6 dec 2019
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Sixty-Four Palestinian civilians, including 19 children, a paramedic, and 4 women; one of them was a paramedic, were shot and injured by Israeli occupation forces’ (IOF) fire against peaceful protestors at the 83rd Great March of Return (GMR), this Friday, 06 December 2019.
IOF preceded the protests today by describing them as “chaotic and violent”, threatening to target the protesters. Via a video, Colonel Iyad Sarhan, Head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) for Gaza, called upon the Gaza civilian residents “not to go back to the violent way and not to take part again in the riot and protests along the border fence.” He also threatened, “if any of you approached the fence, you will be targeted and pay a heavy price for your wrong choices,” and added, “Being in the border area would endanger your lives.” |
This week, IOF resumed the use of excessive force against peaceful protestors, as 4 civilians were shot with live bullets and their shrapnel in addition to other injuries with rubber bullets, mainly in protesters’ upper bodies. One of those injured was deemed in serious condition after being shot with a rubber bullet to the head, causing a skull fracture in eastern Rafah.
Palestinian civilians started heading at 14:00 to the five GMR encampments in the eastern Gaza Strip to join Today’s protest titled: “GMR Will Continue” and lasted to 16:30.
Since the outbreak of GMR on 30 March 2018, PCHR documented 215 civilian killings by IOF, including 47 children, 2 women, 9 persons with disabilities, 4 paramedics and 2 journalists. Additionally, IOF shot and injured 14,759 civilians, including 3,715 children, 391 women, 255 paramedics and 218 journalists, noting that many sustained multiple injuries on separate occasions.
The following is a summary of today’s events along the Gaza Strip border:
Northern Gaza Strip: demonstrations took part in eastern Jabalia. Protesters threw stones at IOF stationed along the border fence. IOF shot and injured 14 civilians, including 5 children and 2 women: 2 with live bullets and shrapnel, 8 with rubber bullets and 4 were hit with tear gas canisters. video
Gaza City: hundreds took part in Malaka area in eastern Gaza City. IOF targeted them with teargas canisters and live and rubber bullets. As a result, 5 civilians were injured; 4 of them were hit with tear gas canisters.
Central Gaza Strip: protests took part in eastern al-Buriej Camp. Hundreds gathered near the border fence and attempted to throw stones at IOF, who fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, 4 civilians, including a woman, were injured: 1 with a live bullet and the others with teargas canisters.
Khan Younis: Hundreds civilians joined today’s protests in Khuza’ah area in eastern Khan Yunis. Most of the protesters stayed in the encampment for the activities while only dozens gathered near the border fence and attempted to throw stones and firecrackers. IOF fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at them in addition to firing skunk at them from water cannons. As a result, 6 civilians, including 3 children and 2 paramedics, were injured with rubber bullets and taken to hospitals. Moreover, many civilians sustained superficial rubber bullets wounds and suffocated due to tear gas inhalation. They received treatment on the spot.
The wounded paramedic, Dalia Bassam Ahmed Abu Reidah (21), working within Watan Medical Team, was shot with a rubber bullet in her left hand while paramedic Mohammed Ziyad Zoghbor(35), a PRCS volunteer paramedic, was shot with a rubber bullet in the right shoulder. It should be noted that some Palestinian young men flocked to today’s protests at 13:00 and were shot with live bullets and hit with tear gas canisters before the crowds headed to the area. As a result, a child was wounded with a rubber bullet.
Rafah: hundreds of protestors gathered in eastern al-Shawka neighborhood while others remained at the protest encampment, where speeches and theatrical performances were performed. Dozens attempted to approach the fence and throw stones and burnt tires. IOF fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protestors and pumped wastewater at them. As a result, 17 civilians, including 11 children, were injured: 2 shot with live bullets and shrapnel, 8 with rubber bullets and 7 were hit with tear gas canisters. RajehMohammed al-Qadi (24) was shot with a rubber bullet to the head, causing fracture in his skull. He was admitted to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis for his serious condition.
Palestinian civilians started heading at 14:00 to the five GMR encampments in the eastern Gaza Strip to join Today’s protest titled: “GMR Will Continue” and lasted to 16:30.
Since the outbreak of GMR on 30 March 2018, PCHR documented 215 civilian killings by IOF, including 47 children, 2 women, 9 persons with disabilities, 4 paramedics and 2 journalists. Additionally, IOF shot and injured 14,759 civilians, including 3,715 children, 391 women, 255 paramedics and 218 journalists, noting that many sustained multiple injuries on separate occasions.
