This pamphlet provides an overview of the three main parts of Palestinian society, those living inthe Occupied Palestinian Territory, those who remain refugees, and those who live as citizens ofIsrael.

PUBLISHED BY STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE AT UCLA

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Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA is a student organization working in solidarity with thePalestinian people and their struggle. You can find us online at www.sjpbruins.com, on twitter@sjpatucla, and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sjpatucla. This booklet was made bymembers of our student organization and is available for other Palestine solidarity groups to useat no cost. Please contact us if you would like a customized copy for your Palestine Solidar-ity organization. However, in all other cases, this work is covered by the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

First printing, March 2013

Contents

1 Where is Palestine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.1 Location 7

1.2 Modern Boundaries 7

1.3 Further Reading 8

2 The West Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.1 Settlements 9

2.2 Facts & Figures 10

2.3 Legal Status 11

2.4 Settler Violence 12

3 East Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.1 Legal Status 15

3.2 Facts & Figures 15

3.3 The ‘Judaization’ of East Jerusalem 16

3.4 Denial of Freedom of Worship 17

4 Restrictions on Palestinian Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.1 The Apartheid Wall 19

4.2 Facts & Figures 20

4.3 Roadblocks and Checkpoints 21

5 Destruction of Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5.1 Home Demolitions 23

5.2 Theft & Destruction Of Natural Resources 245.2.1 Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245.2.2 Destruction of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

6 Prisoners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

6.1 Background 27

6.2 Torture & Abuse 28

6.3 Administrative Detention 29

6.4 Child Prisoners 29

7 The Apartheid Analogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

7.1 General Definition 31

7.2 Evidence 31

7.3 South African Opinions 32

7.4 Critics 32

8 Gaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

8.1 Gaza Under Occupation 338.1.1 International Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348.1.2 Restrictions on movement near border farmland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358.1.3 Restrictions on Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358.1.4 Economic Strangulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368.1.5 Humanitarian Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

9 Assaults on Gaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

9.1 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead 399.1.1 The Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399.1.2 Facts & Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409.1.3 Evidence of War Crimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

9.2 2012 - Operation Pillar of Cloud 42

9.3 2014 - Operation Protective Edge 429.3.1 Children Killed & Injured By Israel’s Latest Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439.3.2 Children Traumatized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439.3.3 Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449.3.4 Statements by Major Human Rights Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

10 Refugees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

10.1 The Nakba 51

10.2 Facts about The Right of Return & Palestinian Refugees 5110.2.1 Palestinian Refugees: Facts & Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

10.2.2 Responsibility for the Palestinian Refugee Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

11 Palestinians in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

11.1 Background 55

11.2 Institutionalized discrimination 55

11.3 Trends of Intolerance inside Israel 57

11.4 Discrimination in the Educational Sector 5811.4.1 Discriminatory legal structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5811.4.2 Willful discrimination against Palestinians: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5811.4.3 Academic support for violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

12 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

LocationModern BoundariesFurther Reading

1. Where is Palestine?

A Nakba survivor stands in front of her former lands in Iqrit.

1.1 LocationPalestine is at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, and forms a land bridge connecting thecontinents of Africa and Asia. One of the longest continuously inhabited areas of the world,Palestine has been recognized as a distinct geographical region since the Greek and Roman eras.(The name derives from the Philistines, a sea-faring people who invaded and settled the area inancient times. The Arabic name for the country is still Filasteen.)

More recently, Palestine has been used to refer to the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip,areas administered by the Palestinian Authority while being militarily occupied by the state ofIsrael. However, these territories represent less than a quarter of former Palestine.

1.2 Modern BoundariesThe modern boundaries of Palestine were drawn by the British, following their conquest ofthe region from the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Against the explicit wishes of thenative Palestinian Arabs, the British were granted a "mandate" over Palestine after the war("mandates" were granted by the League of Nations to Britain and France over former Ottomanprovinces to assist their peoples toward eventual national independence). Originally the mandateincluded what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, but the British split off Jordan forautonomous governance in 1921. The British ruled Palestine directly through an appointed HighCommissioner from the end of World War I to 1948. The terms "Historic Palestine" or "MandatePalestine" are sometimes used to denote this entity, which was about the size of Vermont.

The mandate ended on May 14, 1948, when British troops withdrew from Palestine. Theprevious November 29, the United Nations General Assembly had recommended the partition ofPalestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with an internationalized status for Jerusalem.War broke out almost immediately. Better-armed and trained Jewish forces began to expand outof the areas allocated to the Jewish state, pushing many Palestinians into exile.

8 Chapter 1. Where is Palestine?

By the time of Israel’s Declaration of Independence the day after British withdrawal, onMay 15, 1948, roughly 750,000 Palestinians had fled or been forced out of their homes. Whenarmistice agreements were concluded in 1949, Israeli military forces controlled 78% of MandatePalestine. The remaining 22 percent, comprised of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, fell underJordanian and Egyptian administrations, respectively. By then, roughly three quarters of amillion Palestinians had become refugees. In 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the remainingPalestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (as well as Syria’s Golan Heights). The militaryoccupation of these lands continues today.

Thus, Palestinian society has been split into three parts: one part living under occupation inthe West Bank and Gaza Strip, one part made refugees in 1948, and one part remaining insideIsrael’s borders. This pamphlet addresses each population in the pages that follow.

1.3 Further ReadingMore extensive reading on the history of and present circumstances in Palestine includes thefollowing titles:

• Khalidi, Rashid. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood.Beacon Press, 2007.

• Khalidi, Rashid. Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Conscious-ness. Columbia University Press, 2013.

• Makdisi, Saree. Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation. WW Norton & Company,2010.

• Pappe, Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oneworld Publications, 2007.• Pappe, Ilan. A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. Cambridge Univer-

sity Press, 2006.• Said, Edward W. The Question of Palestine. New York: Vintage Books, 1980.• Sayigh, Rosemary. Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries: A People’s History.

London: Zed Press, 1979.

SettlementsFacts & FiguresLegal StatusSettler Violence

2. The West Bank

A boy walks to a checkpoint on his way to school in Hebron, West Bank.

2.1 Settlements

A map of settlements (the colored regions) in the occupied West Bank (UN, 2012)

Almost immediately after the 1967 War ended, Israel began to colonize the occupied territo-ries in violation of international law, with Jewish-only “settlements.” The settlement enterprisewas established with the purpose of creating irreversible “facts on the ground,” thereby solidify-ing Israeli control over the occupied territories and ensuring that under any future diplomaticagreement Israel would retain possession of vast and strategically important tracts of Palestinianterritory.

10 Chapter 2. The West Bank

The settlement enterprise was also intended to ensure that a genuinely sovereign Palestinianstate would never emerge in the occupied territories. In the words of Henry Siegman, ExecutiveDirector of the American Jewish Congress from 1978 to 1994 and former Senior Fellow at theCouncil on Foreign Relations:

“A vivid recollection from the time I headed the American Jewish Congress is ahelicopter trip over the West Bank on which I was taken by Ariel Sharon [the formerIsraeli prime minister and defense minister and godfather of Israel’s settlemententerprise]. With large, worn maps in hand, he pointed out to me strategic locationsof present and future settlements on east-west and north-south axes that, Sharonassured me, would rule out a future Palestinian state.”1

In 2011, respected Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem noted:

“The extreme change that Israel has made in the map of the West Bank prevents anyreal possibility to establish an independent, viable Palestinian state in the frameworkof exercising the right to self-determination.”2

2.2 Facts & FiguresAs of 2012, there are more than half a million Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bankand East Jerusalem. Of those, upwards of 300,000 live in the expanded boundaries of EastJerusalem. In addition, approximately 20,000 settlers live in settlements in the occupied SyrianGolan Heights.

• As of 2012 there were some 130 official settlements and more than 110 “outposts” (nascentsettlements built without official government approval) in the occupied West Bank andEast Jerusalem.

