tussen gewelddadige wetsovertreders en law and order’. Het geweld van de veiligheidsdiensten is volgens hem bedoeld om ‘de rechten van iedereen te verzekeren’.

In een telefoongesprek met zijn Amerikaanse collega Jake Sullivan voer Israëls nationaal veiligheidsadviseur Meir Ben-Shabbat eenzelfde koers. Hij kapittelde Sullivan, die in voorzichtige bewoordingen bezorgdheid over het Israëlische optreden in Jeruzalem uitte. Die bezorgdheid is een ‘beloning voor de oproerkraaiers’, aldus Ben-Shabbat. Sullivan zou zich met zijn kritiek juist tot ‘degenen die tot het geweld hebben aangezet’ moeten wenden. Het Israëlische optreden was juist ‘verantwoord en gebaseerd op gezond verstand, ondanks de provocaties’.

Intussen gooide ook het Israëlische parlement olie op het vuur. Maandag gaf het ook bij tweede stemming goedkeuring aan een wetsvoorstel dat de ‘legalisering’ van zeventig zogenoemde ‘buitenposten’ op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever beoogt. Deze outposts zijn niet alleen onder internationaal recht, maar ook volgens de Israëlische wet illegaal. Wordt het voorstel wet – daarvoor is nog één stemronde nodig–, dan voegt Israël officieel zeventig kolonies (‘nederzettingen’) aan zijn totaal toe. Opmerkelijk is dat de buitenposten in het Israëlische spraakgebruik een naamsverandering hebben ondergaan: ze worden tegenwoordig aangeduid als ‘jonge nederzettingen’. Na hun ‘legalisering’ zullen ze zonder twijfel snel worden uitgebouwd tot ‘volwassen nederzettingen’.

Protesten waaieren uit

De protesten tegen het Israëlische optreden in Oost-Jeruzalem hebben inmiddels ook tal van steden in Israël bereikt. De afgelopen dagen vonden in meerdere steden demonstraties van Palestijnse Israëli’s plaats, en maandagavond gingen in onder meer Nazareth, Jaffa, Haifa, Umm al-Fahm, Ramla, Lod en Shaqib al-Salam grote aantallen Palestijnen de straat op. In veel steden leidde dat tot botsingen met de politie, waarbij gewonden vielen en 46 Palestijnse demonstranten zouden zijn gearresteerd. In Lod werd een Palestijnse Israëli door een Joodse inwoner gedood.

Ook op de door Israël bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever werd geprotesteerd, onder meer in Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus, Tulkarm, Jenin, Qalqiliya en Tubas. Bij botsingen met Israëlische troepen vielen veel gewonden. Twee Palestijnen liepen schotwonden op.

Het heeft er alle schijn van dat Israël met zijn gewelddadige en provocerende optreden in Jeruzalem een brug heeft geslagen die de Palestijnen in Israël, Oost-Jeruzalem, Gaza en de Westoever met elkaar verbindt. Grenzen, muren en politieke verdeeldheid maken plaats voor solidariteit, gebaseerd op de discriminatie of zelfs onderdrukking die zij dagelijks ervaren en het grote historische onrecht en leed dat hen collectief is aangedaan.

EINDE BERICHT

15]

ZIE NOOT 14

[16]

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL: UNLAWFUL GAZA BLOCKADE DEADLY FOR

CHILDREN

18 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children

Denial of Water, Fuel, Electricity Endangers Lives

Update October 19, 2023: President Joe Biden announced that the United States mediated an agreement allowing the movement of up to 20 trucks of food, medicine, and water into Gaza. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has urged negotiators to raise their “level of ambition.” OCHA reported that, in August 2023 alone, 12,072 truckloads of “authorized goods entered Gaza through the Israeli and Egyptian-controlled crossings.” After the total siege on the civilian population on October 9, a single dispatch of 20 truckloads does not adequately address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, Human Rights Watch said. Israel’s international partners should press the Israeli government to restore water and electricity supplies and lift its unlawful restrictions on aid delivery and closure.