The following is a summary of today’s events along the Gaza Strip border:
Northern Gaza Strip: demonstrations took part in eastern Jabalia. Protesters threw stones at IOF stationed along the border fence. IOF shot and injured 14 civilians, including 5 children and 2 women: 2 with live bullets and shrapnel, 8 with rubber bullets and 4 were hit with tear gas canisters. video
Gaza City: hundreds took part in Malaka area in eastern Gaza City. IOF targeted them with teargas canisters and live and rubber bullets. As a result, 5 civilians were injured; 4 of them were hit with tear gas canisters.
Central Gaza Strip: protests took part in eastern al-Buriej Camp. Hundreds gathered near the border fence and attempted to throw stones at IOF, who fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, 4 civilians, including a woman, were injured: 1 with a live bullet and the others with teargas canisters.
Khan Younis: Hundreds civilians joined today’s protests in Khuza’ah area in eastern Khan Yunis. Most of the protesters stayed in the encampment for the activities while only dozens gathered near the border fence and attempted to throw stones and firecrackers. IOF fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at them in addition to firing skunk at them from water cannons. As a result, 6 civilians, including 3 children and 2 paramedics, were injured with rubber bullets and taken to hospitals. Moreover, many civilians sustained superficial rubber bullets wounds and suffocated due to tear gas inhalation. They received treatment on the spot.
The wounded paramedic, Dalia Bassam Ahmed Abu Reidah (21), working within Watan Medical Team, was shot with a rubber bullet in her left hand while paramedic Mohammed Ziyad Zoghbor(35), a PRCS volunteer paramedic, was shot with a rubber bullet in the right shoulder. It should be noted that some Palestinian young men flocked to today’s protests at 13:00 and were shot with live bullets and hit with tear gas canisters before the crowds headed to the area. As a result, a child was wounded with a rubber bullet.
Rafah: hundreds of protestors gathered in eastern al-Shawka neighborhood while others remained at the protest encampment, where speeches and theatrical performances were performed. Dozens attempted to approach the fence and throw stones and burnt tires. IOF fired live and rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protestors and pumped wastewater at them. As a result, 17 civilians, including 11 children, were injured: 2 shot with live bullets and shrapnel, 8 with rubber bullets and 7 were hit with tear gas canisters. RajehMohammed al-Qadi (24) was shot with a rubber bullet to the head, causing fracture in his skull. He was admitted to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis for his serious condition.
5 dec 2019
Disabled Palestinian football players, who lost their legs during Israel's assaults, in action during a friendly match, organized by Supreme National Commission of the Return March regarding to 2018 FIFA World Cup, in Gaza City, Gaza on 15 June, 2018
Israel marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by donating three paediatric wheelchairs to the UN Human Rights Council. The aim, according to Israel’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, was “to make the UN truly accessible, so that persons with physical disabilities can actively take part and influence world issues discussed in Geneva.”
The occasional visits by children to the UN are not influential in the grand scheme of the organisation’s manipulation of human rights. Israel, however, is being allowed to influence the UN in terms of its contributions, which by default demand deliberately looking the other way as it continues to obstruct accessibility for Palestinians in Palestine, especially for Palestinians with disabilities.
This latest episode in Israel’s manipulation of the international arena and its agenda begs the question – why do UN institutions allow the existence of Israel’s façade to flourish, at the expense of the settler colonial state’s ongoing violations against Palestinians?
In addition, Israel’s seemingly altruistic motive hides a darker reality highlighted by the UNHRC itself – Israel’s deliberate maiming of Palestinian civilians.
In 2018, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) noted that Israel killed Palestinians with disabilities who were participating in the Great Return March protests. Israeli snipers also targeted the lower limbs of Palestinians demonstrating at the Gaza border, thus adding to the statistical toll of permanent disabilities.
Meanwhile, the latest statistics show that 92,710 Palestinians with disabilities, 52 per cent of who are living in the Gaza Strip, face increasing hardships in Palestine. The colonial occupation of Palestine and its restrictions upon Palestinians reflect even more strongly when it comes to persons with disability.
This year, PCHR’s press release expounds upon such ramifications, noting the link between everyday Israeli violations of Palestinian rights and how this impacts the rights of Palestinians with disabilities, in particular when it comes to freedom of movement.
The press release states, “Israeli targeting of PWD is not limited to attacks on their physical integrity, IOF also restricts their freedom of movement and denies them travel to seek medical treatment abroad, raising the number of victims with permanent disabilities who could have been treated were it not for Israeli restrictions.”
