Madison Rafah Journal

Bulldozes Agricultural Lands, Destroys Palestinian Houses

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 21 February 2010

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has increased its attacks on Palestinians near the Gaza Strip's eastern and northern borders with Israel; an area inside Gaza that the IOF has declared as a security 'buffer zone'. Al Mezan's investigations indicate that the IOF always fires at any Palestinians near the eastern and northern borders. The IOF's attacks do not follow a specific pattern. The IOF claims that its soldiers fire at Palestinians only when they are 300 meters from border fence. However, while some attacks have occurred close to the border fence, many other attacks occurred when civilians were more than a kilometer from the borderline.

According to Al Mezan's continuous monitoring, at approximately 6am on Thursday 18 February 2010, Israeli tanks and four armored bulldozers moved under the cover of reconnaissance drones nearly 650 meters inside the Al Msadar village in the Al Maghazi refugee camp. The IOF stationed itself there while the bulldozers leveled about 18 dunums of agricultural lands and destroyed three rural houses. At approximately 4:30pm on the same day the IOF withdrew from the area.

According to field investigations conducted by Al Mezan, the IOF destroyed the house of Moaen Ali Salman Abu Said, 28. The IOF used loud speakers and ordered the residents of that house to leave the house before destroying it. The Abu Said family did not manage to collect their furniture from the house. The house was 175 square metres and five persons lived there. The IOF also destroyed the house of Salim Salman Awad Ibn Said, 67, two-storey and 120 square meters. Eight persons lived there, four of them children. The IOF also leveled 10 dunums planted with fruitful olive trees. An irrigation network and water well were destroyed as a result. In addition, the IOF destroyed an 80 square meter rural house. The IOF also fired indiscriminately in that area. Several houses were partially damaged.

Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns the continued, systematic attacks by the IOF against the Palestinian civilians, particularly farmers who work in their fields near the borders. Al Mezan warns of the human rights implications for Palestinian civilians which emanate from Israel's attempts to enforce the security 'buffer zone' inside the Gaza Strip. Al Mezan's monitoring indicates that the IOF attacks linked to the 'buffer zone' occur within an area that extends well beyond one kilometer from Gaza's eastern and northern borders.

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The Survivors Speak to You

Al Mezan Center For Human Rights, Dec 2009 – Jan 2010

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights is releasing 23 personal testimonies which examine how, a full year after Operation Cast Lead, the survivors of this brutal offensive are coping with their loss, trauma and disabilities. One testimony will be released on each day of the Operation Cast Lead commemoration, 27 December 2009 to 18 January 2010.

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Decision an Insult to the Victims

Al Mezan Center For Human Rights, 3 October 2009

A Joint Press Release from Adalah * Addameer * Aldameer * Al Haq * Al Mezan * Badil * Civic Coalition for Jerusalem * DCI-Palestine * ENSAN Centre * Independent Commission for Human Rights * Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre * Palestinian Centre for Human Rights * Ramallah Centre for Human Rights Studies * Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling *

Yesterday, 2 October 2009, the Palestinian leadership – under heavy international pressure lead by the United States – deferred the draft proposal at the Human Rights Council endorsing all the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report). This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples’ right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights.

The crimes documented in the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission represent the most serious violations of international law; Justice Goldstone concluded that there was evidence to indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed in the Gaza Strip. Violations of international law continue to this day, inter alia, through the continuing Israeli-imposed illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. The findings of the Mission confirmed earlier investigations conducted by independent Palestinian, Israeli and international organisations.

The injustice that has now been brought upon Palestinians has been brought upon everyone on this globe. International human rights and humanitarian law are not subject to discrimination, they are not dependent on nationality, religion, or political affiliation. International human rights and humanitarian law apply universally to all human beings.

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International donors are effectively underwriting Israel’s illegal actions

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, May 4, 2009

On 2 March 2009, major international donors convened in Sharm al-Sheikh to collectively respond to the destruction caused by Israel ’s 23 day military offensive on the Gaza Strip. During the conference, a total of $4.5 billion was pledged in reconstruction funds for Gaza . In light of the extensive destruction across the Gaza Strip, especially the destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure, reconstruction is urgent.

However, as Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, we must note that by agreeing to reconstruction without specific, binding assurances from the State of Israel, international donors are effectively underwriting Israel’s illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). International law – including, international human rights law, international humanitarian law (IHL), and the law of state responsibility for wrongful acts – places specific, binding obligations on the State of Israel (based, inter alia, on its duties as an Occupying Power) with respect to the maintenance and development of normal life in occupied territory. By repeatedly restricting their action to providing aid, without holding Israel accountable for its specific obligations, international donors are relieving Israel of its legally binding responsibilities.