(Jerusalem) – The Israeli government should immediately end its total blockade of the Gaza Strip that is putting Palestinian children and other civilians at grave risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The collective punishment of the population is a war crime. Israeli authorities should allow desperately needed food, medical aid, fuel, electricity, and water into Gaza, and let sick and wounded civilians leave to receive medical treatment elsewhere.

Israel announced on October 18, 2023, that it would allow food, water, and medicine to reach people in southern Gaza from Egypt, but without electricity or fuel to run the local power plant or generators, or clear provision of aid to those in the north, this falls short of meeting the needs of Gaza’s population.

The Israeli bombardment and total blockade have exacerbated the longstanding humanitarian crisis resulting from Israel’s unlawful 16-year closure of Gaza, where more than 80 percent of the population relies on humanitarian aid. Doctors in Gaza report being unable to care for children and other patients because the hospitals are overwhelmed by victims of Israeli airstrikes. On October 17, a munition struck al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, causing mass casualties; Hamas blamed Israel for the strike, while Israel said it was a rocket misfire by Palestinian militants. Human Rights Watch is looking into the strike.

Public health officials said the lack of water, contamination of areas by sewage, and many bodies that cannot be safely stored in morgues could trigger an infectious disease outbreak.

“Israel’s bombardment and unlawful total blockade of Gaza mean that countless wounded and sick children, among many other civilians, will die for want of medical care,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “US President Joe Biden, who is in Israel today, should press Israeli officials to completely lift the unlawful blockade and ensure the entire civilian population has prompt access to water, food, fuel, and electricity.”

Senior Israeli officials have said the total blockade of the Gaza Strip, where children comprise nearly half of the population of 2.2 million, is part of efforts to defeat Hamas, following its October 7 attack on Israel. Hamas-led Palestinian fighters killed more than 1,300 people, according to Israeli authorities, and took scores of civilians, including women and children, as hostages. On October 9, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced “a complete siege … no electricity, no water, no food, no fuel. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.” The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported, as of October 18, that 3,478 Palestinians have been killed. The Palestinian rights group Defense for Children International – Palestine reported that more than 1,000 children are among those killed.

The laws of war do not prohibit sieges or blockades of enemy forces, but they may not include tactics that prevent civilians’ access to items essential for their survival, such as water, food, and medicine. Parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate the rapid passage of impartial humanitarian aid for all civilians in need. Aid may be inspected but not arbitrarily delayed.

In addition, during military occupations, such as in Gaza, the occupying power has a duty under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to the fullest extent of the means available to it, “of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population.” Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited and is a war crime.

Under international human rights law, states must respect the right to water, which includes refraining from limiting access to, or destroying, water services and infrastructure as a punitive measure during armed conflicts as well as respecting the obligations to protect objects indispensable for survival of the civilian population.

Israel’s total blockade against the population in Gaza forms part of the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities are committing against Palestinians.

News media reported on October 17 that Israel had refused to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, while Egypt was refusing to allow Palestinians to cross into the Sinai. Egypt and Israel should permit civilians to pass through their respective crossings to seek at least temporary protection or life-saving medical care, while also ensuring that anyone who flees is entitled to voluntary return in safety and dignity.

Lack of Medical Care

Shortages of medical equipment, supplies, and medication in the face of overwhelming casualties are causing avoidable deaths in hospitals in the Gaza Strip. More than 60 percent of patients are children, Dr. Midhat Abbas, director general of health in Gaza, told Human Rights Watch. An intern emergency room doctor at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital wept while speaking to Human Rights Watch by phone on October 15:

Yesterday, in the intensive care unit, it was full, and all ventilators were in use. A child came in with head trauma who needed a ventilator. They had to choose between two children, who would die. He [the doctor] made a decision that one child was more promising to treat, so we were forced to switch the ventilator, and the other child died.

