Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006

The Department of Arab and International Relations

PLO

People Under Occupation

A monthly report on the Israeli Violations

Issued by

The Department of Arab and International Relations (DAIR)

Issue No: 06----February-2006

The Palestinian Democracy Day

Jan.25th 2006, Wednesday, was a historical and unique day in the Palestinian territories; the Palestinians went to the ballot boxes to elect their representatives in the PLC for the next four years.

A memorable day in which the Palestinian Democracy was reinforced; the process was marked by quietness, discipline and transparency; the Palestinians conveyed their opinion freely and independently despite all the obstacles of the Israeli occupation Authorities and the international preconditions. The Palestinians passed the test of Democracy and proved to the International society that the Palestinian democracy is not less than that of the developed world.

The P.L.O and the Palestinian Authority represented by the Palestinian chairman Mahmoud Abbas, confirmed the Palestinians full commitment to the International agreements (Oslo accords and all International resolutions), he also confirmed that peace plus negotiations are the only way towards achieving the Palestinian goals.

The new government must abide by all agreements and resolutions; so as to obtain the International society trust and the International public opinion. This should assist the Palestinians to confront the Israeli arrogance, policy of lands expropriating, construction of Apartheid Segregation Wall, and expansion of the existing settlements.

The Palestinians are yearning for freedom and peace based on justice to get rid of the longest occupation in history, to establish the Palestinian State with holy Jerusalem as its capital. All of that needs real International moral and material support to help the Palestinians in their quest for a just and comprehensive peace.

Summary of the Israeli violations against Palestinian Human rights (January 2006)

The IOA continued their policies of extra-judicial assassinations, arrests, land confiscations, trees uprooting and house demolitions in the Palestinian territories.

-During January 2006, the IOF continued its incursions against the Palestinian areas:

*17 Palestinians, including 2 children & a woman were killed by IOF; 7 of the victims were extra-judicially executed by IOF;

*63 Palestinian civilians and 6 members of the International Solidarity movement(ISM) were injured by IOF;

*374 Palestinian civilians were arrested by IOF;

*13 Palestinian houses were evacuated and transformed by IOF into military sites.

*16 houses, a number of markets and kiosks were demolished by IOF;

*530 olive trees were uprooted;

*1350 dunums were expropriated to construct the Apartheid Segregation Wall;

During the period between 29/9/2000 and 31/1/2006, the IOF killed 3952 Palestinians; 772 of the martyrs were children, 268 were women, 344 were members of the Palestinian National Forces, 373 were assassinated in cold blood, 137 of the martyrs were ill and passed away on Israeli Military checkpoints, 58 were killed by Jewish settlers, 6 were foreign volunteers from the ISM, 9 of the martyrs were journalists and 220 are athletes.

-During the same period, 35,379 Palestinians were injured, 7500 were children and young men who were left with permanent disabilities. 30,000 Palestinians were detained Palestinians, 9300 are still in the Israeli jails. Total number of the affected Palestinian houses is 65,378; 7,665 of which were demolished leaving thousands of the Palestinian citizens with no shelter.

-Agricultural Substance is the main resource of living for the Palestinians; but the Israeli measurements affected it severely; by uprooting, burning and sweeping away more than a million tree. Since 29/3/2003, the IOF have expropriated more than 293,350 dunums; to construct new settlements, expand the old ones and build the Apartheid Segregation Wall.

-The IOF enhanced its policy of closures and checkpoints preventing the Palestinian workers from the movement between the Palestinian areas and the access to their jobs; due to this the unemployment Palestinians number increased to 272,000 and poverty is estimated to be extended to 72% of the Palestinian society.

**1- Assassination in Cold Blood:

1/1/2006: An IOF war plane shelled a civilian house in Beit Lahia  /Gaza, the two brothers Hamzeh ( 26 years old) and Yahya Hamdooneh (28 years old) were killed instantly; while another 4 civilians were wounded.

2/1/2006: An IOF war plane launched a missile towards a civilian car in Jabalia town /Gaza, Akram Quddas (45 years old) and the car driver Sa’id Abu Al-Jedian (38 years old) were killed instantly.

3/1/2006: The IOF opened their fire killing the boy Mohammed Al-Masri (16 years old) in Nablus.

12/1/2006: During an IOF invasion to the city of Jenin, the IOF extra- judicially killed Nidal Abu Sa’dah (25 years old), Ali Abu Khazneh (25 years old) and Mo’taz Abu Khalil (28 years old); from Ateel town /Tulkarem.

14/1/2006: An IOF undercover unit killed Mo’taz Abu Khalil (28 years old) and Ali Abu Khalil (25 years old) during a raid to a Palestinian house in Jenin.