Individual donor States – as High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions – are under an obligation to ensure respect for the Conventions at all times. They are also bound by international law which prohibits complicity in internationally wrongful acts. By repeatedly covering the cost of the occupation, without demanding accountability from Israel , the international community is implicitly encouraging violations of international law perpetrated by Israeli forces in occupied territory: individual donor States may thus be acting contrary to their own legal obligations.

We are concerned that such action negatively impacts upon respect for the rule of law, and is in violation of States’ legal obligations. Ultimately, the continuation of this policy may reduce the protections afforded to civilian populations, further exposing them to violations of the laws of war.

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We recently received this e-mail from Lora Gordon, an activist now living in Chicago who spent time in Rafah and Gaza about six years ago, around the time of Rachel Corrie's death. Lora visited Madison and spoke on the first anniversary of Rachel's death at the Madison premiere of "The Killing Zone" about the murders of Rachel, Tom Hurndall and journalist James Miller.

Lora is planning to return to Gaza and plans to work for a few weeks with our partner in Rafah, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.

Please consider if you can help defray the costs of her trip. Instructions for that are below. They are also taking donations for water purifiers.

Thanks,
Barb O.

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Commissioner for Human Rights Policy Günter Nooke congratulates human rights defender Issam Younis on winning the Weimar Human Rights Award

Federal Foreign Office, 10 Dec 2008

Today, on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Weimar Human Rights Award was conferred on Palestinian human rights defender Issam Younis. At the ceremony in Weimar Günter Nooke, the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, said in his citation:

"I congratulate the City of Weimar on this choice! Issam Younis and his organization Al Mezan work day in, day out, with complete impartiality and heedless of anyone's position or status, to protect human dignity and defend human rights. Under circumstances such as those prevailing in Gaza, this calls for extraordinary courage. All members of his organization know they are taking a great personal risk. With unflagging energy and commitment, Al Mezan offers the victims of human rights abuses practical help and support – given the desperate situation in the Gaza Strip a real ray of hope.

Human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories and in Israel – this whole issue is of course closely linked with the Middle East peace process. Ultimately only a credible peace settlement will end the violence and human rights abuses. That is why the German Government is working actively to help bring about such a settlement."

Since 1995 the City of Weimar has conferred a yearly Human Rights Award in memory of the unnamed victims of dictatorships and tyrannies. The United Nations has proclaimed 10 December Human Rights Day. The Award is endowed with 2,500 euro.

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Our partner in Rafah, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, has recently been slandered and attacked on CNN and the Lou Dobbs show by a right-wing pundit. The details are below.

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Today, 10 July 2007, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights issued a new report on Israel's decision to suspend Gaza's custom code and the implications of this decision on Gaza's already paralyzed economy. The decision is expected to incur dire human rights and humanitarian implications in Gaza.

The report indicates that on 21 June 2007 Israel decided to suspend this code; thus erasing Gaza from the economic map. Practically, the decision renders Gazan import and export activities through Israel's ports impossible. Almost 100% of Gaza's imports and exports pass Israeli ports, especially as such activities have been halted through the Rafah Crossing and both Gaza Airport and Gaza International Port require major construction to be able to function. Those need Israeli permission so that they can work.

The decision is expected to create serious impacts on the Palestinian economy with immediate effects on human rights and poverty. Without this code, Gaza's imports and exports cannot be cleared at Israeli ports, which already received instructions not to clear any cargo headed to Gaza.

The report indicates that the decision is contrary to the economic arrangements between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization according to which the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) areas are part of the Israeli custom frame. The decision comes in harmony with a series of measures Israel adopted and implemented in the course of its policy and siege on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The report condemns this decision as an additional measure of collective punishment of Gaza's population in breach of Israel's obligations under international law.

Since 2005, Al Mezan has warned about the possible implications of such a decision, which is expected to cause scarcity of food and basic goods; including health materials and equipment. It is also expected that Gaza, while suffering a serious drop in income rates, will be faced with unprecedented rise of prices. Traders might have to pursue indirect importing paths as the only way to move goods into Gaza. Given the added expenses and time required for indirect importing activities, imports will reach Gaza much more expensive. In addition, it is expected that Gaza's industrial sector will be completely paralyzed in a very short time given the difficulty to import raw materials and impossibility to export the products.

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