A doctor at the Northern Medical Complex said that on the night of October 14, intensive-care unit medics had to disconnect an adult patient from a ventilator to use it for a 10-year-old. He said a lack of medical supplies had obliged him to stitch a woman’s head wound without gloves or sterile equipment.

In a voice message on October 14, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital described a group of patients with “back wounds, including compound fractures, that can be really painful.” He said that the hospital had run out of painkillers to administer to them.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British surgeon volunteering at al-Shifa hospital, posted on social media on October 10, that “the hospitals, because of the siege, are so short of supplies that we had to clean a teenage girl with 70 percent body surface burns with regular soap because the hospital is out of chlorhexidine (antiseptic).” On October 14, he said in a voice note shared with Human Rights Watch: “We are no longer able to do anything but the most life-saving surgeries” because medical supplies were exhausted, and deaths and injuries had caused staff shortages.

More than 5,500 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are expected to deliver within the next month, but face “compromised functionality of health facilities” and lack of “lifesaving supplies,” the United Nations Population Fund said on October 13.

“We need insulin [for diabetics],” said the head of a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shelter on October 15. “People are dying.” The shelter was overwhelmed with 15,000 internally displaced people.

The UN World Health Organization stated on October 14 that it had flown medical and basic health supplies for 300,000 patients to Egypt, near the Gaza Strip’s southern border, and more than 1,000 tons of other humanitarian aid had been shipped to the area. As of October 17, though, humanitarian workers and aid remain blocked via the Rafah border crossing. Israeli attacks have reportedly hit the crossing repeatedly, rendering it unsafe. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said four Egyptian aid workers were injured in the Israeli strikes and that “there is not yet any sort of authorization for a safe passage from the other side of the crossing.”

Israel’s order on October 13 to all civilians located in the north of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south exacerbated the medical crisis: 21 hospitals currently holding more than 2,000 patients are located in this region. The World Health Organization said the evacuations “could be tantamount to a death sentence” for the sick and injured and said hospitals were already beyond capacity in the southern Gaza Strip. A pediatric doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital said evacuating would likely cause the deaths of seven newborns in the ICU who were connected to ventilators.

Dr. Abu Sitta said that Israel’s evacuation order forced the Mohammed al-Durra Pediatric Hospital east of Gaza City to close, including a neonatal intensive care unit supported by the charity he volunteers with, Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The sick and wounded, including children and pregnant women, have not been allowed to cross Rafah into Egypt or the Erez crossing into Israel to receive treatment. Dr. Abbas, the director general of health, said, “We are in desperate need of a safe humanitarian passage for patients immediately, [and] we need field hospitals immediately.”

Electricity

On October 7, Israeli authorities cut the electricity it delivers to Gaza, the main source of electricity there. Israeli authorities also cut fuel necessary to run Gaza’s only power plant. The power plant has since run out of fuel and shut down. On October 17, Dr. Abbas told Human Rights Watch by phone that hospitals’ emergency generators will run out of fuel “within hours.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross regional director warned on October 11 that the power cuts are “putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can’t be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.”

Water and Sewage

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 97 percent of the groundwater in Gaza is “unfit for human consumption,” leaving people dependent on the supply of water from Israel and on the territory’s desalination plants. Israel cut off all water on October 11, and most desalination also stopped that day due to the cutoff in electricity, leaving about 600,000 people without clean water, Omar Shatat, deputy director general of Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told Human Rights Watch.

The last functioning desalination plant stopped operating on October 15. Israel partially resumed water delivery that day, but only to the eastern Khan Younis area, and it amounted to less than 4 percent of the water consumed in Gaza prior to October 7, according to OCHA.

UNRWA warned that “people will start dying of severe dehydration” unless access to water is resumed. The Associated Press reported on October 15 that a doctor had treated 15 cases of children with bacterial dysentery due to lack of clean water, which can also cause diseases like cholera, particularly in children under 5.

“Israel has cut off the most basic goods necessary for survival in Gaza, where there are more than a million children at risk,” Van Esveld said. “Every hour that this blockade continues costs lives.”

