Palestine (State of)


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Palestine (State of)

 

NEW REPORT:  ISRAEL’S APARTHEID AGAINST PALESTINIANS: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity (2022) 

Amnesty International has analyzed Israel’s intent to create and maintain a system of oppression and domination over Palestinians and examined its key components: territorial fragmentation; segregation and control; dispossession of land and property; and denial of economic and social rights. It has concluded that this system amounts to apartheid. It has also documented unlawful acts committed by Israel against Palestinians with the intent to maintain this system, including forcible transfers, administrative. detention and torture, unlawful killings, denial of basic rights and freedoms and persecution. It has concluded that such acts form part of a systematic as well as widespread attack directed against the Palestinian population and amount to the crime against humanity of apartheid. 

Read the full report and engage with Amnesty’s calls to action here

Watch a short video explainer of the report.

 

State of Palestine

 

The State of Palestine consists of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. is located in the Middle East bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. 4.8 million people live in Palestine, including 2.1 million people living in Gaza making it the 3rd most populated place in the world. There are 871,000 registered Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank and 1.4 million registered Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. The population across the West Bank and Gaza Strip consist of individuals practicing Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The predominant ethnic groups are Palestinian Arab and Jewish.

 

Background

The two major political factions – Fatah which runs the authorities in the West Bank, and Hamas which runs the de facto administration in Gaza – remained split.

On 15 January, President Abbas announced the postponement of parliamentary elections until further notice, citing Israel’s refusal to allow elections in East Jerusalem. Both authorities introduced emergency regulations in response to COVID-19 in areas under their control. In March, the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank imposed lockdown measures, significantly restricting freedom of movement, easing some of the restrictions after a few months.

People in Gaza grappled with the virus while under an Israeli air, sea and land blockade, in force since 2007, which further threatened the fragile health care system. In September, the authorities in the Gaza Strip imposed lockdown measures after a significant COVID-19 outbreak. Egypt continued to enforce an almost total closure of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza. Qatar transferred cash into the Gaza Strip in co-ordination with Israel to pay public sector employees.

The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank continued to impose punitive measures against Gazans, including decreasing electricity and water subsidies, restricting the entry of medicine into Gaza, and decreasing or holding salaries. These measures exacerbated the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s 14-year blockade.

The West Bank authorities persisted in their crackdown on online expression, blocking access to dozens of websites. Palestinian forces in Gaza used excessive force in response to peaceful protests. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were commonly reported and were committed with impunity under both authorities. Women in the West Bank and Gaza are often with faced discrimination and violence. At least eight lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people were subjected to arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment in relation to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Courts in Gaza continued to hand down death sentences. The High Judicial Council, a body established to enhance the independence of judges, was dissolved. Punitive measures imposed by Palestinian authorities in the West Bank exacerbated the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Palestinian judges and civil society actors continued to protest against what they deemed to be significant executive interference in the judiciary and called on President Abbas to repeal laws by decree issued on judicial affairs.

Palestinian armed groups in Gaza occasionally fired indiscriminate rockets into Israel.

Amnesty International’s concerns are based on international standards and applied equally within the proper legal framework. The legal framework is defined by who retains jurisdiction, or effective control, over an area and the circumstances or situation at the time of the human rights violation. Amnesty’s concerns within Israel-proper, the area inside the 1949 (W. Bank/E. Jerusalem) and 1951 (Gaza Strip) armistice lines (also called the ‘1967 borders’) include but are not limited to, ill-treatment and torture of detainees, excessive use of force, the detention of conscientious objectors, arbitrary arrest, freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of movement, impunity, indigenous communities, POC, unlawful killing, unfair trial, violence against women and children and forced evictions and home demolitions within ‘unrecognized’ Bedouin villages.

In contravention of international law, Israel continues to build parts of the wall/fence in the OPT, expand settlements and use draconian restrictions on the movement of Palestinians with some 600 roadblocks and checkpoints. Amnesty International is also concerned about discriminatory policies affecting access to water for Palestinians.

In areas under control of the Palestinian Authority, concerns include, excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment, torture and the use of administrative detention to jail individuals without charge or trial. Some detainees also do not receive adequate medical attention.