• According to Human Rights Watch: "Palestinians face systematic discrimination merelybecause of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water,schools, and access to roads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-providedbenefits. . . While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in atime warp - not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed off their landsand out of their homes."3

• From 1993 to 2000, as Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiatedwhat came to be known as the Oslo Accords, the number of Jewish settlers in the occupiedWest Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), nearly doubled, from 110,900 to 190,206 accordingto Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. Accurate figures for settlements in occupiedEast Jerusalem, which are mostly built and expanded before 1993, are harder to find, butas of 2000 the number of settlers in East Jerusalem stands at more than 167,000 accordingto B’Tselem.

• Settlements and related infrastructure (including Israeli-only roads, army bases, the sepa-ration wall, closed military zones, and checkpoints) cover approximately 42% of the WestBank.

• In a 2012 report entitled “Torpedoing The Two State Solution,” Peace Now, the leadingexperts on Israel’s settlement enterprise, documented a 20% rise in construction starts inthe West Bank in 2011 over the previous year. 4

1See The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/article/imposing-middle-east-peace2See B’Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/settlements3See Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal4See the report: http://peacenow.org.il/eng/2011Summary

2.3 Legal Status 11

• Israel withdrew its soldiers and 8000 settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, however Gazaremains under Israeli occupation according to international law as Israel continues tocontrol all entry in and out of the territory, as well as its coastline and airspace.

• In 2004, Dov Weisglass, a top advisor to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that thewithdrawal of settlers from Gaza (the “disengagement” plan) was intended to “freeze” thepeace process, by alleviating international pressure on Israel to take further action, stating,

“And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinianstate, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem.Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails,has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority andpermission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses ofCongress.

The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formalde-hyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.”5

2.3 Legal StatusThe pre-amble of UN Security Council Resolution 242, which was passed shortly after the 1967War, in November 1967, stresses “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.” Thetext of Resolution 242, which is the cornerstone of the two-state solution and international effortsto make peace in the region for more than two decades, calls for the “Withdrawal of Israel armedforces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” 6

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Personsin Time of War states that, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its owncivilian population into the territory it occupies.” 7

The Hague Convention also forbids occupying powers from making permanent changes inthe occupied territory unless it is a military necessity.8

In its 2004 advisory opinion that deemed the wall that Israel is building in the West Bankillegal, all 15 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also found Israeli settlements inthe occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, to be in contravention of international law.9

Successive Israeli governments have argued that settlement building does not violate inter-national law, however a formerly classified document dated September 1967 shows that thelegal counsel to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Theodor Meron, advised the government of PrimeMinister Levi Eshkol that “civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes theexplicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." Disregarding the opinion, in September1967, Eshkol’s Labor government authorized the establishment of the first civilian settlement,Kfar Etzion, on the outskirts of Hebron in the West Bank. 10

5See Ha’aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/top-pm-aide-gaza-plan-aims-to-freeze-the-peace-process-1.136686

6See the Resolution: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7D35E1F729DF491C85256EE7006861367See Article 49: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/ 385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c58See The Hague: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/195?OpenDocument9See the opinion: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1677.pdf

10See The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/opinion/10gorenberg.html

12 Chapter 2. The West Bank

International human rights organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross,Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have all condemned Israel’s settlement enter-prise as illegal.

Numerous United Nations resolutions have also affirmed that Israel’s colonization of Pales-tinian land in the occupied territories is a violation of international law. In 1979, the SecurityCouncil passed Resolution 446, which states: “the policy and practices of Israel in establishingsettlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validityand constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in theMiddle East.” 11

2.4 Settler Violence

Aftermath of a “price tag" attack on Palestinian Christians. (Photo via Middle East Monitor.)

Many settlements like Yitzhar, Kiryat Arba, and Itamar, are home to heavily armed religiousextremists who frequently attack Palestinians and their property, including physical assaults andmurder, graffiti and arson attacks against mosques, and the destruction of olive trees and othercrops.

In March 2012, the Guardian newspaper reported that senior European Union officials haddrafted a confidential report concluding that Jewish settlers are engaged in a systematic andgrowing campaign of violence against Palestinians and that "settler violence enjoys the tacitsupport of the state of Israel.” 12 Also in 2012, the US State Department listed settler violenceagainst Palestinians as a form of terror.13

Under Israel’s occupation regime, Israeli settlers living in the West Bank are subject to thecivilian laws of Israel, with the attendant legal rights and protections, while Palestinians aresubject to Israeli military law, and are granted virtually no legal rights or protections.

11See The Resolution: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/BA123CDED3EA84A5852560E50077C2DC12See The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/21/israel-settlers-violence-palestinians-europe13See the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/19/jewish-settler-attack-terrorist-us-palestinian

2.4 Settler Violence 13

According to a 2012 report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:• The weekly average of settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property

damage increased by 32% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 144% compared to2009.

• In 2011, approximately 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees, primarily olive trees, were dam-aged or destroyed by Israeli settlers, significantly undermining the livelihoods of hundredsof families.

• In 2011, 139 Palestinians were displaced due to settler attacks.• Over 90% of monitored complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians with

the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment.• There are 80 communities with a combined population of nearly 250,000 Palestinians

vulnerable to settler violence, including 76,000 who are at high-risk. 14

The most notorious instance of settler violence was carried out by an Israeli-American settler,Brooklyn-born Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Palestinians as they prayed in Hebron’sIbrahimi Mosque in 1994. More than 100 others were wounded in the attack. In the unrest thatfollowed, another 25 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers. Just over a month after the Caveof the Patriarchs massacre, Hamas launched its first suicide bombing against Israeli civilians.

A 2012 UN report documented the rising use of threats, violence and intimidation by settlersto deny Palestinians access to their water resources in the West Bank. It found that Israeli settlershave been acting systematically to gain control of some 56 springs, most of which are located onprivate Palestinian land. The report also criticized Israeli authorities for having "systematicallyfailed to enforce the law on those responsible for these acts and to provide Palestinians with anyeffective remedy.” 15

In recent years, settlers have begun so-called “price tag” attacks against Palestinians and theirproperty in response to Israeli government actions that displease them, such as the dismantlingof settlement outposts. The price tag campaign has included a string of more than a dozenarson attacks against, and desecrations of, West Bank mosques. In two cases, mosques inside ofIsrael’s internationally recognized borders were also torched.

14See the report: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_settler_violence_map_april_2012_english.pdf15See the report: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41579

Legal StatusFacts & FiguresThe ‘Judaization’ of East JerusalemDenial of Freedom of Worship

3. East Jerusalem

A woman presents an ID card to soldiers in an attempt to reach East Jerusalem for Friday prayers.

3.1 Legal StatusFollowing the 1967 War, Israel unilaterally expanded East Jerusalem’s municipal boundariesand formally annexed it. Neither move has been recognized by the international community,including the United States.

Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem has been repeatedly rejected by the international com-munity through a series of UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolutions 252, 267,471, 476 and 478. Resolution 252 (1968) states that the Security Council “[c]onsiders thatall. . . actions taken by Israel. . . which tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem are invalid andcannot change that status.”

Although Israel has attempted to make a distinction between them, according to internationallaw, there is no legal difference between East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories.As such, Israel has no internationally recognized legal claim to any part of East Jerusalem,including the Old City and its holy sites.

Recently, the Israeli Supreme Court has begun recognizing as legitimate legal claims fromJews to properties in East Jerusalem that were allegedly owned by Jews prior to Israel’s creationin 1948. As a result, at least three Palestinian families and one shop owner have been evictedin recent months to make way for Jewish settlers who claimed ownership of the land pre-1948.At the same time, the Supreme Court refuses to recognize legal claims by Palestinian Arabs toproperties owned in what became Israel in 1948.

3.2 Facts & FiguresFollowing its capture in 1967, Israel expanded the municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem,which comprised about four square miles, annexing an additional 45 square miles (more than17,000 acres) of the occupied West Bank to the city.

16 Chapter 3. East Jerusalem

• Since 1967, Israel has expropriated approximately 5776 acres of Palestinian land in EastJerusalem. 1

• Palestinian residents of Jerusalem contribute around 40% of the city’s taxes but onlyreceive 8% of municipal spending.