Israel’s endeavours abroad, especially in humanitarian initiatives, continue to provide a veneer for its violations against the rights of Palestinians. The more it promotes its illusory concept of freedom to the international community, the more Palestinians are marginalised and left to face the increasing oppression in isolation.
Providing three wheelchairs to make UN premises more available constitutes a propaganda effort along the same lines as promoting its expertise to niches of need, especially in African countries, for example, in terms of technology and agriculture.
Israeli media have framed the wheelchairs donation as Israel’s contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals which stipulate that no one should be left behind. Yet in Palestine, an entire population has been forced to stay behind without the possibility of ever attaining a semblance of sustainability.
What Israel has achieved is a mockery of sustainability and the international community has played along with the charade.
Report: 93,000 persons with disabilities in Palestine
Israel marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by donating three paediatric wheelchairs to the UN Human Rights Council. The aim, according to Israel’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, was “to make the UN truly accessible, so that persons with physical disabilities can actively take part and influence world issues discussed in Geneva.”
The occasional visits by children to the UN are not influential in the grand scheme of the organisation’s manipulation of human rights. Israel, however, is being allowed to influence the UN in terms of its contributions, which by default demand deliberately looking the other way as it continues to obstruct accessibility for Palestinians in Palestine, especially for Palestinians with disabilities.
This latest episode in Israel’s manipulation of the international arena and its agenda begs the question – why do UN institutions allow the existence of Israel’s façade to flourish, at the expense of the settler colonial state’s ongoing violations against Palestinians?
In addition, Israel’s seemingly altruistic motive hides a darker reality highlighted by the UNHRC itself – Israel’s deliberate maiming of Palestinian civilians.
In 2018, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) noted that Israel killed Palestinians with disabilities who were participating in the Great Return March protests. Israeli snipers also targeted the lower limbs of Palestinians demonstrating at the Gaza border, thus adding to the statistical toll of permanent disabilities.
Meanwhile, the latest statistics show that 92,710 Palestinians with disabilities, 52 per cent of who are living in the Gaza Strip, face increasing hardships in Palestine. The colonial occupation of Palestine and its restrictions upon Palestinians reflect even more strongly when it comes to persons with disability.
This year, PCHR’s press release expounds upon such ramifications, noting the link between everyday Israeli violations of Palestinian rights and how this impacts the rights of Palestinians with disabilities, in particular when it comes to freedom of movement.
The press release states, “Israeli targeting of PWD is not limited to attacks on their physical integrity, IOF also restricts their freedom of movement and denies them travel to seek medical treatment abroad, raising the number of victims with permanent disabilities who could have been treated were it not for Israeli restrictions.”
Israel’s endeavours abroad, especially in humanitarian initiatives, continue to provide a veneer for its violations against the rights of Palestinians. The more it promotes its illusory concept of freedom to the international community, the more Palestinians are marginalised and left to face the increasing oppression in isolation.
Providing three wheelchairs to make UN premises more available constitutes a propaganda effort along the same lines as promoting its expertise to niches of need, especially in African countries, for example, in terms of technology and agriculture.
Israeli media have framed the wheelchairs donation as Israel’s contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals which stipulate that no one should be left behind. Yet in Palestine, an entire population has been forced to stay behind without the possibility of ever attaining a semblance of sustainability.
What Israel has achieved is a mockery of sustainability and the international community has played along with the charade.
Report: 93,000 persons with disabilities in Palestine
Bensouda also probes ‘pay for slay’ as possible war crime.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Thursday that she is concerned about potential Israeli moves to annex the Jordan Valley. Bensouda made the comment in a key section of her annual report reviewing a range of conflict areas around the world that she is probing.
Her final decision could have a massive impact on Israel legally, diplomatically, and in terms of the country’s international image.
Like her 2018 annual report, Bensouda once again said that she was close to a broader decision on whether to delve deeper into the war crimes debate relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Bensouda’s term expires in mid-2021, which means that the fall 2020 report will be her last major chance to issue a decision on the conflict.
Though Bensouda’s 2018 report hinted that a decision might come down by mid-2019, her decision may have been pushed off by analyzing the ongoing Gaza border conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Some have suggested that the ICC slowed its push on the Israel-Palestine file due to threats against it by the Trump administration.
But that would seem to be belied by the ICC Prosecution being adamant this week to pursue a case against the US for alleged torture of detainees in Afghanistan, even after an ICC Pretrial Chamber tried to get Bensouda to drop the case.
In any event, the ICC Prosecution was not willing to reveal more signs about whether the final decision will come out in the coming weeks or around 18 months from now.