The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory (the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) is in its fifth decade and the undercurrent of violence and inherent abuses of fundamental human rights and disregard for international law inherent in any long-standing military occupation is presented by both sides.

Israel maintains effective control over The Gaza Strip, controlling all but one of the crossings into the Gaza, the airspace, territorial waters, telecommunications and the population registry which determines who is allowed to leave or enter Gaza. Therefore, Israel is still considered the occupying power and is responsible for the welfare of the inhabitants in the strip under international humanitarian law. The Gaza Strip has been under increasing restrictions since 2005, when Israel unilaterally pulled troops and settlers out of the strip. June 2007, restrictions tightened to an almost air-tight blockade, deepening the hardship there and virtually imprisoning the entire population of some 2 million.

Israeli authorities rejected or delayed hundreds of permit applications to leave Gaza by Palestinians requiring specialist medical treatment; a few died as a result. Most of Gaza’s inhabitants depend on international aid, which is severely hampered by the blockade.

Both Israeli and Palestinian civilians continue to bear the brunt of the violence in the region.

 

armed Conflict

Abuses by Armed Groups

Palestinian armed groups in Gaza occasionally fired indiscriminate rockets into Israel, killing four Israeli civilians. While the Hamas authorities prevented rocket firing much of the time, they failed to prosecute those responsible. Most of the Palestinians responsible for stabbing, shooting and carrying out other attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel, which killed three Israeli civilians during the year, were not members of Palestinian armed groups. However, these groups often praised the attacks.

Victims of past violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes, have not obtained justice, truth and reparation, as required by international law. This impunity fails the victims, and sets the stage for more violations, as demonstrated by war crimes committed by both sides in the hostilities that have just ended.

 

Israeli Attacks on Residential Homes

Israeli forces have displayed a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians by carrying out a number of airstrikes targeting residential buildings in some cases killing entire families – including children – and causing wanton destruction to civilian property, in the 2021 attacks that may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Amnesty International documented four deadly attacks by Israel launched on residential homes without prior warning and is calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently investigate these attacks. The death toll in Gaza climbed with at least 198 Palestinians killed including 58 children and more than 1,220 injured. Ten people in Israel, including two children, were killed and at least 27 injured by Palestinian attacks.

The Israeli army claims that it only attacks military targets and has justified airstrikes on residential buildings on that basis. However, residents told Amnesty International that there were no fighters or military objectives in the vicinity at the time of the attacks documented.

At least 152 residential properties in Gaza were destroyed since May 11 2021, according to the Gaza-based human rights organization, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, Israeli strikes destroyed 94 buildings, comprising 461 housing and commercial units while 285 housing units have been severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable.

 

Attacks by Palestinian Armed Groups

Indiscriminate rocket-fire by Palestinian armed groups towards civilian areas of Israel has also killed and injured civilians and damaged homes and other civilian properties. The rockets fired from Gaza into Israel are imprecise and their use violates international humanitarian law which prohibits the use of weapons that are by nature indiscriminate.

 

Death penalty

Neither the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank nor the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza took any steps to translate the State of Palestine’s commitments under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to abolish the death penalty.  In Gaza, Hamas-administered courts sentenced at least four people to death; no executions were reported.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.  Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception – regardless of who is accused, the nature or circumstances of the crime, guilt or innocence or method of execution.  Amnesty International believes that the death penalty should be abolished, once and for all.

 

Excessive use of force

Palestinian security forces in Gaza used excessive or unnecessary force to disperse peaceful demonstrations. Between March 14th – 16th, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated across the Gaza Strip against their dreadful living conditions. Hamas security forces used excessive force against scores of non-violent demonstrators, bystanders, journalists and NGO workers, deploying sound grenades, batons, pepper spray and live ammunition to disperse protesters.

 

Freedom of Assembly, Association, and expression 

The Fatah-led Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip arbitrarily arrested tens of peaceful demonstrators and critics, including journalists, university students and human rights activists.  The West Bank authorities persisted in their crackdown on online expression.