• In an attempt to separate and isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied WestBank, Israel has built a ring of settlements around its outskirts. This ring has beenreinforced by the wall Israel is constructing, which also separates Israeli settlements inand near East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. 2

• Since 1993, Israel has prohibited non-Jerusalemite Palestinians from entering the cityunless they obtain an Israeli-issued permit, which is rarely granted. As a result, over fourmillion Palestinians are denied access to their holy places in Jerusalem, are prohibitedfrom studying in East Jerusalem, and are denied certain medical treatments that are onlyavailable in East Jerusalem hospitals.

• The State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2011 noted:

“Restricted access to East Jerusalem had a negative impact on patients andmedical staff trying to reach the six Palestinian hospitals there that offeredspecialized care unavailable in the West Bank. IDF soldiers at checkpointssubjected Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances from the WestBank to violence and delays, or refused entry into Jerusalem even in emergencycases. . . The PRCS reported hundreds of violations against its teams andhumanitarian services during the year. Most incidents included blocking accessto those in need, preventing their transport to specialized medical centers, ormaintaining delays on checkpoints for periods sometimes lasting up to twohours.” 3

3.3 The ‘Judaization’ of East Jerusalem

According to the 2009 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report: “Manyof the national and municipal policies in Jerusalem were designed to limit or diminish thenon-Jewish population of Jerusalem.” 4According to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem:

“Since East Jerusalem was annexed in 1967, the government of Israel’s primary goalin Jerusalem has been to create a demographic and geographic situation that willthwart any future attempt to challenge Israeli sovereignty over the city. To achievethis goal, the government has been taking actions to increase the number of Jews,and reduce the number of Palestinians, living in the city.” 5

Methods used by Israel as part of an effort to “Judaize” or alter the religious composition ofJerusalem by increasing the number of Jews while decreasing the number of Palestinians, include:

• Revoking residency rights and social benefits of Palestinians who stay abroad for at leastseven years, or who are unable to prove that their “center of life” is in Jerusalem. Since1967, Israel has revoked the residency rights of about 14,000 East Jerusalem Palestinians,of which more than 4,500 were revoked in 2008.

1See B’Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/jerusalem/land_expropriation_statistics2See B’Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/english/Jerusalem/Index.asp3See the report: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/190656.pdf4See: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htm5See B’Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/jerusalem

3.4 Denial of Freedom of Worship 17

• The encouragement of Jewish settlement in historically Palestinian-Arab areas. Whileseverely restricting the expansion of Palestinian residential areas and revoking Palestinianresidency rights, the Israeli government, through official and unofficial organizations,encourages Jews to move to settlements in East Jerusalem.

• Systematic discrimination in municipal planning and in the allocation of services andbuilding permits. According to a 2011 report by the UN Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs:

“Since 1967, Israel has failed to provide Palestinian residents of East Jerusalemwith the necessary planning framework to meet their basic housing and infras-tructure needs. Only 13 percent of the annexed municipal area is currentlyzoned by the Israeli authorities for Palestinian construction, much of whichis already built-up. It is only within this area that Palestinians can apply forbuilding permits, but the number of permits granted per year to Palestiniansdoes not begin to meet the existing demand for housing and the requirementsrelated to formal land registration prevent many from applying. As a result,Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem find themselves confronting a seriousshortage in housing and other basic infrastructure. Many residents have beenleft with no choice other than to build structures “illegally” and therefore riskdemolition and displacement.”

• Demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures built without difficult to obtain permissionfrom Israeli authorities. Since 1967, approximately 2000 Palestinian homes have beendemolished in East Jerusalem. According to official Israeli statistics, from 2000 to 2008Israel demolished more than 670 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. The number ofoutstanding demolition orders is estimated to be as high as 20,000.

• According to Human Rights Watch’s 2012 World Report:

“Israel usually carries out demolitions on the grounds that the structures werebuilt without permits, but in practice such permits are almost impossible forPalestinians to obtain in Israeli-controlled areas, whereas a separate planningprocess available only to settlers grants new construction permits much morereadily.” 6

3.4 Denial of Freedom of WorshipSince 1993, Palestinians living in the West Bank have been forbidden by Israel to enter EastJerusalem without a difficult to obtain permit. As a result, millions of Palestinian Muslims andChristians living in the West Bank and Gaza are prevented from accessing their holy sites inJerusalem.

According to the 2010 State Department International Religious Freedom Report:

“[Israel’s] strict closure policies and the separation barrier constructed by the Israeligovernment severely restricted the ability of Palestinian Muslims and Christiansto reach places of worship and to practice their religious rites, particularly inJerusalem.”

The report also noted:

6See the report: http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

18 Chapter 3. East Jerusalem

“The Government of Israel’s construction of a separation barrier, begun in 2002 dueto stated security concerns, has severely limited access to holy sites and seriouslyimpeded the work of religious organizations that provide education, healthcare, andother humanitarian relief and social services to Palestinians, particularly in andaround East Jerusalem.” 7

7See the report: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168266.htm

The Apartheid WallFacts & FiguresRoadblocks and Checkpoints

4. Restrictions on Palestinian Movement

Palestinians queue to pass through a checkpoint alongside the wall in order to reach jobs inside Israel.

4.1 The Apartheid Wall

In June 2002, under the pretext of security, the Israeli government began unilaterally constructinga wall, much of it on Palestinian land inside the occupied West Bank. (Since 1994, the GazaStrip has been surrounded by an Israeli wall that cuts off the 1.6 million Palestinians living therefrom the rest of the world. See section on Gaza restrictions.)

In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion deemingthe West Bank wall to be in violation of international law. It considered the wall to be part of aprocess of illegal annexation of occupied land, and denied the claims that it could be justified bysecurity or military needs. The court concluded that the wall must be dismantled, and orderedIsrael to compensate Palestinians harmed by its construction. It also called on third-party statesto ensure Israel’s compliance with the judgment.1

While the ICJ’s decision was an advisory opinion, and therefore not binding on the parties, itis an authoritative statement of the status of the wall in international law.

1See the opinion here: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1677.pdf

20 Chapter 4. Restrictions on Palestinian Movement

Section from 2011 UN map of the wall, focused on the Jerusalem area. The green line is the internationally recognizedborder of Israel, while the red and black represent the current and planned construction of the wall inside ofPalestinian territory. The red shaded areas indicate Palestinian towns that now exist between Israel and the wall,cut off from the rest of the West Bank. The colored X symbols indicate checkpoints and other gates and barriers topassage.

4.2 Facts & Figures• As of May 2012, more than 325 miles of the wall have been built, at a cost of $2.6 billion

(US). Once completed, the full length of the wall is projected to be between 420 and 440miles (according to the Israeli Defense Ministry and Israeli human rights group B’Tselem,respectively), more than twice the actual length of Israel’s border with the West Bank. 2

• Eighty-five percent of the wall will be built not along Israel’s internationally recognizedpre-1967 border, but on Palestinian land inside the occupied West Bank.

• When finished, the wall, along with the settlements, Israeli-only highways and closedmilitary zones, are projected to cover 46% of the West Bank, effectively annexing it toIsrael.

• Critics have accused Israeli authorities of designing the wall’s route to envelop as muchPalestinian land and as many Israeli settlements as possible on the western, or Israeli side,while placing as many Palestinians as possible on the eastern side. In total, about 98% ofthe Israeli settler population is expected to end up on the Israeli side of the wall.

• The wall also surrounds much of occupied East Jerusalem, cutting its more than 200,000Palestinian residents off from the rest of the occupied West Bank.

• During construction of the wall, Israel has destroyed large amounts of Palestinian farmlandand usurped water supplies, including the biggest aquifer in the West Bank.

2See 972 Magazine: http://972mag.com/the-wall-10-years-on-the-great-israeli-project/40683/

4.3 Roadblocks and Checkpoints 21

4.3 Roadblocks and Checkpoints

The notorious Ephraim Gate checkpoint in the northern West Bank. A Palestinian man was crushed to deathhere in January, 2014. Photo via Mondoweiss.

