Reckless attacks and acts of wanton destruction: Amnesty details Gaza 'war crimes'
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 02 July 2009 02 July 2009
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Israel committed war crimes and carried out reckless attacks and acts of wanton destruction in its Gaza offensive, an independent human rights report says.
Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed using high-precision weapons, while others were shot at close range, the group Amnesty International says.
Its report also calls rocket attacks by Palestinian militants war crimes and accuses Hamas of endangering civilians.
The Israeli military says its conduct was in line with international law.
Israel has attributed some civilian deaths to "professional mistakes", but has dismissed wider criticism that its attacks were indiscriminate and disproportionate.
Amnesty says some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the 22-day Israeli offensive between 27 December 2008 and 17 January 2009, which agrees broadly with Palestinian figures.
More than 900 of these were civilians, including 300 children and 115 women, it says.
In March, Israel's military said the overall Palestinian death toll was 1,166, of whom 295 were "uninvolved" civilians.
Pattern
The 117-page report by Amnesty International says many of the hundreds of civilian deaths in the conflict "cannot simply be dismissed as 'collateral damage' incidental to otherwise lawful attacks - or as mistakes".
It says "disturbing questions" remain unanswered as to why children playing on roofs and medical staff attending the wounded were killed by "highly accurate missiles" whose operators had detailed views of their targets.
Lives were lost because Israeli forces "frequently obstructed access to medical care," the report says. It also reiterates previous condemnations of the use of "imprecise" weapons such as white phosphorous and artillery shells.
The destruction of homes, businesses and public buildings was in many cases "wanton and deliberate" and "could not be justified on the grounds of military necessity", the report adds.
"All of those things occurred on a scale that constitutes pattern - and constitutes war crimes," Donatella Rovera, who headed the research, told the BBC.
The document also gives details of several cases where it says people - including women and children posing no threat to troops - were shot at close range as they were fleeing their homes in search of shelter.
Israeli officials responded saying the military targeted only areas where Palestinian militants were operating, and accused Hamas of turning civilian neighbourhoods into "war zones".
"We tried to be as surgical as is humanly possible in a difficult combat situation," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC.
Human shields
The Amnesty report says no evidence was found that Palestinian militants had forced civilians to stay in buildings being used for military purposes, contradicting Israeli claims that Hamas repeatedly used "human shields".
However, Amnesty says Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups had endangered Palestinian civilians by firing rockets from residential neighbourhoods and storing weapons in them.
It says local residents had in one case told researchers that Hamas fighters had fired a rocket from the yard of a government school.
The Israeli military has repeatedly blamed Hamas for causing civilian casualties, saying its fighters operated from buildings like schools, medical facilities, religious institutions, residential homes and commercial premises.
In the cases it had investigated, Amnesty said civilian deaths "could not be explained as resulting from the presence of fighters shielding among civilians, as the Israeli army generally contends".
However, Amnesty does accuse Israel of using civilians, including children, as human shields in Gaza, forcing them to remain in houses which its troops were using as military positions, and to inspect sites suspected of being booby trapped.
It also says Palestinian militants rocket fire from the Gaza Strip was "indiscriminate and hence unlawful under international law", although it only rarely caused civilian casualties.
Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniya declined to comment on the Amnesty International criticism, but said: "We believe the leaders of the occupation state must be tried for these crimes."
Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians, during the offensive, which Israel launched with the declared aim of curtailing cross-border rocket attacks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8128210.stm
Published: 2009/07/02 08:50:37 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Israel defies Obama with settlement expansion: Announcement of 1,450 new homes
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- Written by Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem
- Published: 30 June 2009 30 June 2009
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Announcement of 1,450 new homes comes ahead of key Washington meeting
On the eve of crucial talks with the White House over halting its ongoing takeover of the occupied West Bank, Israel's defence ministry yesterday confirmed plans for a massive expansion of a settlement near Ramallah.
The news will be seen as a major setback to US efforts to stop the growth of illegal settlements, and as a calculated snub to the Obama administration by Benjamin Netanyahu's government. It came as the Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, flew to Washington in an attempt to reach a compromise with the American special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. The US, which has often turned a blind eye towards the activity of Jewish settlers in the past, now says the building must stop to enable a viable Palestinian state to emerge alongside Israel through negotiations.
The planned expansion to the north-east of Jersualem was acknowledged in an affidavit submitted to the supreme court by Mr Barak. The document outlines plans by the government to relocate about 50 hard-line settler families from the unauthorised outpost of Migron to the Adam settlement, 3km away.
The document says a master plan has been drawn up calling for the construction of 1,450 new units at Adam, a huge number in West Bank terms, although it is expected to take several years to work its way through the approvals process. The ministry said it had given the green light only for the 50 dwellings and any additional units would require its separate approval.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking in Ramallah yesterday, said the Palestinian Authority would stick to its refusal to resume negotiations with Israel unless there was freeze on the construction of settlements. His leading negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said of the Adam expansion: "The Israelis are determined to undermine the two-state solution. When the whole international community is speaking in one voice on the need to stop settlement activities they answer with this."
