Dear friends, This month we released B’Tselem’s annual report, which surveys a broad spectrum of human rights issues in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The military occupation and the settlements in the West Bank, and the continued isolation of the Gaza Strip are responsible for a broad range of human rights violations. As long as this reality continues, Palestinians will never be able to fully enjoy their rights. Also this month we released "Under the Guise of Legality,” a comprehensive report on Israel’s manipulation of the West Bank land law in order to define vast tracts of land as “state land.” This report is particularly timely, given the Israeli government's efforts to relocate the Migron settlement outpost from private Palestinian land to state land. Jessica Montell Director, B’Tselem |
|
B'Tselem's annual report on human rights in the Occupied Territories |
The annual report surveys the broad spectrum of issues regarding the Israeli authorities' human rights record in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past year, the 44th year of the Israeli occupation. An interactive version of the report is available online and distributed through social media. The report documents a sharp increase in the number of uninvolved Palestinians killed by the Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip in 2011. There was also an increase in the number of Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians, compared to 2010. |
| READ MORE >> |
|
Administrative detainee Hanaa Shalabi in 40th day of hunger strike |
 Physicians for Human Rights-Israel reported that administrative detainee Hanaa Shalabi, 30, declared a hunger strike when arrested on 16 February 2012 “in protest of her violent detention, the humiliating and hurtful search that was conducted on her upon her detention, and also in protest of being held in administrative detention.” According to PHR-Israel her life is in danger. Israel’s use of administrative detention blatantly breaches these rules. The military must release all the administrative detainees or prosecute them, in accordance with due process.
|
| READ MORE >> |
|
Civil Administration threatens wind turbines, solar power in southern Hebron Hills |
 The Civil Administration issued demolition orders recently against alternative energy structures in six villages in the Masafer Yatta area of the southern Hebron Hills, which have no other source of power. The 500 residents live in Area C of the West Bank under full Israeli control. Costing some 216,000 Euros, the structures were funded by international donors. Such demolitions are part of Israel’s overall policy of reducing the Palestinian population of Area C, totally contradicting its public pronouncements and international obligations.
|
| READ MORE >> |
|
New report reveals how Israel reclassified privately owned Palestinian land as state land |
A New B'Tselem report examined Israel's policy of declaring land in the West Bank "state land". The research reveals that large areas were classified as state land for the use of settlements even though the land was actually privately or collectively owned by Palestinians. This was achieved by re-writing the interpretation to the Ottoman Land Law. This way, between 1979-2000, Israel declared more than 900,000 dunums as state land, an addition of 170% to the total before 1967. |
| READ MORE >> |
|
Suspicion: Soldiers attacked and severely beat a young man from a-Tabaqa village |
 Testimonies given to B’Tselem indicate that soldiers assaulted Akram Khanatsheh, 19, from the village of a-Tabaqa, south-west of Hebron. According his testimony, he got caught in a clash between Palestinian youths and soldiers. When he tried to leave the area, an army dog attacked him and soldiers assaulted him. One of them struck him on the head with a large rock. Khanatsheh was taken to Soroka Hospital where he underwent head surgery and remained hospitalized for a week. B’Tselem contacted the MAG corps demanding a criminal investigation of the incident.
|
| READ MORE >> |
|