At any given time, there are upwards of 500 checkpoints, roadblocks, and other barriersto Palestinian movement inside the West Bank - an area smaller than Delaware - hinderingPalestinians from moving between their own towns and cities and the outside world. Palestiniansare prohibited from driving on the vast network of settler roads built inside the West Bank, whichare restricted to Israeli citizens. In addition to limiting movement of individual Palestinians,Israeli restrictions also impede the flow of commercial goods and commerce, with adverse effectson the Palestinian economy and development.

According to a September 2011 report by the UN Office for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs:

• 522 roadblocks and checkpoints obstruct Palestinian movement in the West Bank, com-pared to 503 in July 2010.

• 200,000 people from 70 villages are forced to use detours between two to five times longerthan the direct route to their closest city due to movement restrictions.

• One or more of the main entrances are blocked to Palestinian traffic in ten out of elevenmajor West Bank cities.

• Four of the five roads into the Jordan Valley are not accessible to most Palestinian vehicles.• Almost 80 percent of land in the Jordan Valley is off-limits to Palestinians, with the land

designated for Israeli settlements’ ‘firing zones’ and ‘nature reserves.’ (See here for 2012UN map)

• Palestinian access to their private land around approximately 55 Israeli settlements ishighly restricted. 3

3See the report: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_MovementandAccess_FactSheet_September_2011.pdf

Home DemolitionsTheft & Destruction Of Natural Resources

WaterDestruction of Agriculture

5. Destruction of Property

A man in Hebron, West Bank, watches as his home is demolished using a Caterpillar bulldozer.

5.1 Home Demolitions

Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states:

“Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belongingindividually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other publicauthorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except wheresuch destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”1

Israel has demolished approximately 24,800 Palestinian homes in the occupied territories since1967. 2 Demolitions are carried out for three stated reasons: military purposes; “administrative”reasons (i.e. a home or structure is built without difficult to obtain permission from Israel); andto deter or punish militants and their families, a violation of provisions of international law thatprohibit collective punishment.

According to Human Rights Watch’s 2012 World Report:

“Israel usually carries out demolitions on the grounds that the structures were builtwithout permits, but in practice such permits are almost impossible for Palestiniansto obtain in Israeli-controlled areas, whereas a separate planning process availableonly to settlers grants new construction permits much more readily.” 3

Since 1967, some 2,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished in occupied East Jerusalem.According to official Israeli statistics, from 2000 to 2008 Israel demolished more than 670Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. The number of outstanding demolition orders is estimatedat up to 20,000. Palestinians in East Jerusalem are often forced to choose between demolishingtheir own homes and paying for Israeli authorities to do it.

1See Article 53: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/full/3802See ICAHD: http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=55083See the report: http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

24 Chapter 5. Destruction of Property

5.2 Theft & Destruction Of Natural Resources

After taking control of the occupied territories in 1967, Israel began to exploit their naturalresources. Most critically in the semi-arid region, Israel began to exploit aquifers and other watersources.

According to international law, including Article 55 of the Hague Regulations, an occupyingpower is prohibited from using an occupied territory’s natural resources for its own benefit. 4 Anoccupying power may only use resources in an occupied territory for military necessity or forthe benefit of the occupied population. Thus, Israel’s exploitation of Palestinian resources suchas water for use in Jewish settlements and inside Israel proper is a clear breach of internationallaw, a position supported by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International.

Despite this clear prohibition, in December 2011, in response to a petition filed by Israelihuman rights organization Yesh Din, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Israeli companiescould continue exploiting Palestinian resources in the occupied territories.

5.2.1 Water

Amnesty International report on water access restrictions for Palestinians.5

While Israeli settlers water their lawns and fill swimming pools, Palestinians living nearbyoften cannot access an adequate amount of water for drinking, cooking, or proper hygiene. In theWest Bank, Israeli settlers consume on average 4.3 times the amount of water as Palestinians. 6

In the Jordan Valley alone, some 9000 settlers in Israeli agricultural settlements use one-quarterthe total amount of water consumed by the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank, some

4See Article 55: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/195-2000655See: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/027/2009/en/e9892ce4-7fba-469b-96b9-

c1e1084c620c/mde150272009en.pdf6See Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdf

5.2 Theft & Destruction Of Natural Resources 25

2.5 million people.

A 2012 UN report documented the rising use of threats, violence and intimidation by settlersto deny Palestinians access to their water resources in the West Bank. It found that Israeli settlershave been acting systematically to gain control of some 56 springs, most of which are located onprivate Palestinian land. The report also criticized Israeli authorities for having “systematicallyfailed to enforce the law on those responsible for these acts and to provide Palestinians with anyeffective remedy.”

According to a 2010 Human Rights Watch report, 60,000 Palestinians living in Area C of theWest Bank (which is under full Israeli control) lack access to running water, and must pay highprices – up to one-sixth of their income – to bring in water tankers, which in turn require specialpermits from Israel. 7

A 2009 Amnesty International report entitled “Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water”found:

“In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource, theCoastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet, Israel doesnot allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza.Stringent restrictions imposed in recent years by Israel on the entry into Gaza ofmaterial and equipment necessary for the development and repair of infrastructurehave caused further deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza, whichhas reached [a] crisis point.” 8

According to Amnesty International, Palestinians received on average of 18.5 gallons of waterper person per day, falling short of the World Health Organization’s standard of 26.5 gallons perperson per day, the minimum daily amount required to maintain basic hygiene standards andfood security. In addition to water and arable land, Israel also exploits Palestinian resources suchas minerals, including from the Dead Sea.

5.2.2 Destruction of AgricultureSince the start of the occupation in 1967, Israel has destroyed vast amounts of Palestinianagricultural land in order to construct settlements and attendant infrastructure such as roads andmilitary bases, and for the separation wall. In addition, vast amounts of farmland have beendestroyed in Israeli military operations and by rampaging Jewish settlers, who frequently set fireto Palestinian farmland, uproot olive trees, and even kill livestock.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupiedPalestinian territories, in 2011 alone some 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees, mostly olive trees,were damaged or destroyed by Israeli settlers, significantly undermining the livelihoods ofhundreds of West Bank families.

Between 2000 and 2007, more than half a million Palestinian olive trees were destroyed byIsrael for the construction of the separation wall or by settlers. 9

7See Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdf8See the report: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water-

200910279See: http://www.montrealmirror.com/2007/111507/news1.html

BackgroundTorture & AbuseAdministrative DetentionChild Prisoners

6. Prisoners

The family of Samer Issawi, on hunger strike for over 200 days, holds his photograph

6.1 BackgroundAccording to the Israel Prison Service, there were about 4424 Palestinian prisoners and securitydetainees being held in Israeli prisons as of the end of April 2012. According to prisoners’ rightsorganization Addameer, there were 4653 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel as of May 1, 2012. 1

Since 1967, Israel has imprisoned upwards of 700,000 Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza,and East Jerusalem, or about 20% of the total population of the occupied territories. 2 Thosewho are charged are subjected to Israeli military courts that human rights organizations havecriticized for failing to meet the minimum standards required for a fair trial.

According to Amnesty International’s 2011 Annual Report on Israel and the OccupiedPalestinian Territories:

“Palestinians in the [occupied territories] subject to Israel’s military justice systemcontinued to face a wide range of abuses of their right to a fair trial. They areroutinely interrogated without a lawyer and, although they are civilians, are triedbefore military not ordinary courts.” 3

According to Human Rights Watch’s 2012 World Report:

‘Israeli military justice authorities arbitrarily detained Palestinians who advocatednon-violent protest against Israeli settlements and the route of the separation barrier.In January a military appeals court increased the prison sentence of Abdallah AbuRahme, from the village of Bil’in, to 16 months in prison on charges of incitingviolence and organizing illegal demonstrations, largely on the basis of coercedstatements of children.’ 4

1See Addameer: http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=4752See Addameer: http://addameer.info/?p=4933See the report: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/israel-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-20114See the report: http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

28 Chapter 6. Prisoners

Sign at a protest for Hana Shalabi, who went on a 43 day hunger strike to protest her administrative detention.She was released, but exiled to the Gaza Strip for 3 years.