The expansion of Adam is part of a deal struck by the government with the Yesha Council that represents most settlers. The stated goal is to enable a non-violent evacuation of Migron, one of dozens of hard-core settler outposts in the West Bank that were never authorised by the government but have enjoyed its tacit and, at times, open support for years. With Mr Obama in power, Israel is under pressure to finally make good on a commitment in the 2003 peace "road map" to freeze settlements and evacuate the outposts.
In Migron, the pro-Palestinian lobby group Peace Now has petitioned the supreme court to evict settlers who are squatting on what the government concedes is privately owned Palestinian property. The government has resisted doing so and now appears intent on using the perceived need to placate potentially violent settlers as justification for expanding the more established settlements. Eitan Broshi, an adviser to Mr Barak, indicated yesterday that the government's policy was to enable outpost settlers "to enter nearby settlements" so that "violent removal and bloodshed" can be avoided. He said the Americans would understand this policy. They "know what an evacuation entails and what challenges face us. They know that we have to undertake complicated internal processes".
However, Yossi Alpher, a leading Israeli political analyst, said the plan was a scandal. "This runs totally counter to the spirit of the current discussions on the settlement freeze," added Mr Alpher, a former director of the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies.
Israel has said it must be able to continue with building in the settlements, so that "natural growth" can continue and young couples can move into bigger flats. But Mr Alpher believes that, in the face of opposition from a determined Obama administration, Israel would be forced to drop its "natural growth" demand.
Israeli Navy Attacks, Boards and Commandeers Free Gaza Boat
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- Written by Free Gaza Volunteers Free Gaza Volunteers
- Published: 30 June 2009 30 June 2009
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Read more: Israeli Navy Attacks, Boards and Commandeers Free Gaza Boat
Israel's Man of Conscience
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- Written by Ezra Nawi Ezra Nawi
- Published: 29 June 2009 29 June 2009
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My name is Ezra Nawi. I am a Jewish citizen of Israel.
I will be sentenced on the first of July after being found guilty of assaulting two police officers in 2007 while struggling against the demolition of a Palestinian house in Um El Hir, located in the southern part of the West Bank.Of course the policemen who accused me of assaulting them are lying. Indeed, lying has become common within the Israeli police force, military and among the Jewish settlers.
After close to 140,000 letters were sent to Israeli officials in support of my activities in the occupied West Bank, the Ministry of Justice responded that I "provoke local residents."
This response reflects the culture of deceit that has taken over all official discourse relating to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
After all, was I the one who poisoned and destroyed Palestinian water wells?
Was I the one who beat young Palestinian children?
Did I hit the elderly?
Did I poison the Palestinian residents' sheep?
Did I demolish homes and destroy tractors?
Did I block roads and restrict movement?
Was I the one who prevented people from connecting their homes to running water and electricity?
Did I forbid Palestinians from building homes?
Over the past eight years, I have seen with my own two eyes hundreds of abuses such as these and exposed them to the public--therefore I am considered a provocateur. I can only say that I am proud to be a provoker.
Foul Play: Neglect of wastewater treatment in the West Bank
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- Written by B'Tselem B'Tselem
- Published: 29 June 2009 29 June 2009
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Wastewater in the West Bank – from the settlements, from parts of Jerusalem, and from Palestinian communities – amounts to 91 million cubic meters [mcm] a year. Most of it is not treated, despite the sanitary and environmental danger inherent to wastewater flowing freely. Prolonged neglect of this issue has caused severe hazards in the West Bank and is liable to pollute the Mountain Aquifer, the most important and highest-quality water source for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Wastewater from settlements
During more than 40 years of occupation, Israel has not built advanced regional wastewater treatment plants in the settlements to match those inside Israel.
It is estimated that the 121 recognized settlements in the West Bank (without East Jerusalem) produce some 17.5 mcm of wastewater a year. Only 81 are currently connected to wastewater treatment facilities, and use methods that are less up-to-date than those used in Israel. More than half of them are small and can treat the wastewater of only a few hundred families, despite the growth of the settler population. Most of the facilities suffer frequent technical breakdowns and at times shut down completely. The rest of the settlements produce some 5.5 mcm wastewater a year, which are not treated and flow as raw wastewater into West Bank streams and valleys.
Wastewater of the Revava settlement. Photo: Ra’aed Mokdi, 7 May 2008.
Wastewater of the Revava settlement. Photo: Ra’aed Mokdi, 7 May 2008.
Israel does not enforce the legal requirement that wastewater treatment be arranged prior to occupancy of buildings in settlements or operation of industrial areas in the West Bank. For example, all the southern sections of the Modi’in Illit settlement, which house more than 17,000 persons, were occupied even though their raw wastewater flowed into Nahal Modi’im .
