Description

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

Israeli Violations Continue in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (05 – 11 March 2020)

Published by IMEMC News
March 16, 2020

Summary

During the period covered by the current report, the Israeli military occupation forces and Israeli settlers continued to commit further grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. During this week, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian child and wounded others in Nablus, and continued to suppress peaceful demonstrations, which were launched in protest against US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his plan for peace in the Middle East, known in the media as the “Deal of the Century”, which violates Palestinian rights and contradicts the decisions of the United Nations and international law.

With the support of the occupation forces, settlers continued to seize more land and attack civilians and their property. PCHR researchers monitored (159) violations committed by the occupation forces during the period covered by the report. The state of emergency declared by the Palestinian Authority in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to confront the Corona virus, affected the ability of the PCHR staff to monitor violations as usual. The most prominent results of the violations that were monitored included the following:

Shooting and Other Violations of the Right to Bodily Integrity

On Wednesday 11/3/2020, the Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian child, and wounded (20) other civilians, including a journalist, in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. The child was killed and 14 civilians were wounded, two of them seriously, during the suppression of a gathering of citizens, in Jabal Al-Arma, southeast of Beita, in the Nablus Governorate, in the northern West Bank. The other six were wounded in 3 attacks by the occupation forces in Qalqilia, occupied Jerusalem and Ramallah.
The occupation forces fired 9 times at agricultural land in the east of the Gaza Strip, concentrated in the middle and south of the Gaza Strip, and once at fishing boats in the open sea off the northern Gaza Strip.
Incursions and Arrests

The Israeli occupation forces carried out 80 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. During that time, the forces committed several serious violations, including raiding homes, searching them and tampering with their contents, as they terrorized their residents, beat many of them, and fired bullets in many cases. These actions resulted in the arrest of 91 citizens, including 5 children. In the Gaza Strip, those forces carried out a limited incursion into the east of Al-Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

Settlement Crimes and Settler Attacks

The occupation authorities continued illegal settlement activities in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, where the center’s staff documented (5) demolitions, bulldozing and notifications, including: excavation work on the lands of citizens in occupied Jerusalem, confiscation of excavators in Hebron, uprooting 400 olive seedlings in Bethlehem, dismantling barns for livestock removing a tent in Ramallah, and ratifying the “sovereignty road” project in E1 area east of occupied Jerusalem, which aims to isolate Palestinian neighborhoods from the city of Jerusalem, to implement Israeli sovereignty.
The Center also documented (8) attacks by settlers, which included: attacking citizens’ homes and cars and assaulting citizens in Nablus, cutting dozens of grape trees, from the lands of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, and attacking a citizen and homes in Hebron.
Collective Punishment

In the context of the collective punishment policy pursued by the Israeli occupation forces against the families of Palestinian citizens who accuse them of carrying out acts of resistance against them or against settlers. Israeli forces demolished the homes of the two Palestinian prisoners: Yazan Maghamis, in Birzeit town, north of Ramallah, and Walid Hanache, in Al-Tirah neighborhood in Ramallah.

Blockade on Gaza

On Friday 6/3/2020, the Israeli occupation authorities announced the imposition of a comprehensive security cordon on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, under the pretext of security on the occasion of the Israeli “Purim Day”.

According to what the occupation army announced, this procedure was effective from midnight on Sunday, 3/8/2020, and will continue until midnight on Thursday 12/3/2020. The decision included the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is the only commercial outlet for the Gaza Strip, with Israel, from midnight on Monday to Tuesday for a period of 24 hours.

According to this procedure, the occupation authorities did not allow the crossings into Israel to enter, or return, except for humanitarian, medical and emergency cases, and only after they obtained the approval of the government coordinator in the Palestinian territories.

On Wednesday evening, 11/3/2020, the occupation authorities announced new measures that include new restrictions regarding the Beit Hanoun crossing and the West Bank crossings, after the end of the previous closure, under the pretext of facing the spread of the Corona virus.

This comes at a time when the Gaza Strip is still suffering from the worst siege in the history of the occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory, as the siege entered its fourteenth year without any tangible improvement on the movement of individuals and goods, while exacerbating the continuing deterioration in the humanitarian situation and having catastrophic effects on all aspects of life.

In many cases, the Israeli occupation forces use the Erez / Beit Hanoun crossing, north of the Gaza Strip, designated for the movement of individuals as a trap for the arrest of Palestinian civilians, despite obtaining permits to enable them to enter Israel.
Closures in the West Bank

The occupation authorities continue to divide Palestinian communities into small cantons, isolated from each other, with many roads remaining completely closed. In addition to the permanent checkpoints, the occupying forces erect many flying checkpoints which severely impede the movement of civilians, arresting one citizen this week. The occupation authorities decided to continue the closure imposed on the Bethlehem area, under the pretext of confronting the Corona virus, including preventing Bethlehem residents from entering Israeli territory, until further notice.

1. Shooting and Violations the Right to Bodily Integrity:

a. Excessive Use of Force Against Peaceful Protests in the West Bank:

On Friday 6/3/2020, the Israeli occupation forces suppressed three demonstrations in the West Bank to denounce the announcement of US President Donald Trump his plan for peace in the Middle East, known as the “Deal of the Century”. In these demonstrations, the Palestinian citizens gathered near the points of contact with the Israeli occupation forces, and chanted national chants, some of them tried to throw stones, at those forces that fired live bullets, and rubber-coated metal rounds, and sound and gas bombs towards the demonstrators. As a result, two civilians were wounded with live bullets, and dozens suffocated, as well as 5 citizens, including two children, were arrested.

The following are details of the demonstrations:

Features