6.2 Torture & AbuseUntil 1999, the use of torture by Israeli military and security forces was both widespread andofficially condoned under the euphemism of “moderate physical pressure.” Methods includedbeatings, forcing prisoners into painful physical positions for long periods of time, and sleepdeprivation.

• In 2000 it was revealed that between 1988 and 1992 Israel’s internal security force, theShin Bet, had systematically tortured Palestinians during the first, mostly nonviolent,uprising against Israel’s occupation, using methods that went beyond what was allowableunder government guidelines for “moderate physical pressure.” These methods includedviolent shaking, tying prisoners into painful positions for long periods, subjecting them toextreme heat or cold, and severe beatings, including kicking. At least 10 Palestinians diedand hundreds of others were maimed as a result. 5

• In 1999, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the use of “moderate physical pressure” wasillegal, however reports of torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners continued unabated.6 Amnesty International’s 2011 Annual Report on Israel and the Occupied PalestinianTerritories states: “Consistent allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, includingof children, were frequently reported. Among the most commonly cited methods werebeatings, threats to the detainee or their family, sleep deprivation, and being subjectedto painful stress positions for long periods. Confessions allegedly obtained under duresswere accepted as evidence in Israeli military and civilian courts.” 7

• Other abusive practices employed by Israel against Palestinian prisoners include the use ofsolitary confinement, denial of family visits, and forcing prisoners to live in unsanitaryliving conditions.

The harsh conditions endured by Palestinians in Israeli prisons prompted a series of hungerstrikes, including a mass hunger strike by more than 1500 prisoners in early 2012 leading tosome concessions from Israel. The concessions reportedly included an end to the use of solitaryconfinement as a punitive measure and allowing family visits for prisoners from Gaza.

5See The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/feb/11/israel6See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/439554.stm7See the report: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/israel-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-2011

6.3 Administrative Detention 29

6.3 Administrative Detention

Israel uses a procedure known as administrative detention to imprison Palestinians withoutcharge or trial for months or even years. Administrative detention orders are normally issued forsix-month periods, which can be extended indefinitely.

• Administrative detention was first instituted by the British during the Mandate era in 1945,prior to the creation of Israel.

• There are currently as of May 29, 2012, approximately 308 Palestinians being held inadministrative detention.8

• Since 1967, some 100,000 administrative detention orders have been issued by Israel.• Although there are none currently being held in administrative detention, Israeli authorities

have in the past used the procedure against Palestinian children as well as adults.• Israel’s frequent use of administrative detention has been condemned by human rights

organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as Israelihuman rights groups like B’Tselem.

• An end to the use of administrative detention was one of the main demands of a recentwave of hunger strikes by Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

• In May 2012, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch implicitly admittedthat Israel uses administrative detention for reasons other than stated urgent "security"concerns, urging authorities to "use it only if there’s a need." 9

6.4 Child Prisoners

As of April 2012, there were 220 Palestinian minors in Israeli prisons. 10

• Since September 2000, Israel has arrested and imprisoned more than 7000 Palestinianchildren.11

• Like all Palestinians from the occupied territories, Palestinian children are subject to Israelimilitary tribunals.

• Palestinian minors are frequently arrested in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers,taken away without their parents and harshly interrogated without a guardian or lawyerpresent.

According to a recent report by the Israeli NGO No Legal Frontiers, which followed the cases of71 Palestinian children as they made their way through the Israeli military court system:

• The most common offense was throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. In most cases theobject was not actually thrown, did not hit a target, or cause any damage. In no case wasserious harm caused.

• In 94% of cases the children were held in pre-trial detention and not released on bail.• In 100% of cases, the children were convicted of an offense.• 87% of them were subjected to some form of physical violence while in custody.12

8See The Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=2702589See Ha’aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/israel-should-reduce-use-of-administrative-detentions-

for-palestinians-top-official-says-1.42811810See: http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-detainees11See: http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-detention12See the report: http://nolegalfrontiers.org/en/reports/77-report-juvenile-court

30 Chapter 6. Prisoners

Under pressure from human rights organizations and children’s rights advocates, the Israeli armyannounced in 2011 that it would raise the age that Palestinians are treated as adults from 16 to 18years of age, however, critics complain that they are still subject to the same unjust and abusivetreatment accorded Palestinian adults.

General DefinitionEvidenceSouth African OpinionsCritics

7. The Apartheid Analogy

Women protest the pass system in South Africa, which is analogous to today’s checkpoint system in the West Bank.

7.1 General DefinitionThe United Nations International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime ofApartheid (1973) defines apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishingand maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of personsand systematically oppressing them.” 1

7.2 EvidenceOver the entirety of its 64-year existence, there has been a period of only about one year (1966-67)that Israel has not ruled over large numbers of Palestinians to whom it granted no political rightssimply because they are not Jewish. Prior to the start of the occupation in 1967, Palestinians whoremained inside what became Israel in 1948 were ruled by martial law for all but one year, notunlike Palestinians in the occupied territories have been for the past 45 years.

According to a 2010 Human Rights Watch report entitled “Separate and Unequal: Israel’sDiscriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories":

"Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity,and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access to roads,while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-provided benefits. . . WhileIsraeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time warp -not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed off their lands andout of their homes." 2

One of the first people to use the word “apartheid” in relation to Israel was Israel’s first prime min-ister, David Ben Gurion, who warned following the 1967 War of Israel becoming an “apartheidstate” if it retained control of the occupied territories. In 1999, then-Israeli prime minister andcurrent defense minister Ehud Barak stated:

1See the definition: http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.html2See the report: http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal

32 Chapter 7. The Apartheid Analogy

"Every attempt to keep hold of [Israel and the occupied territories] as one politicalentity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Becauseif the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don’t vote it is anapartheid state.” 3

In 2010, Barak repeated the apartheid comparison, stating:

"As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political entitycalled Israel it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic. . . If this bloc ofmillions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state." 4

In 2006, former US President Jimmy Carter published a book entitled, “Palestine Peace NotApartheid” comparing Israel’s regime in the occupied territories to South African apartheid.In 2007, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that Israel would face a civil rightsstruggle similar to the one mounted against apartheid in South Africa if it did not relinquish theoccupied territories. Although he later claimed not to have made the remarks, US Secretary ofState was quoted at a private event warning that Israel risked becoming an apartheid state if itdid not end the occupation quickly.5

7.3 South African OpinionsMany veterans of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa also consider Israel’s treatmentof Palestinians to be a form of apartheid. One of the most outspoken voices has been that ofArchbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, one of the heroes of the struggle against South Africanapartheid, who has repeatedly made the comparison. In 2012, Archbishop Tutu wrote thatIsrael’s version of apartheid is actually worse than South Africa’s, stating: “Not only is thisgroup of people [Palestinians] being oppressed more than the apartheid ideologues could everdream about in South Africa, their very identity and history are being denied and obfuscated.”6

7.4 CriticsSome critics assert that Israel’s occupation regime cannot be compared to apartheid becauseit was not meant to be permanent. Proponents of the apartheid analogy counter that whateverIsrael’s intentions, the occupation has been in place for nearly half a century and the Bantustan-like arrangement is so entrenched due to the construction of settlements and the wall, and otherunilateral Israeli actions, as to make it irreversible and therefore, de facto, permanent.

3See The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/opinion/dont-give-up-on-mideast-peace.html?ref=global

4See The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/03/barak-apartheid-palestine-peace5See: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/27/exclusive-kerry-warns-israel-could-become-an-apartheid-

state.html6See: https://www.kairosresponse.org/Endorsement_Statements.html

Gaza Under OccupationInternational LawRestrictions on movement near borderfarmlandRestrictions on FishingEconomic StrangulationHumanitarian Crisis

8. Gaza

Palestinian children travel to an UNRWA school to seek shelter after evacuating their homes near the border in GazaCity on July 13, 2014. (UN/Shareef Sarhan)

8.1 Gaza Under Occupation

Since the early 1990s, Israel has restricted passage to and from occupied Gaza, but in 2006,following Hamas’ victory in Palestinian elections, Israel tightened its restrictions severely andimposed a total naval blockade on the tiny coastal enclave.