The authorities in the West Bank were responsible for 150 attacks on media freedom, according to the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms. These included arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment during interrogation, confiscation of equipment, physical assaults and bans on reporting. The Hamas authorities in Gaza were responsible for 41 such attacks. On June 4th, security forces in the West Bank attacked members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a non-violent Islamist group, in a mosque in Hebron, after the group announced the celebration of a Muslim holiday a day before the official announcement. Security forces besieged the mosque, assaulted worshippers and arbitrarily arrested about 15 of them, releasing them without charge shortly afterwards.

On March 10th , the Hamas authorities in Gaza arbitrarily arrested 13 activists from the “We Want to Live” movement, which was planning to stage demonstrations four days later against the rising cost of living and deteriorating economic conditions. The arrests happened during a private meeting at a house belonging to the activist Jihad Salem al-Arabeed in the town of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. Security forces stormed into the house without an arrest warrant. According to the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), the Palestinian national human rights institution, the activists were tortured and otherwise ill-treated in detention.

The authorities in the West Bank continued to clamp down on online freedom of expression using the draconian Electronic Crimes Law. The Ramallah Magistrate’s Court blocked access to 59 websites after a court decision on October 21st was made at the request of the Palestinian Attorney General. The websites were blocked on the basis that their content would “threaten national security” and “disturb public order” under Article 39 of the Electronic Crimes Law. All of the websites shared content that was critical of the authorities. Amnesty International believes that the Electronic Crimes Law arbitrarily restricts media freedom and bans online dissent, and has called for it to be repealed.

 

Justice system

President Abbas dissolved the West Bank-based High Judicial Council, a body established in 2002 to enhance the independence of judges, ensure the transparency and efficiency of their work, improve court performance and facilitate case proceedings.

Palestinian authorities in the West Bank used a 1954 law to administratively detain dozens of people for periods up to six months on the order of a regional governor, many on political grounds, according to Palestinian human rights organizations. Such detentions require no charges and lack due process. The ICHR had documented 195 such detentions as of the end of November.

 

Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTQIA+) people

Even though same-sex relationships are not criminalized in the West Bank, Palestinian police stated on that they would prevent any organized activities by alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, a Palestinian NGO that works on LGBTI issues. The statement outraged human rights groups, but also sparked a wave of messages on social media inciting violence against alQaws and members of the LGBTI community, including death threats. The statement also violated provisions of the amended Palestinian Basic Law and international treaties ratified by the State of Palestine. The Palestinian police quickly rescinded the statement.

Meanwhile, alQaws documented at least eight cases of LGBTI individuals who were arbitrarily arrested or ill-treated by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank in relation to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Section 152 of the Penal Code applicable in Gaza continued to criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity and make it punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

 

Torture and other ill-treatment

Palestinian security forces in the West Bank and Gaza routinely used torture and other ill-treatment with impunity. As of the end of November, the ICHR had received 143 such allegations in the West Bank and 156 in the Gaza Strip.

Journalist and activist Amer Balousha, one of the ‘’We Want to Live’’ organizers, alleged he was tortured in custody on 16 March by Hamas security forces. He said he was put in stress positions and beaten. He started a hunger strike in the initial days of his arrest to protest his detention and prison conditions. He was transferred to Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on 19 March for medical treatment for health concerns related to his hunger strike. He was released from detention on 26 March.

 

Women’s rights

Women and girls continued to face discrimination in law and practice, and were inadequately protected against sexual and other gender-based violence, including “honor” killings. The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling documented at least 24 cases where women and girls were reported to have been victims of “honor” killings in the West Bank and Gaza in 2019, mainly by male relatives.

Israa Ghrayeb, a make-up artist from Beit Sahour town in the southern occupied West Bank, died after being beaten by members of her family. Israa Ghrayeb’s death sparked protests across the West Bank and Gaza, with people demanding greater protection for women and the repeal of discriminatory laws. Subsequently, the Palestinian Attorney General announced that his office had conducted an investigation which concluded that her death was caused by domestic violence and that three unnamed individuals had been charged with manslaughter, which is punishable by at least five years in prison.

Palestinian women’s rights groups continued to push for a comprehensive domestic violence law, a campaign launched in 2007. The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank continued to review a draft Family Protection Law, a process begun in 2016. Domestic violence is still not criminalized in the West Bank or Gaza.

Palestine (State of) Newsroom



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February 27, 2014 • Report

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July 13, 2011 • Report

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