The three main issues Bensouda is probing are alleged war crimes related to the 2014 Gaza War, the settlement enterprise, and the March 2018-present Gaza border conflict.
In a new section of the report, Bensouda also probes the Palestinian Authority for torturing its own civilians and for so-called pay-for-slay payments.
Regarding the 2014 Gaza war, Bensouda wrote, “With respect to crimes allegedly committed by members of the IDF, the Office has collected information on and evaluated relevant investigative activities at the national level within the IDF military justice system.
“With respect to crimes allegedly committed” by Palestinian fighters in Gaza, “the Office has been unable to identify any relevant national proceedings,” said the ICC Prosecutor.
She also noted that reviewing whether “any of the identified potential cases meet the gravity” requirement for the ICC, which states that the prosecutor only looks into large scale war crimes.
These statements do not mean that the IDF is off the hook for alleged war crimes relating to 2,100 killed Palestinians (between 50% and 80% civilians) from that war.
The ICC could decide the IDF probes were insufficient, or that they did not probe senior commanders and only looked at junior soldiers.
But the statement continues a trend from the 2018 report suggesting the ICC may give Israel a broad pass on the 2014 war by deciding to recognize the IDF probes as precluding an ICC probe.
If so, it would be a stunning turnaround from a 2015 UN Human Rights Council report that condemned the IDF as having systematically perpetrated war crimes.
The report also continued a trend from the 2018 report suggesting that the ICC views Hamas as having failed to probe war crimes committed by its fighters.Such a criminal investigation against Hamas would be a first.
Regarding the settlement enterprise, the report had fewer statistics and updates than in previous reports, yet it had a key line appearing to threaten Israel, stating that “The Office has also followed with concern proposals advanced during the recent electoral process, to be tabled to the Knesset, for Israel to annex the Jordan Valley in the West Bank.
”This line followed a trend of sending deterrent messages to Israel regarding certain changes on the ground in disputed areas, including a previous statement from the ICC that got Israel to back-off from a change of the status quo in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Besides that statement and noting the number of Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Bensouda did not tip her hand, neutrally summarizing the Israeli-Palestinian dispute over certain areas.
Past reports explicitly attacked the settlements as violating international law and seemed to dismiss the Israeli High Court of Justice by saying that it had declined to rule on whether the settlements policy is a judicial issue.
While recognizing that the High Court has ruled on a range of specific settlements, past reports appeared to set up a scenario where the ICC could declare the settlement enterprise a war crime, and then only drop certain settlements from the probe if the High Court happened to deal with them.
Another major issue the report focused on was the Gaza border conflict since March 2018.
Though overall Bensouda adopted the Palestinian narrative that most Palestinians near the border fence have been nonviolent, she acknowledged that some were violent and had used fire kites and balloons to attack Israel.
In addition, the report noted allegations that Gaza fighters “made use of civilians as shields and of child soldiers during the demonstrations.
”One significant new point was that the ICC report mentioned the May 2018 Israeli Supreme Court decision probing and endorsing the IDF’s rules of engagement regarding the demonstrations.
It was unclear if mentioning the Israeli Supreme Court decision – after the 2018 report ignored that decision – meant a greater acknowledgment of the Israeli justice system, or was merely a technical addition.
Bensouda’s report also mentioned IDF probes of the deaths of 11 demonstrators and the October 28, 2019, conviction of an IDF soldier “in relation to the killing of a teenager who took part in the demonstrations.
”For the first time, Bensouda went into detail about her analyzing whether the PA has violated war crimes by torturing its own civilians, and through financial incentives to some of its people to perpetrate violence against Israel.
“The Office has also received allegations that: (i) Palestinian security and intelligence services in the West Bank have committed the crime against humanity of torture and related acts against civilians…and (ii) the PA have encouraged and provided financial incentives for the commission of violence through their provision of payments to the families of Palestinians…involved…in carrying out attacks against Israeli citizens.
“The payment of such stipends may give rise to Rome Statute crimes,” the report said.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Thursday that she is concerned about potential Israeli moves to annex the Jordan Valley. Bensouda made the comment in a key section of her annual report reviewing a range of conflict areas around the world that she is probing.
Her final decision could have a massive impact on Israel legally, diplomatically, and in terms of the country’s international image.
Like her 2018 annual report, Bensouda once again said that she was close to a broader decision on whether to delve deeper into the war crimes debate relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Bensouda’s term expires in mid-2021, which means that the fall 2020 report will be her last major chance to issue a decision on the conflict.