2011 Map of Gaza, provided by Israeli human rights organization GISHA

34 Chapter 8. Gaza

8.1.1 International LawIsrael’s siege and naval blockade of Gaza are acts of collective punishment, which is illegalunder international law, and is considered as such by the United Nations and human rightsorganizations such as Amnesty International.

A 2009 Amnesty International report following Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s devastatingmilitary assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008-9, stated:

‘The prolonged blockade of Gaza, which had already been in place for some 18months before the current fighting began, amounts to collective punishment of itsentire population.

‘The Fourth Geneva Convention specifically prohibits collective punishment. ItsArticle 33 provides: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he orshe has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures ofintimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”’ 1

In 2011, the UN released the so-called Palmer Report on Israel’s attack against the FreedomFlotilla in May 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists (one of them a US citizen). The reportdeemed Israel’s blockade legal, however it was widely considered a politicized whitewash,containing the important caveat that “its conclusions can not be considered definitive in eitherfact or law." Shortly after the Palmer Report was released, an independent UN panel of expertsreleased a report concluding that Israel’s blockade of Gaza does violate international law, statingthat it amounts to collective punishment in "flagrant contravention of international human rightsand humanitarian law." 2 The International Committee of the Red Cross and a UN fact-findingmission into Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla reached the same conclusion in 2010.

Israeli officials have admitted that the siege is not motivated primarily by security concerns,but is part of a strategy of "economic warfare" against the people of Gaza. In 2006, senior advisorto then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Dov Weisglass, said the goal of the Gaza siege was to putthe 1.6 million people of Gaza “on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”

Despite the fact that Israel loosened restrictions under international pressure following theassault on the Freedom Flotilla in 2010, the siege and blockade continue to strangle Gazaeconomically. According to a 2012 Human Rights Watch report:

“Israel’s punitive closure of the Gaza Strip, tightened after Hamas’s takeover of Gazain June 2007, continued to have severe humanitarian and economic consequencesfor the civilian population...Gaza’s economy grew rapidly, but the World Bank saidthe growth depended on international assistance. The economy had not returned topre-closure levels; daily wages, for instance, had declined 23 percent since 2007.Israel’s near-total restrictions on exports from Gaza hindered economic recovery.Due to low per capita income, 51 percent of the population was unable to buysufficient food, according to UN aid agencies.” 3

1See the report: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917-ed717fa5078d/mde150072009en.html#2.2.4.1.2.4%20Collective%20punishment%7Coutline

2See the report: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-independent-panel-rules-israel-blockade-of-gaza-illegal-1.384267

3See the report: http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

8.1 Gaza Under Occupation 35

8.1.2 Restrictions on movement near border farmland

In May 2010, Israel declared “no-go” zones within 300 meters (328 yards) from the wall thatsurrounds Gaza. In practice, however, the UN has concluded that the no-go zone is actually 500meters (546 yards). Palestinians who venture into this area risk being shot by Israeli soldierswithout warning. Numerous Palestinian civilians, including children and the elderly, have beenwounded and killed in these areas.

Human rights organizations such as B’Tselem have documented dozens of cases of cases inwhich Israeli soldiers opened fire at people who posed no threat and were much farther than 300meters (328 yards) from the wall - up to 1,500 meters (1640 yards) away. 4 According to UNstatistics, the area of the official no-go zones, together with the area in which entry is effectivelyrestricted due to a real risk of gunfire, covers about 39 square miles, or 17% of the total area ofGaza. The no-go zones affect some 113,000 Palestinians (7.5% of Gaza’s population), causingharm to their homes, land, workplaces, and schools. Seven schools are located in these areas.

8.1.3 Restrictions on Fishing

Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of Gaza. Photo by Max Blumenthal.

In the Interim Agreement signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization as partof the Oslo Accords during the 1990s, Israel agreed to allow fishing boats from Gaza to travelsome 20 nautical miles from shore, except for several buffer zones near the borders with Israeland Egypt to which they were denied entry altogether. But according to a 2011 report fromB’Tselem: “In practice, however, Israel did not issue permits to all the fishermen who requestedthem, and allowed fishing up to a distance of 12 nautical miles.”

Since Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza in the winter of2008-9, the Israeli navy has reduced that limit to three nautical miles.

According to the aforementioned 2011 B’Tselem report:

4See B’Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/forbidden_zones

36 Chapter 8. Gaza

“In addition to the harsh restrictions on fishing, B’Tselem has documented cases inwhich naval forces have attacked and harassed fishermen. The documented casesinclude, for example, gunfire, detention, delay, and confiscation of boats and fishingequipment.

‘The prohibition on entering deep waters and the danger now inherent to everyexcursion to sea deny fishermen access to areas abundant with fish, limiting theircatches [to] small fish of poor quality. As a result, it is extremely hard to earn aliving from fishing, or even cover fishing expenses. Given the lack of other sourcesof income in the Gaza Strip, some fishermen are left no option but to violate theprohibition and endanger their lives.”

8.1.4 Economic StrangulationExport of Palestinian goods, the import of raw materials and access to Gaza’s natural resourceshave been severely restricted, devastating Gazan businesses and the ability of the region to beself-sufficient, thereby rendering it dependent on international aid. For example:

• Economic output per capita has fallen by 40 percent of 1994 levels.• 95 percent of Gaza’s 3,900 industrial businesses are closed or have suspended work. The

other five percent are operating at 20 to 50 percent of capacity. This has cost between100,000 and 120,000 jobs.

• Israeli restrictions block access to 35 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land and fishermenare forbidden to fish beyond 3 nautical miles from the shore. In 2010, employment inagriculture fell from 14,900 to 10,100.

• While Gaza needs 670,000 truckloads of construction material, an average of 715 enterper month, at 11 percent of pre-blockade levels. The construction industry now has 10,000workers, 42 percent of pre-blockade levels.

• Unemployment is at 45.2 percent, with only 40.3 percent of working-age Gazans in thelabor force. Youth unemployment is at more than 47 percent.

• 290 truckloads of exports were allowed out of Gaza between November 2010 and May2011. Before the siege, more than 960 truckloads a month exited Gaza. This is only fivepercent of pre-blockade levels.

• In 2011, a weekly average of 900 truckloads of goods entered Gaza. Before the siege,2,807 truckloads entered weekly.

• On March 2, 2011, Israel closed the Karni crossing, forcing importers and exporters to usethe Kerem Shalom crossing. For wheat exporters, this increased transport costs by 235percent and for wheat importers by 30 percent.

• Between June 2010 and March 2011, the cost of wheat flour increased by 50 percent andvegetable oil increased by 40 percent. Meanwhile, the average wage has decreased bymore than 25 percent since 2007.

• Gazan households spend 56 percent of their expenditures on food, with 52.5 percent eatinglower quality food and 67 percent buying food on credit as a result of high food costs. 5

8.1.5 Humanitarian CrisisThe amount of goods allowed into Gaza by Israel falls far short of the minimum required to avoidmalnutrition, poverty, and prevent or treat a variety of illnesses. The United Nations’ fact-findingmission regarding Israel’s attack on the 2010 humanitarian flotilla found that "a deplorable

5See the IMEU’s Factsheet on Gaza: http://imeu.net/news/printer0019136.shtml

8.1 Gaza Under Occupation 37

situation exists in Gaza" that "is totally intolerable and unacceptable in the twenty-first century.It is amazing that anyone could characterize the condition of the people there as satisfying themost basic standards."

Consider the following statistics:

• 54 percent of households face food insecurity, defined as inadequate physical, social oreconomic access to food. An additional 12 percent are considered vulnerable to foodinsecurity. Only 20 percent of Gazan households are food secure.

• 38 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.• Since the blockade began, the number of Palestinian refugees completely unable to secure

access to food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap,school stationery and safe drinking water (’abject poverty’) has tripled to 300,000.

• 75 percent of households polled by the World Food Programme in the Gaza Strip receivedoutside aid.