Although this situation is well known to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the ministry refrains from enforcing the law on polluting settlements and to date, has taken only minor action against them. From 2000 to September 2008, only 53 enforcement measures were taken against settlements for failure to treat their wastewater. In comparison, in 2006 alone, the ministry initiated 230 enforcement measures against governmental authorities in Israel for similar offenses.
Wastewater from Jerusalem
Jerusalem channels some of its wastewater to the West Bank. This wastewater, which amounts to some 17.5 mcm a year, is produced in neighborhoods in the western part of the city and in areas of the West Bank that Israel has annexed.
Approximately 10.2 mcm flow untreated into the Kidron Basin, in southeast Jerusalem, a nuisance that the Ministry of Environmental Protection defines as “the largest sewage nuisance in Israel.” Some of this wastewater undergoes preliminary treatment, after which the water is used for irrigation of date trees in settlements in the Jordan Valley and the remained waste continues to flow freely, seeping into the Mountain Aquifer in an area that is considered sensitive to pollution. The wastewater creates a horrible stench and severe sanitation and environmental nuisances, including pollution of groundwater and of the Dead Sea.
Wastewater flowing from Jerusalem into the Kidron Basin. Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, 2 July 2007.
Wastewater flowing from Jerusalem into the Kidron Basin. Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, 2 July 2007.
Over the years, the Jerusalem Municipality has proposed several solutions for treating this wastewater, but none has been implemented. Since the Palestinian Authority was established, these plans have required cooperation on its part. However, the PA has refused, claiming that doing so would legitimate Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem. Despite warnings from the Ministry of Environmental Protection to the relevant officials, no action has been taken to advance a solution for treating this wastewater .
The remaining wastewater, 7.3 mcm, is directed to the Og Reservoir facility, which lies north of the Dead Sea, near Nabi Musa. Og Reservoir was built as a temporary facility, and was intended to treat one-third of the amount of wastewater it currently receives. For this reason, the wastewater is only partially treated. In 2008, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved a plan to build an improved facility near the existing Og Reservoir, but construction has not begun.
The lack of proper solutions for treating wastewater of Jerusalem flowing eastward did not prevent occupancy of new neighborhoods, whose residents add to the amount of untreated wastewater. Among these are the Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Ya’akov settlements .
Wastewater from Palestinian communities
According to estimates, Palestinian communities produce some 56 mcm of wastewater a year, representing 62 percent of all wastewater in the West Bank. 90-95 percent of Palestinian wastewater is not treated at all, and only one Palestinian wastewater treatment plant is currently functioning .
* A few reasons have led to delay in developing infrastructure for treating Palestinian wastewater:
* Prolonged and unreasonable Civil Administration delay in approving plans for building treatment facilities, in some cases for more than a decade ;
* in a few cases, Israel attempted to force the Palestinians to connect settlements to planned treatment facilities;
* Israel seeks to force Palestinians to build advanced facilities that are still not used in Israel, which increase the cost of plant construction and operation and maintenance costs, and are not required according to World Health Organization standards;
* Partly due to the many delays in construction of wastewater treatment facilities, the US and Germany have reduced their planned funding for these projects.
* Israel exploits Palestinian wastewater that crosses the Green Line and treats them in one of four plants inside Israel. The treated water is used for irrigation for agriculture and to rehabilitate streams in Israel. However, Israel charges the Palestinian Authority for building the plants and for the treatment of wastewater in them.
Consequences of neglecting wastewater treatment in the West Bank
Since settlers in the West Bank use Israel’s water-supply system, neglect of wastewater treatment in the area has almost no effect on them. Palestinians, however, and especially residents of small towns and villages, rely on water from natural sources. As a result, pollution of these sources aggravates the chronic drinking-water shortage in the West Bank. Also, use of untreated wastewater for agriculture contaminates crops and harms a major sector of the Palestinian economy. In the long run, the flow of untreated wastewater will also diminish land fertility.
In addition, since most settlements have been established on ridges and hilltops, their untreated wastewater flows to nearby Palestinian communities, which are usually located further down the slope. The report present three cases that illustrate how settlements pollute water sources and farmland in nearby Palestinian communities:
B'Tselem reiterates its position that establishment of the settlements and their continuing existence contravene international humanitarian law and result in extensive prolonged infringement of Palestinians’ human rights. Therefore, the government of Israel must evacuate all the settlements and return the settlers to Israeli territory.
However, in light of the severity of the pollution, and taking into account its immediate effects on water sources serving Palestinians and the long-term implication for the Palestinian-Israeli shared water sources, so long as settlements remain, all their wastewater must be treated in accordance with treatment standards applying inside Israel, and the law must be enforced against polluting settlements. Also, the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority must act jointly to immediately advance planned Palestinian wastewater treatment projects. These projects should be executed even if they involve treatment of both Palestinian and settlement wastewater, with the understanding that these projects will continue to serve Palestinians after the settlements are evacuated