16/1/2005: The IOF opened their fire towards a Palestinian house in Rojeeb town /Nablus, the mother Nawal Halabi (48 years old) and her son Fawzi Halabi (24 years old) were killed instantly; while another five members of the same family were injured. The IOF prevented the access of the Palestinian ambulances to evacuate the bodies of the both Palestinian for more than two hours.

17/1/2006: An IOF undercover unit extra-judicially killed Mahmoud Salah El-Din in Tulkarem; Salah El-Din is from the village of Hizma /Jerusalem.

20/1/2006: The IOF opened fire towards Ziad Al-Zohoor (20 years old) from Beit Kahel /Hebron, Al-Zohoor was killed instantly.

21/1/2006: The IOF opened fire towards a group of civilian Palestinian people in the town of Beit Hanoun /Gaza; Mo’men Wishah (20 years old) was instantly killed and another two Palestinians were injured.

22/1/2006: An IOF war plane launched a missile towards a civilian car in Al-Shaja’ya neighborhood /Gaza; Mohammed Abdul Al was killed instantly, while another 4 Palestinian were wounded seriously.

22/1/2006: The IOF opened their fire at a group of boys who were playing in Al-Mughair village /Ramallah. As a result, the boy Monadel Abu Alia (9 years old) was killed instantly and another boy was wounded seriously.

31/1/2006: The IOF extra-judicially killed Nidal Sa’dah and Ahmad Al-Tobasee from Arabah Town /Jenin.

**2-The Apartheid Segregation Wall (ASW)

1/1/2005: Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international solidarity members (ISM) organized a peaceful demonstration in Beit Jala to protest the construction of the ASW in the area. IOF attacked the demonstrators and violently beated a number of them -15 demonstrators sustained bruises as a result.

20/1/2006: 2500 of Palestinian civilians and 500 of ISM and Israeli Peace Activists (IPA) participated in the weekly Peaceful demonstration against the ASW in Bal’een village west of the city of Ramallah; the IOF viciously attacked the demonstrators using tear gas, rubber bullets and wooden sticks. As a result, tens lost conscious while another 6 from ISM and IPA suffered from bruises.

**3-Settling:

1-Settling Activities:

1/1/2006: The IOA bulldozers razed 350 dunums planted with olive and fruitful trees in Beit Jala town /Bethlehem, to construct new sections of the ASW.

2/1/2006: The IOA uprooted 400 olive trees from the lands of Sakkah village /Hebron, during a sweeping operation to the Palestinian lands over there to construct new sections of the ASW.

4/1/2006: Some Fanatic Settlers (SFS) from “Modi’een Elite” settlement, south of the city of Ramallah, expropriated 1200 dunums from Bil’een village to expand the settlement.

6/1/2005: SFS from “Ma’oon” settlement, to the east of Yatta town /Hebron, uprooted 120 olive trees from Palestinian lands owned by Ahmed Al-Omor.

14/1/2006: SFS from “Bni Haifer” settlement, east of Bani Na’im village /Hebron, re-established a settlement post that had been dismantled earlier by the IOF. The settlers set up tents on a 4-dunum area of land in Bani Na’im village, nearly 1500 meters away from the settlement.

15/1/2006: SFS from the settling point “Mitsbi Lakheesh”, south to Doora village /Hebron, expropriated 150 dunums from the Palestinian lands beside the borders of the point and erected a fence around the land.

20/1/2006: The IOF razed 5 dunums from the lands of Yatta village /Hebron, to expand the Israeli military post “Tal Farsa”, which is in the area of “Zeef” east to village of Yatta.

2-Settlers Provocations:

3/1/2006: Dozens of Israeli settlers from “Kiryat Arba” settlement, east of Hebron, attacked a number of Palestinian houses in the neighborhoods of Wadi Al-Nasara and Wadi Al-Haseen, which are close to the settlement. The settlers threw stones and empty bottles at houses, frightening all the Palestinians over there.

4/1/2006: Dozens of Israeli Fanatic settlers in the old town of Hebron organized a number of attacks against the Palestinian civilians and property in the area. The settlers attacked passing civilians and shops. They also broke into shops, which has been closed by IOF orders, and robbed some goods.

12/1/2006: SFS from “Abraham Avino” settlement in the old city of Hebron threw stones, spoiled eggs and empty bottles at a house belonging to Nidal al-’Owaiwi.

14/1/2006: SFS from the “Biet Rumano” settlement in the old city of Hebron burnt a nearby Palestinian shop.

16/1/2006: SFS in the old city of Hebron burnt 6 markets belonging to Palestinians.

**4-Religious Violations:

** The Israeli Army Authorities is still preventing the Palestinians of holding the call for prayers in the holy Ibrahimi mosque inside the old city of Hebron, and escalate the restrictions on the Palestinians who wishes to pray in the mosque; however,  Jews are allowed to attend to the mosque freely and at any time.

