The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR): Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian TerritorySummary for November 18 24, 2021

Israeli forces continued to commit crimes and multi-layered violations against Palestinian civilians and their properties, including raids into Palestinian cities that are characterized with excessive use of force, assault, abuse, and attacks on civilians, turning the West Bank into isolated blocks of land. Israeli settlers continued their attacks, including shooting and wounding Palestinian civilians; meanwhile, Israeli forces continued its razing and demolishing of Palestinian properties, mainly in Hebron and Jerusalem.

The Israeli settlement expansion works continued on Palestinian lands and properties. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip enters its 15th year under closure, exacerbating the humanitarian hardships across the territory.

Israeli Forces shooting and violation of right to life and bodily integrity:

Soldiers shot and wounded 5 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, in excessive use of force in the West Bank: 3, including a child, were wounded in two separate incidents of army attacks on protestors in Qalqilia. Two others were wounded, including a journalist, in Ramallah.

In the Gaza Strip, PCHR documented 1 Navy shooting at fishing boats off Khan Younis coast.

Army incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:

Soldiers carried out 113 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids of civilian houses and shootings, enticing fear among civilians, and attacking many of them. During this weeks incursions, 73 Palestinians were arrested, including 7 children and 3 women.

In the Gaza Strip, the military conducted 2 limited incursions into (eastern) central and southern besieged Gaza Strip.

Demolitions:

PCHR documented 6 incidents:

Hebron: a house and cemetery razed in Yatta.

Salfit: construction vehicle confiscated in Deir Ballout.

Nablus: a street razed near Asira ash-Shamaliya, northwestern Nablus.

Settler-attacks:

Israeli closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement:

The Israeli occupation authorities continued its collective punishment measures against the Gaza Strip as the 15-year Israeli closure imposed on the territory deepened the populations humanitarian and living crises, as unemployment has skyrocketed at 45%, i.e. 217,000 able workers are unemployed, 63% of whom are youth.

More than half of the Gaza Strip population suffer in poverty, as the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics data shows that 53% of the Gaza Strip population is poor; meanwhile, more than 62.2% is classified as food insecure, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Additionally, occupation authorities continued to divide the West Bank into separate cantons with key roads blocked by the Israeli occupation since the 2000 Second Intifada -still closed to this date- and with temporary and permanent checkpoints, where civilian movement is restricted, and they are subject to arrest, especially at al-Karama border crossing, alongside the Palestinian-Jordanian border.

Maher Haroun said to PCHRs fieldworker that:

I am a photojournalist and a reporter at Palestine Times Network, and I am studying media at Birzeit University. At approximately 04:45, while I was covering incidents occurred on the main street of Ein Monjed neighborhood, soldiers, during their withdrawal from the neighborhood, directly fired a rubber bullet around my knee, despite wearing the PRESS-marked vest and presenting away from clashes area. When I felt that I was injured, I tried to sit on the ground, because I couldnt walk. It turned out later that I was hit with a rubber bullet below my knee, and I sustained minor wounds. I received treatment on the spot.

In the evening, a protest launched from Abu Ubaidah Bin al-Jarrah Mosque and headed to Abu Shukheidem building. The army heavily fired teargas canisters at houses and shops in the camp. As a result, dozens of residents suffocated due to teargas inhalation.

a. Land razing, Demolitions, and Notices

Rabayah added that he hired a lawyer to follow the case and take the necessary procedures, but due to the outbreak of coronavirus, no decision was taken in this case. He said that he attempted many times to obtain a license or make a settlement to demolish one floor, but the occupation authorities refused. He pointed out that the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem held 2 hearings relevant to the 2 buildings and issued a demolition decision without informing him as he and his family were surprised with the decision. Around a week ago, the Israeli police ordered him and his brother to self-demolish the buildings and gave them until Wednesday, 24 November 2021, to do so.

Rabayah said that he and his brother refused, as they cannot accept the idea of losing what he has earned for 18 years in minutes. He added the moment the Israeli bulldozers moved into the area to demolish the family houses was the hardest time he experienced in his entire life, especially demolished the houses on the furniture and contents as well as levelling a land planted with trees, which separated the 2 buildings.

It is noteworthy that the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood extends from Sur Baher village with an area of around 3,000 dunums, and now occupation authorities ban its residents from building on about half of its area, under the pretext of its proximity to the wall that separates the neighborhood from several villages in Bethlehem.

Visit link:

PCHR: Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory IMEMC News - International Middle East Media Center