• Gaza’s hospitals are at "zero stock levels" for 178 of 480 essential medications, withanother 69 at low stock. Of 700 essential medical supplies, 190 are at "zero stock levels"and another 70 at low stock.

• Due to lack of fuel, the Gaza Power Plant runs at 45 percent capacity, leading to dailyblackouts of eight to twelve hours. Given this fuel shortage, 90 percent of private carsare no longer driven and of public services, only 15 percent are operational. (PalestinianCentre for Human Rights, The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip: Collective Punishment ofthe Civilian Population, December 10, 2010)

• In the Gaza Strip, 95 percent of water sources are unfit for drinking. Water-borne diseasescause 26 percent of illnesses in Gaza.

• Because of lack of treatment capacity and electricity, Gaza authorities must release around80,000 cubic meters of sewage into the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis.

• The construction of 86,000 houses is required to meet natural growth and recover fromprevious Israeli invasions. 6

6See the IMEU’s Factsheet on Gaza: http://imeu.net/news/printer0019136.shtml

2008-2009 Operation Cast LeadThe AssaultFacts & FiguresEvidence of War Crimes

2012 - Operation Pillar of Cloud2014 - Operation Protective Edge

Children Killed & Injured By Israel’s LatestAssaultChildren TraumatizedDestruction of Civilian InfrastructureStatements by Major Human Rights Orga-nizations

9. Assaults on Gaza

Palestinians in Gaza inspect an unexploded missile launched by Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

9.1 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead

On December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a massive, 22-day military assaulton the Gaza Strip. The ferocity of the attack was unprecedented in the more than six-decade-oldconflict between Israelis and Palestinians, killing some 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians.

In the aftermath of the offensive, a UN-appointed fact finding mission found strong evidenceof war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both the Israeli military and Palestinianmilitias. 1 Investigations by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and HumanRights Watch came to the same conclusion.

9.1.1 The Assault

Six months before Cast Lead, Israel negotiated a ceasefire with Hamas and other Palestinianarmed groups in Gaza. Under the agreement, which went into effect on June 19, 2008, both sidesagreed to stop hostilities across the Green Line, the de facto border between Israel and the GazaStrip.

Despite a number of violations by both sides, the truce was largely successful.

Hamas negotiators claim that Israel agreed to end its closure of Gaza’s border crossings aspart of the ceasefire agreement, however Israeli officials dispute this. While Israel did resumeoperations at one border crossing, the overall policy of closure did not change. Two months afterthe truce began, the UN reported that the number of goods allowed into Gaza actually decreased.

Nevertheless, overall, a situation of relative quiet prevailed in and around Gaza until Novem-ber 4, when Israeli soldiers staged a raid into the Strip, killing six members of Hamas. Theattack, which took place on the eve of the US presidential elections, ended the ceasefire and led

1See the report: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/factfindingmission.htm

40 Chapter 9. Assaults on Gaza

to an escalation of hostilities culminating in Cast Lead the following month.

Cast Lead proceeded in two phases: a week of intense aerial bombing followed by two weeksof a joint air and land assault and invasion. The surprise attack began at 11:30 a.m. on December27, 2008, with Israeli F-16 fighter jets, Apache helicopters, and unmanned drones striking morethan 100 locations across the tiny, crowded Gaza Strip within a matter of minutes.

Among the targets were four Palestinian police stations, including the central police head-quarters in Gaza City, where a graduation ceremony for new officers was underway. Ninety-ninepolice personnel and 9 members of the public were killed in the first minutes of the attack. Bythe end of the first day at least 230 Palestinians had been killed.

The massive bombardment continued until January 3, 2009, when the Israeli army invadedthe Strip from the north and east. Israel’s navy also shelled Gaza from offshore.

On January 18, 2009, under enormous international pressure and just two days before BarackObama was sworn in as President of the United States, Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire andwithdrew its forces from Gaza. Palestinian armed groups followed with a separate unilateralceasefire.

9.1.2 Facts & Figures• According to investigations by independent Israeli and Palestinian human rights organiza-

tions, between 1,385 and 1,419 Palestinians were killed during Cast Lead, a majority ofthem civilians, including at least 308 minors under the age of 18. More than 5000 morewere wounded. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, including 3 civilians. (See below for amore detailed breakdown of casualties)

• According to the UN, 3,540 housing units were completely destroyed, with another 2,870sustaining severe damage.

• More than 20,000 people - many of them already refugees, some two or three times over -were made homeless. 2

• Attacks on Gaza’s electricity infrastructure caused an estimated $10 million in damage,according to the Israeli advocacy group Gisha.

• 268 private businesses were destroyed, and another 432 damaged, at an estimated cost ofmore than $139 million, according to an assessment by the Private Sector CoordinationCouncil, a Palestinian economic group. A separate report found that 324 factories andworkshops were damaged during the war.

• According to the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides services to Pales-tinian refugees, the offensive damaged almost 20,000 meters (approx. 12 miles) of waterpipes, four water reservoirs, 11 wells, and sewage networks and pumping stations. Israelishelling also damaged 107 UNRWA installations.

• Eighteen schools, including 8 kindergartens, were destroyed, and at least 262 othersdamaged. Numerous Palestinian government buildings, including police stations, theheadquarters of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and part of Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas’ compound, were also destroyed.

• After an investigation of the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Human RightsWatch accused the Israeli military of violating the international ban on "wanton destruc-tion" found in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

2See: http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20091227_a_year_to_castlead_operation

9.1 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead 41

9.1.3 Evidence of War Crimes

In April 2009, following international outrage at the carnage caused by Cast Lead, the UNHuman Rights Council established a Fact Finding Mission to investigate possible violationsof international law committed during the conflict. Leading the mission was Justice RichardGoldstone, a former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and war crimes prosecutorfor Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

The four members of the mission visited Gaza in late May and early June 2009, holdinghearings there and in Geneva. They conducted 188 interviews and reviewed more than 10,000pages of documents, more than 30 videos, and 1,200 photographs.

Israel refused to cooperate with the inquiry, denying the mission the opportunity to meetwith Israeli officials or visit the West Bank.

As a result of its investigation, the mission issued the so-called "Goldstone Report," a 575-page document detailing alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by theIsraeli military. The report also accused Palestinian armed groups of war crimes as a result ofindiscriminate rockets attacks on Israeli civilians living near Gaza.

The Goldstone Report documented 36 specific cases and incidents where Israeli forcesallegedly violated international laws during the Gaza offensive. These include:

• Samouni family massacre: In perhaps the most infamous incident of the war, Israelisoldiers ordered around 100 members of the Samouni family into a single building in theZaytoun area of Gaza City. Soldiers held the family in the building for 24 hours beforeshelling the building on January 4, 2009. Twenty-one members of the family, all civilians,were killed. 3

• Al-Daya family massacre: On January 6, an Israeli F-16 jet fired a missile at the homeof the Al-Daya family, also in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing 22 familymembers, most of them women and children. 4

• White flag killings: The UN mission and human rights groups also documented severalcases in which witnesses saw Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians who were fleeing whilecarrying makeshift white flags to indicate their status as civilians. In one case, a soldiershot and killed two women, Majda and Rayya Hajjaj (aged 37 and 65 respectively) whowere fleeing with their families while carrying a white flag in the town of Johr Ad-Dik.In August 2012, in a plea deal with prosecutors, a solider was sentenced to just 45 daysin prison for their deaths. To date he’s the only person to face serious charges stemmingfrom Cast Lead. 5

• Use of white phosphorus in populated areas: Rights groups, journalists, and the UNmission in Gaza also documented numerous instances of the use of white phosphorus, anincendiary substance that is illegal when used in populated areas. Israeli forces used whitephosphorus in attacks on at least two hospitals (Al-Quds Hospital and Al-Wafa Hospital),as well as the central UN compound in Gaza City. Numerous civilian casualties werecaused by white phosphorus in the small, densely populated Strip. 6

3See: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/family-who-lost-29-members-in-gaza-war-we-envy-the-dead-1.5943

4See: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/israel-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-20105See: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ioptwf0809webwcover_1.pdf6See: http://www.hrw.org/features/rain-fire-white-phosphorus-gaza

42 Chapter 9. Assaults on Gaza

In addition to the Goldstone Report, human rights groups such as Amnesty International andHuman Rights Watch issued reports of their own documenting numerous allegations of warcrimes being committed by Israeli forces. 7

9.2 2012 - Operation Pillar of CloudIn November of 2012, Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas, returning the area to its largestconflict since Operation Cast Lead. As documented by the New York Times, the assault beganwhen Israel assassinated the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Ahmed Jabari, who had beenin charge of negotiating cease-fires with Israel. By the end of the operation, 160 Palestinianshad died, 105 of whom were civilians, and 30 of whom were children. 971 Palestinians werewounded. 6 Israelis (4 civilian) were killed during the fighting. Israel has repeatedly violated theNovember 21 ceasefire that ended the conflict, killing and injuring several Gazans. 8

Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing possible war crimes through the knowingtargeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. One example of this is the shelling of theAl-Dalu family home, which resulted in the deaths of 10 family members. Human Rights Watchcondemned the attack as an example of Israel blatantly targeting civilians. Other accusations ofpotential war crimes surround the known targeting of Palestinian media and journalists.