END

[17]

”(Jerusalem) – The Israeli government should immediately end its total blockade of the Gaza Strip that is putting Palestinian children and other civilians at grave risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The collective punishment of the population is a war crime. Israeli authorities should allow desperately needed food, medical aid, fuel, electricity, and water into Gaza, and let sick and wounded civilians leave to receive medical treatment elsewhere.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL: UNLAWFUL GAZA BLOCKADE DEADLY FOR

CHILDREN

18 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 16

[18]

”The laws of war do not prohibit sieges or blockades of enemy forces, but they may not include tactics that prevent civilians’ access to items essential for their survival, such as water, food, and medicine. Parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate the rapid passage of impartial humanitarian aid for all civilians in need. Aid may be inspected but not arbitrarily delayed.

In addition, during military occupations, such as in Gaza, the occupying power has a duty under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to the fullest extent of the means available to it, “of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population.” Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited and is a war crime.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL: UNLAWFUL GAZA BLOCKADE DEADLY FOR

CHILDREN

18 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 16

[19]

””Mensen zijn afhankelijk van water dat ze kopen bij kleine waterstation”, zegt de lokale journalist Noor Swirki tegen Nieuwsuur. “Dat water komt uit de grond en is niet veilig om te drinken of om mee te koken, maar ze hebben geen keuze.”

NOS

COLLECTIEF STRAFFEN EN WEGJAGEN VAN

GAZANEN IS MOGELIJK ETNISCHE ZUIVERING

https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/collectie/13959/artikel/2495938-collectief-straffen-en-wegjagen-van-gazanen-is-mogelijk-etnische-zuivering

De leefsituatie in Gaza wordt met de dag zorgwekkender. Dit weekend braken duizenden mensen in bij opslagplaatsen en distributiecentra van de Verenigde Naties om aan meel en andere levensmiddelen te komen.

Na de Hamas-aanslagen op 7 oktober blokkeerde Israël Gaza volledig. Sinds vorig weekend worden hulpkonvooien toegelaten, maar slechts mondjesmaat. Dit beleid is illegaal, volgens het Internationaal Strafhof. “Israël straft de Palestijnen collectief. Er is mogelijk sprake van etnische zuivering”, zegt universitair docent internationaal strafrecht Marieke de Hoon.

De afgelopen weken was de verdeling van levensmiddelen nog redelijk georganiseerd, zegt Tamara Alrifai, woordvoerder van de VN-organisatie voor Palestijnse vluchtelingen UNRWA. “De 600.000 mensen in VN-gebouwen kregen heel weinig, maar wel geregeld, voedsel en medicijnen.”

Maar toen vrijdagavond alle communicatie uitviel nadat Israël de aanvallen opvoerde, brak er paniek uit, zegt Alrifai. “Niemand wist wat er gebeurde. Mijn collega’s konden geen berichten versturen over de voedsel- en waterdistributie. Dus mensen namen het heft in eigen hand en besloten zelf voedsel uit opslagplaatsen te halen.”

Een minstens zo nijpend probleem is het grote gebrek aan brandstof, waardoor elektriciteitsgeneratoren niet draaien en ontziltingsinstallaties stilliggen. Inwoners moeten vervuild water drinken. “Mensen zijn afhankelijk van water dat ze kopen bij kleine waterstation”, zegt de lokale journalist Noor Swirki tegen Nieuwsuur. “Dat water komt uit de grond en is niet veilig om te drinken of om mee te koken, maar ze hebben geen keuze.”

UNRWA noemt het brandstoftekort desastreus. “Als we geen brandstof meer hebben, kunnen we de bakkerijen niet voorzien van schoon water en kunnen we onze vrachtwagens niet sturen om de levensmiddelen op te halen die nu via Egypte binnenkomen”, zegt Alrifai.

