Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

· A Palestinian civilian was wounded in the Gaza Strip
· A Palestinian child was wounded in an attack launched jointly by IOF and Israeli settlers.

· IOF used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations commemorating the Palestinian Naksa.[1]
 Twenty six demonstrators, including 11 children and a woman, were wounded near Qalandya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem.

· IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.
 Two Palestinians, including a journalist, were wounded.

· IOF conducted 38 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
 IOF arrested 14 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children.
 The arrested Palestinians include two PLC members.

· IOF continued settlement activities and Israeli settlers continued their attacks in the West Bank.
 Israeli settlers set fire to wheat farms in Qalqilya.
 Israeli settlers damaged 20 grape trees and set fire to a wheat farm in Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron.

· Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the Gaza Strip and tightened the siege on the West Bank.
 IOF held a PCHR fieldworker for several hours in the north of Hebron.
 IOF held a PCHR fieldworker at a military checkpoint in the north of the West Bank and questioned him about PCHR’s annual report.

Summary

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (02 – 08 June 2011):

Shooting:

During the reporting period, IOF wounded 30 Palestinian civilians, including 12 children and a woman, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Twenty nine of them were wounded in the West Bank and the thirtieth was wounded in the Gaza Strip, and the majority of them were wounded in peaceful demonstrations.

In the West Bank, On 02 June 2011, a Palestinian child from Fraata village, northeast of Qalqilya, was wounded when a group of settlers from “Havat Gilad” settlement raided Palestinian lands in Fraata village and set fire to lands planted with wheat and stoned Palestinian farmers. The settlers then called IOF who rushed to the scene to provide protection to settlers. IOF started firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinians. Asaad al-Tawil, 16, was hit as a result by a tear gas canister to his left eye.

IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, Khaled Sabarneh, 42, reporter of the Iranian TV, was wounded by a tear gas canister in the right leg, and Mousa Ahmed Mohammed Abdul Karim, 45, sustained shrapnel wounds to the head.

On 05 June 2001, Palestinians organized a peaceful demonstration on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories by the Israeli occupation, calling for putting an end to the occupation. IOF used excessive force to disperse this demonstration. As a result, 26 Palestinians, including 11 children and a woman, were wounded. Paramedics who were in the scene told a PCHR fieldworker that only five of the wounded were transferred to Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah for treatment while the others were treated on the spot and refused to give their names to the paramedics.
In addition, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation and bruises as they were beaten by IOF in peaceful demonstrations in the West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian civilian was wounded on 07 June 2011 when IOF positioning on observation towers at the border near Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing, in the far north of the Gaza Strip, opened intensive fire at a group of Palestinian and international demonstrators who were nearly 300 meters from the border fence to the north of the Agricultural School of al-Azhar University, north of Beit Hanoun.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 38 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 14 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children.

The arrested Palestinians included two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) of the Hamas Change and Reform Bloc who are Abdul Rahman Fehmi Abdul Rahman Zidan, 51, from Deir al-Ghsoun village in the north of Tulkarm and Ahmed Ali Ahmed al-Haj Ali, 73, from Ein Beit al-Maa refugee camp, west of Nablus. Also Hussam Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Khader, 48, former PLC member of the Fatah parliamentary bloc from Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, and Dr. Ghassan Nayef Talab Thougan, 54, an academic and a leader of Hamas, were among those who were arrested by IOF.

Israeli Settlers’ Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property:

Israeli settlers living in the OPT in violation of the international humanitarian law have continued to commit systematic crimes against Palestinian civilians and Palestinian property with protection provided by IOF who ignore conducting investigations into complaints submitted by Palestinian civilians against settlers.

On 02 June 2011, a group of settlers from “Havat Gilad” settlement raided Palestinian lands in Fraata village, northeast of Qalqilya, and set fire in lands planted with wheat and stoned Palestinian farmers. Farmers and some Palestinians from the village who rushed to help the attacked farmers tried to drive the settlers away, but the settlers called IOF who rushed to the scene to provide protection to settlers. IOF started firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinians and beat them. As a result, a Palestinian child was wounded and another civilian sustained wounds in his left leg as IOF pushed him to the ground. Another 3 Palestinians sustained wounds when they were attacked by Israeli settlers.

On 06 June 2011, Israeli settlers from “Karmei Tzur” settlement established on Palestinian lands in “Khellet al-Kutleh”, south of Beit Ummar village and north of Halhoul town in Hebron, sprayed incinerating chemicals at 20 grape trees owned by Ali Ayad Issa Awad, 45. The grape trees were damaged as a result.

On 07 June 2011, Israeli settlers set fire in a wheat farm to the north of Hebron also owned by Ali Ayad Issa Awad. The fire damaged 2 dunums[2] and a half of the farm which measures 3 dunums.

Also on 07 June 2011, dozens of Israeli settlers chased a number of Palestinian shepherds from “Um al-Kheir” village, southeast of Yatta in the south of Hebron, and prevented them from watering and grazing their sheep. IOF also held Belal Mohammed al-Hathalin from from “Um al-Kheir” village for allegedly “taking his sheep to a military zone.”

Restrictions on Movement:

Israel has continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and has imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The full report is available online at:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7495:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-02-08-june-2011&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183

Public Document