Though Bensouda’s 2018 report hinted that a decision might come down by mid-2019, her decision may have been pushed off by analyzing the ongoing Gaza border conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Some have suggested that the ICC slowed its push on the Israel-Palestine file due to threats against it by the Trump administration.
But that would seem to be belied by the ICC Prosecution being adamant this week to pursue a case against the US for alleged torture of detainees in Afghanistan, even after an ICC Pretrial Chamber tried to get Bensouda to drop the case.
In any event, the ICC Prosecution was not willing to reveal more signs about whether the final decision will come out in the coming weeks or around 18 months from now.
The three main issues Bensouda is probing are alleged war crimes related to the 2014 Gaza War, the settlement enterprise, and the March 2018-present Gaza border conflict.
In a new section of the report, Bensouda also probes the Palestinian Authority for torturing its own civilians and for so-called pay-for-slay payments.
Regarding the 2014 Gaza war, Bensouda wrote, “With respect to crimes allegedly committed by members of the IDF, the Office has collected information on and evaluated relevant investigative activities at the national level within the IDF military justice system.
“With respect to crimes allegedly committed” by Palestinian fighters in Gaza, “the Office has been unable to identify any relevant national proceedings,” said the ICC Prosecutor.
She also noted that reviewing whether “any of the identified potential cases meet the gravity” requirement for the ICC, which states that the prosecutor only looks into large scale war crimes.
These statements do not mean that the IDF is off the hook for alleged war crimes relating to 2,100 killed Palestinians (between 50% and 80% civilians) from that war.
The ICC could decide the IDF probes were insufficient, or that they did not probe senior commanders and only looked at junior soldiers.
But the statement continues a trend from the 2018 report suggesting the ICC may give Israel a broad pass on the 2014 war by deciding to recognize the IDF probes as precluding an ICC probe.
If so, it would be a stunning turnaround from a 2015 UN Human Rights Council report that condemned the IDF as having systematically perpetrated war crimes.
The report also continued a trend from the 2018 report suggesting that the ICC views Hamas as having failed to probe war crimes committed by its fighters.Such a criminal investigation against Hamas would be a first.
Regarding the settlement enterprise, the report had fewer statistics and updates than in previous reports, yet it had a key line appearing to threaten Israel, stating that “The Office has also followed with concern proposals advanced during the recent electoral process, to be tabled to the Knesset, for Israel to annex the Jordan Valley in the West Bank.
”This line followed a trend of sending deterrent messages to Israel regarding certain changes on the ground in disputed areas, including a previous statement from the ICC that got Israel to back-off from a change of the status quo in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Besides that statement and noting the number of Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Bensouda did not tip her hand, neutrally summarizing the Israeli-Palestinian dispute over certain areas.
Past reports explicitly attacked the settlements as violating international law and seemed to dismiss the Israeli High Court of Justice by saying that it had declined to rule on whether the settlements policy is a judicial issue.
While recognizing that the High Court has ruled on a range of specific settlements, past reports appeared to set up a scenario where the ICC could declare the settlement enterprise a war crime, and then only drop certain settlements from the probe if the High Court happened to deal with them.
Another major issue the report focused on was the Gaza border conflict since March 2018.
Though overall Bensouda adopted the Palestinian narrative that most Palestinians near the border fence have been nonviolent, she acknowledged that some were violent and had used fire kites and balloons to attack Israel.
In addition, the report noted allegations that Gaza fighters “made use of civilians as shields and of child soldiers during the demonstrations.
”One significant new point was that the ICC report mentioned the May 2018 Israeli Supreme Court decision probing and endorsing the IDF’s rules of engagement regarding the demonstrations.
It was unclear if mentioning the Israeli Supreme Court decision – after the 2018 report ignored that decision – meant a greater acknowledgment of the Israeli justice system, or was merely a technical addition.
Bensouda’s report also mentioned IDF probes of the deaths of 11 demonstrators and the October 28, 2019, conviction of an IDF soldier “in relation to the killing of a teenager who took part in the demonstrations.
”For the first time, Bensouda went into detail about her analyzing whether the PA has violated war crimes by torturing its own civilians, and through financial incentives to some of its people to perpetrate violence against Israel.
“The Office has also received allegations that: (i) Palestinian security and intelligence services in the West Bank have committed the crime against humanity of torture and related acts against civilians…and (ii) the PA have encouraged and provided financial incentives for the commission of violence through their provision of payments to the families of Palestinians…involved…in carrying out attacks against Israeli citizens.
“The payment of such stipends may give rise to Rome Statute crimes,” the report said.
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