‘Israël mag noodhulp niet belemmeren’

Volgens nieuwszender Al Jazeera zijn sinds het begin van de oorlog 87 vrachtwagens Gaza binnengelaten via de door Egypte gecontroleerde grensovergang bij Rafah. Dat aantal is een fractie van wat nodig is voor de 2 miljoen Gazanen, zegt Alrifai. “Voor de oorlog kwamen er elke dag zo’n 500 trucks binnen, waarvan 100 met humanitaire goederen.”

Het opzettelijk belemmeren van humanitaire hulp is een oorlogsmisdaad, zegt internationaal strafrechtdocent De Hoon. “Israël voldoet hiermee niet aan de plicht om burgerslachtoffers zoveel mogelijk te voorkomen.”

Ook het Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag spreekt van een schending van het internationaal recht. “Er zouden geen belemmeringen moeten zijn voor het leveren van noodhulp aan kinderen, vrouwen en mannen”, zei aanklager Karim Khan bij een bezoek aan de grensovergang tussen Egypte en Gaza. “Dit zijn onschuldige mensen met rechten.”

Waarschijnlijk overtreden ook Israëls luchtaanvallen het internationaal recht, zegt De Hoon. “Een legitiem militair doel mag je aanvallen, ook als er de kans is op burgerslachtoffers. Maar dit moet op een proportionele manier en dat lijkt in Gaza nu niet te gebeuren.”

Dat Israël vaak waarschuwingen stuurt voor een bombardement, pleit het land volgens De Hoon niet vrij. “Burgers moeten kunnen wegkomen, maar in Gaza kunnen ze nergens heen.”

VN-medewerkers gedood

Het dodental in Gaza steeg zondag naar 8005, volgens het zorgministerie van Gaza, dat onder controle staat van Hamas. De cijfers worden door verschillende hulporganisaties als betrouwbaar gezien. Bij de Israëlische aanvallen zijn ook 59 UNRWA-medewerkers omgekomen.

“Elke dertien minuten sterft er een kind in Gaza”, zegt Jason Lee van hulporganisatie Save the Children. “Geen plek hier is veilig, overal zijn beschietingen en luchtaanvallen. 60 procent van de bevolking, 1,4 miljoen mensen, is hun huis uit gevlucht.”

Israël maakt te weinig onderscheid tussen burgers en militairen, zegt De Hoon. Als voorbeelden geeft ze de aanvallen op woongebouwen, waar ook veel kinderen wonen, en op burgers die naar het zuiden van Gaza vluchten. “De regering verschuilt zich achter het argument dat Hamas begon. Maar je kunt niet suggereren dat die kinderen Hamas-strijders zijn. Palestijnen worden zo gedehumaniseerd. Mensen worden niet meer als mensen gezien en de drempel om ze te doden wordt verlaagd.”

Genocide?

Dit “collectief straffen en wegjagen” van Palestijnen is mogelijk etnische zuivering, zegt De Hoon. De VN waarschuwde al voor “een massale zuivering” van inwoners van Gaza en pleit voor een staakt-het-vuren.

Of er ook sprake is van genocide, zoals Palestijnse organisaties en onder andere een Spaanse minister zeggen, vindt De Hoon lastig te bepalen. “Daarvoor moet je aantonen dat er bij Israëlische leiders een specifieke opzet is om de Palestijnen uit te roeien. Dat zeggen ze niet. Hamas is er bijvoorbeeld wel heel duidelijk in dat ze de joden willen uitroeien. Maar Israël zit wel op het duistere randje.”

Hoe dan ook, zegt De Hoon, zijn er signalen dat genocide kan gaan plaatsvinden. “Maar aan strafzaken hebben we nu niks. Andere landen moeten ingrijpen om te voorkomen dat Israël die genocide zal plegen. Staten hebben die plicht.”

EINDE

”The last functioning desalination plant stopped operating on October 15. Israel partially resumed water delivery that day, but only to the eastern Khan Younis area, and it amounted to less than 4 percent of the water consumed in Gaza prior to October 7, according to OCHA.

