Updates

Water Crisis

Severe water shortage in Hebron District

Tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Hebron District have been suffering, one of the worst shortages of water for household needs in recent years.

28 October 2007

Education

Israel prevents Tel-'Adasa children from reaching school

Israel closed the Separation Barrier opening the children crossed to get to school in Bir Nebala. Their families have lived in East Jerusalem for decades, yet Israel does not recognize them as residents of the city or let the children study in East Jerusalem schools.

22 October 2007

Beating and Abuse

Sharp rise in Israeli violence around the new settlement in Hebron

In the seven months since the establishment of the new settlement in the a-Ras neighborhood of Hebron, West Bank, there has been a noticeable increase in attacks by settlers and Israeli security forces on the neighborhood's Palestinian residents.

19 October 2007

Beating and Abuse

Border Police officer to be tried for beating Palestinians

The Department for the Investigation of Police informed B'Tselem that it intended to prosecute a Border Police officer on charges that he severely beat three Palestinian men at a flying checkpoint near 'Ajjul, a village in Ramallah District, in May of this year.

8 October 2007

Restrictions on Movement

Route 443 - West Bank road for Israelis only

Route 443 used to be a major Palestinian traffic artery in the Ramallah District. Since 2002, Israel prohibits Palestinians to travel by car or foot on the fourteen kilometers of the roadway that lie in the West Bank .

25 September 2007

Residency & Family Separation

High Court to state: reconsider freeze on family unification in the Territories

The State of Israel will inform its High Court of Justice within sixty days if it will change its policy on family unification in the West Bank and Gaza . Currently, the authorities do not consider any requests made by Palestinians in these areas to live with their foreign spouses.

24 September 2007

Residency & Family Separation

High Court hearing on Israel's policy of family separation

Israel is forcing tens of thousands of foreign spouses of Palestinians to choose between leaving their spouses and children in the Territories and complete separation from family members in their countries of origin.

23 September 2007

The Gaza Strip

Israeli Cabinet Decision: Forbidden Collective Punishment

Seven Israeli human rights organizations jointly warn that yesterday's Cabinet decision to limit the electricity and fuel supply to the Gaza Strip and to further restrict movement in and out of Gaza will exacerbate the existing humanitarian crisis there.

20 September 2007

Open-Fire Policy

Independent committee to investigate targeted killing

The State Attorney's Office has consented to have an independent committee examine the circumstances of a targeted killing. The case involves a 2002 bomb attack on a residential building that killed Salah Shahadeh and fourteen others, 13 of them civilians.

18 September 2007

Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians

Firing Qassam rockets is war crime

Qassam rockets are illegal, even when aimed at military objects, because the rockets are so imprecise, and thus endanger civilians situated in the area in which the rockets are fired or where they land, in violation of the principle of distinction, a fundamental pillar of the laws of war.

11 September 2007

House demolition

Army destroys houses, humiliates residents in Qalqiliya

During a search for wanted pesons, on 29 August 2007, soldiers destroyed seven housing units, and forced male residents of the neighborhood to undress in front of their families and neighbors.

11 September 2007

The Separation Barrier

High Court accepts petition against Separation Barrier in Bil'in

High Court justices, in a petition brought by the Council Head of Bil'in, accepted the arguments that the harm to the Bi'lin residents is disproportionate and that the route, which was set to enable a new settlement to be built on Bi'lin village land, was inferior from a security perspective. These contentions were first raised in a report published by B'Tselem and Bimkom in 2005.

6 September 2007

Restrictions on Movement

Israel prevents Palestinians from going to the Dead Sea

B'Tselem's investigation reveals that the army does not allow Palestinians to travel to the northern Dead Sea area. The reason for the prevention, apparently, is to enable Israelis to use the recreational sites without Palestinians present.

15 August 2007

Economic & Social Rights

The siege on the Gaza Strip

Since Hamas took over power in the Gaza Strip, the area has been placed under siege by Israel. Except for exceptional cases, Israel does not permit movement of people or goods between Israel and Gaza. As a result, the economic crisis in the Gaza Strip has grown. In the passing month, 3,190 businesses closed temporarily and 65,800 workers, who support 450,000 dependants, lost their job.

24 July 2007

Medical treatment

Accident victim dies after police detain ambulance, June 2007

On 29 June 2007, Radi al-Wahsh was seriously injured in an accident in the village of Za'tara, Bethlehem District. An Israeli ambulance evacuated the victim and was on its way to Hospital in Jerusalem, when policemen at the checkpoint south of the city refused him entry on security grounds. He died at the checkpoint.

18 July 2007

Restrictions on Movement

B'Tselem's recommendations for easing travel in the West Bank

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has sent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a 15 point plan containing roadblocks and obstructions that must be dismantled immediately, to ease the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank. The list includes obstacles to travel that seem to have no security value, or which cause disproportionate harm to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

27 June 2007

The Gaza Strip

Holding Gilad Shalit as a hostage is a war crime

On the one-year anniversary of the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, B'Tselem, states that he must be released immediately, since the circumstances of his capture and the behavior of his captors clearly indicate that he is a hostage.

25 June 2007

Beating and Abuse

Testimony: Police torture Palestinian workers

In March 2007 the police arrested 7 Palestinian construction workers in a building site in Beer Sheva and interrogated them. According to testimonies given to B'Tselem, at least three of the detainees were tortured during their interrogation.

21 June 2007