** Some resources in the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs revealed that the IOA re-launched the digging and construction of a Jewish synagogue under Al-Aqsa mosque secretly. Ikrima Sabri, the Mofti of Jerusalem and the Senior Preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, declared that Al-Aqsa Mosque is in the highest level of danger, he added that four openings were made in the wall in the western part of the old city in 1996, those new gates were to lead to an old tunnel beneath Al Aqsa mosque.

According to the Mufti, the Israeli authorities have been constructing a Jewish synagogue underneath the mosque by bringing building materials and equipments secretly through the gates. Sheikh Sabri added that 5 rooms were already built under Al-Aqsa mosque and that the digging reached to 15 meters depth; which is a real threat to the mosque as it might collapse as a result.

**5- Arrests and Jails:

1/1/2006: The five Palestinian prisoners, who are in the separation section of the Israeli Ayalon jail, are suffering from bad detaining conditions; they have been monitored all day by monitoring cameras inside the cells and yards of the Jail.

2/1/2006: The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners & Ex-Prisoners Affairs released a report which says that the IOF had arrested 3495 Palestinian during the year 2005; 1600 of whom are still in the Israeli Jails.

20/1/2006: The IOA refused to give a medical commission a permission to visit a number of Palestinian patient prisoners in the Israeli Majido Jail (inside Israel). The Palestinian prisoners over there are suffering from bad detaining conditions because of the negligence policy of the Jail administration; doctors and medicines were not permitted to reach the ill prisoners – even those who are in great need for immediate surgical and medical interference.

**6- House Demolitions:

3/1/2005: The IO Authorities (IOA) demolished a 400-square-meter, 4- flats of 20 apartments, in Beit Hanina village, north of occupied Jerusalem.

5/1/2006: The IOA demolished a 150-square-meter house in Ein Juwara neighbouhood in AL-Walajeh village /Bethlehemj owned by the Palestinian woman Halimeh Abu Rizq; Abu Rizq lives in the house with her 8 children.

5/1/2006: The IOA demolished 5 kiosks for selling pottery in Al-Ooja village /Jericho, under the claim to erect a separation siege of 25 meters width along the both sides of the Israeli road no. 90 that passes through the village.

5/1/2006: The IOA demolished a house in Yatta town /Hebron, under the claim that the house was built without an Israeli permission.

14/1/2006: The IOA demolished a 2 flat building in the city of Jenin.

17/1/2006: The IOA demolished three houses in the Beit Hanina, Gabal Al-Mokaber and Silwan villages /Jerusalem; they claim that the houses were built without an Israeli permission.

18/1/2006: The IOA demolished 5 houses in Qaryout and Eastern Al-Luban villages /Nablus and 2 houses in Beit To’mor village /Bethlehem; all the Palestinian civilians who were living in these houses, were left homeless.

20/1/2006: The IOA demolished 2 houses owned by Ahmad and Omar Jabareen in Al-Taibeh village /Jenin, because the houses are so close to the ASW. Another house, owned by Jihad Khatib, was demolished in Thahr Al-Maleh village /Jenin; under the claim that the houses were built without an Israeli permission.

31/1/2006: The IOA bulldozers demolished 3 houses in Al-No’man and Al-Walajeh villages/Bethlehem.

**7-Violations against Education and Health Institutions:

3/1/2006: An IOF aircraft launched a missile at a building of the Municipality of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis. The missile hit the meeting hall on the second floor of the building and severely damaged it. A computer center on the first floor and the sports hall were also severely damaged.

3/1/2006: Some resources in the Palestinian ministry of Health confirmed that “the X-ray system used by the IOF to monitor the Palestinian civilians on the crossing borders have a serious negative impact on patients with heart, mental and organic diseases. It also affects pregnant women and believed to cause genetic disorders for the embryos, this could lead to the born of babies with disabilities.

**8- The Obstacles that Faced the Palestinian electoral Process:

1-Road closures and checkpoints:

The IOA imposed restrictions on the movement of Candidates for the Legislative Elections as well as on Election Staff between the villages and cities of the West Bank & Gaza Strip.

2-ASW:

The ASW has restrained the accomplishment of some aspects of the electoral process in a free and transparent manner especially with respect to the voter’s registration phase, the education and awareness campaign and the polling phase.

3- Closure of Registration Centers:

The Israeli authorities closed two registration centers in Jerusalem after detaining their staff. Later on, the Israeli Security Minister issued an order that prohibited Central Elections Committee staff from working inside the city of Jerusalem. Registration centers remained closed during the supplementary period and the period of exhibition and challenge. Some Registration centers were closed in other areas.

4-Arrestings:

The IOA detained a number of the candidates and their deputies during the election campaign in different areas of the Occupied Jerusalem. <>(www.pal-cec.org)