UNRWA warned that “people will start dying of severe dehydration” unless access to water is resumed. The Associated Press reported on October 15 that a doctor had treated 15 cases of children with bacterial dysentery due to lack of clean water, which can also cause diseases like cholera, particularly in children under 5.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL: UNLAWFUL GAZA BLOCKADE DEADLY FOR

CHILDREN

18 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 16

[20]

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN VOMAR DD 23 APRIL 2023/UW AANBIEDINGSVERKOOP VAN AVOCADO’S AAN BEZETTINGSSTAAT

ISRAEL!

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN VOMAR DD 23 APRIL 2023/Uw aanbiedingsverkoop van avocado’s uit Bezettingsstaat Israel!

ASTRID ESSED VERSUS VOMAR

OVERZICHT

https://www.astridessed.nl/?s=VOMAR

[21]

‘”Mensen zijn afhankelijk van water dat ze kopen bij kleine waterstation”, zegt de lokale journalist Noor Swirki tegen Nieuwsuur. “Dat water komt uit de grond en is niet veilig om te drinken of om mee te koken, maar ze hebben geen keuze.”

NOS

COLLECTIEF STRAFFEN EN WEGJAGEN VAN

GAZANEN IS MOGELIJK ETNISCHE ZUIVERING

https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/collectie/13959/artikel/2495938-collectief-straffen-en-wegjagen-van-gazanen-is-mogelijk-etnische-zuivering

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 19

Hamas attack on Israel/The Right to rise up against the Israeli occupation

Astrid Essed <astridessed@yahoo.com>

To:Editor@thecitypaperbogota.com

Wed, Nov 1 at 3:13 PM

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor

The 7 october 2023 surprise attack of Hamas on the South of Israel

with thousands of rockets codenamed ”Al-Aqsa Flood”, suprised me,

like doubtless many others, but I was not completely taken aback.

It was a bloody attack in which a great number of Israeli civilians

were killed [according to Israeli autorities at least 1200] or abducted and

at least 260 people were killed by the Hamas attack on a

Festival near kibbutz Re”im.

Of course this deserves strong condemnation, since targetting

civilians is not only inhumane, but prohibited by International

Humanitarian Law, declaring clear distinction between combatants

[soldiers and fighters, who are legitimate targets] and non-combatants [civilians,

who must be protected]

So I understand the common [especially Western] sympathy with the Israeli

victims, because I share the feeling.

But there my understanding stops.

Because the almost hysterical ”we stand with Israel” reactions, especially from

the Western World [USA,EU], completely with Israeli flags hanging from their

official buildings [luckily not in Scotland!] is not only hypocrite.

It is disgusting!

Disgusting, because it implies support to Israel as a State and that is, to say

it mildly, controversial.

Because the bloody 7 october Hamas attack and subsequent abduction-operation divert the attention of the important fact, that since 1967 Israel

is the occupying power in the West Bank, Eastern Jerusalem and Gaza [still

occupied according to International Law since Israel controls the Gaza borders, airspace and territorial waters]

Not only Israel refuses to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories

despite UN Security Resolution 242 [1967], there is a decennialong brutal

oppression, Israel is guilty of torture of prisoners, administrative detention,

bloody military attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, with as macabre result thousands and thousands civilian victims, the building [since end of the sixties]

of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory [land theft!], extrajudicial

execution, apartheid, etc, etc

En despite this brutal occupation the EU never took any sanction against

the State of Israel, which made them complicit in the Israeli occupation

and oppression.

According to International Law every people has the right to rise up against

an occupation, which includes armed resistance.

So Hamas, as any other Palestinian organisation, is in his right 

in this regard, but of course according International Humanitarian Law

Hamas must refrain from attacks on civilians.

By the way, I wonder whether the EU will also condemn Israel, which right

now launches a bloody attack in Gaza by bombing

Gaza for already three weeks, with more than 7000 deaths, as denying the Gazan population water, medicines,

fuel and food supplies, in the same strong terms as it condemned Hamas.

Astrid Essed

Amsterdam

The Netherlands