9.3 2014 - Operation Protective Edge

The last moments of Gazan children who had been playing soccer on the beach near Shaati refugee camp. Thisimage shows them running from Israeli shelling moments before they were killed.

According to the United Nations, between July 7 and August 26, at least 2131 Palestinianswere killed in Gaza as a result of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge.”9 According to both thePalestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 2168Palestinians were killed.10

7See the IMEU Factsheet on Cast Lead: http://imeu.net/news/article0021968.shtml8See a timeline: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/how-israel-shattered-gaza-truce-leading-

escalating-death-and-tragedy-timeline9See the UN’s report: http://bit.ly/1qhkyT4

10See: http://bit.ly/UcfwtE and http://bit.ly/X5SJku

9.3 2014 - Operation Protective Edge 43

According to the UN, at least 1473 of the dead were civilians, including 501 children and 257women, with another 379 individuals yet to be identified. According to PCHR, 1662 civilianswere killed, including 519 children and 297 women, while Al Mezan reported that 1666 of thedead were civilians, including 521 children and 297 women.

According to the UN, at least 142 Palestinian families lost three or more members killed in asingle Israeli attack, for a total of 739 fatalities (see here for more), and up to 1500 children wereorphaned.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 11,100 Palestinians were wounded, includ-ing 3374 children, 2088 women, and 410 elderly people. The UN estimates that 1000 of theinjured children will suffer a lifelong disability.

During the same period, 71 Israelis were killed by Palestinians, including 66 soldiers andfour civilians, as well as one foreign worker from Thailand.

In its August 21 daily Gaza emergency update, the UN noted:

“Human rights organizations have expressed serious concerns regarding incidentswhere civilians or civilian objects have been directly hit by Israeli airstrikes, incircumstances where there was allegedly no rocket fire or armed group activity inthe close vicinity. Such cases raise concerns about the targeting of civilians, inviolation of the principle of distinction.”

“Of particular concern is the alarming number of incidents since the onset of theemergency in which multiple members of the same family have been killed.”

9.3.1 Children Killed & Injured By Israel’s Latest AssaultAccording to the United Nations, between July 7 and August 25 the Israeli military killed at least495 Palestinian children in Gaza during “Operation Protective Edge.” The Al Mezan Center forHuman Rights puts the number at 518, while the Palestinian Center for Human Rights puts itat 519. All three figures exceed the number of Palestinian children killed in the last two majorIsraeli assaults on Gaza combined, approximately 350 during “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008-9and 35 in November 2012. The number of children killed also exceeds the total number ofIsraelis, civilians and soldiers, killed by Palestinians in the last decade.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, between July 7 and August 20, 3106 Pales-tinian children were injured by the Israeli military in Gaza.

Of the more than 3100 children wounded, the UN estimates that 1000 of them will suffera permanent disability as a result of their injury. Thousands of unexploded bombs and shellspose a danger to civilians returning to areas they fled from during the fighting, putting childrenat particular risk.

9.3.2 Children TraumatizedThe UN estimates that 373,000 children require direct and specialized psychosocial support(PSS), while all of Gaza’s approximately 900,000 children have been affected by the war andneed some level of psychosocial support. On July 28, UNICEF released a statement entitled “No

44 Chapter 9. Assaults on Gaza

safe place for children in Gaza.”11 In it, the head of the organization’s Gaza field office, PernilleIronside, declared: “The physical and psychological toll that the violence is having on people isalmost indescribable. . . We see children killed, injured, mutilated and burnt, in addition to beingterrified to their core.”

Symptoms of trauma being evidenced by children include wetting of the bed, clinging toparents, and nightmares.

At least one Palestinian minor, a 16-year-old boy (now 17) named Ahmad Abu Raida, washeld hostage for five days by invading Israeli soldiers and used as a human shield during theirsearch for tunnels near his home near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to an investiga-tion carried out by Defence for Children International - Palestine.

Most children six and older in Gaza have lived through three major Israeli military assaultsduring their short lifetimes: the first in the winter of 2008-9, and the second in November 2012.

9.3.3 Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure

Term papers litter the area around the bombed Islamic University of Gaza. This paper is from an assignment to"Explain the image of women in T.S. Eliot’s work." Photo by Refaat Alareer.

Israeli attacks caused widespread damage to Gaza’s already frail and dilapidated electricalgrid, run down and in disrepair after seven years of siege and blockade. Most notably, on July 29Israel bombed Gaza’s only power plant,12 knocking it out of commission indefinitely, promptingAmnesty International to condemn the attack as an act of "collective punishment” against theentire population.13 (Israel previously bombed the plant during assaults in 2006 and 2008-09.)14

According to the UN, even following repairs to what remains of the electrical grid, most areas ofGaza continue to endure up to 18 hours of electrical outages a day.15

Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s power plant caused the shutdown of water treatment plants,while Israeli tank fire put Gaza’s largest sewage treatment plant out of commission.16 OtherIsraeli attacks did extensive damage to Gaza’s water and sewage systems, also already in critical

11See uni.cf/1poy85512See: http://bit.ly/1uEWOM113See: http://bit.ly/1uEWOM114See: http://bit.ly/1pE6qi715See: http://bit.ly/1qhkyT416See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelgaza-conflict-gazas-survivors-now-face-a-

battle-for-water-shelter-and-power-9650347.html

9.3 2014 - Operation Protective Edge 45

condition due to the siege and previous Israeli assaults, leading to the release of raw sewageinto open pools, farmland, and the Mediterranean Sea, causing health concerns and affectingfishermen. On August 5, Oxfam warned that Israeli attacks damaging wells, pipelines, andreservoirs had caused the contamination of fresh water supplies, already heavily contaminatedbefore the assault, and that 15,000 tons of solid waste had leaked into the streets of Gaza.

According to the September 4 UN Gaza crisis report, 450,000 people were unable to accessmunicipal water systems due to infrastructure damage and/or low water pressure and on average,20% to 30% of Gaza’s water and wastewater systems remain significantly damaged.

Israeli attacks damaged 24 hospitals17 and reportedly killed 16 medical workers.18 Inaddition, according to the UN, 22 schools were destroyed and 118 damaged, and at least sixteachers killed. As a result of the ongoing violence, schools being damaged and destroyed, anddisplaced people taking refuge in schools, nearly half a million children had the start of theirschool year delayed, from August 24 to September 14. As the UN noted in its September 4 Gazacrisis report:

“The education sector was already overstretched prior to the crisis, suffering froma shortage of almost 200 schools, with classes running in double shifts. . . Whenschools open, children will face even more acute over-crowding and under-resourcingas a result of the collateral damage suffered.

“Additionally, with hundreds of thousands of children in need of psychosocial support(PSS), teachers and educational staff (many of whom have also experienced acutetrauma) will be stretched to provide the appropriate support required to ease childrenback in to school and to provide ongoing support throughout the school year.”

9.3.4 Statements by Major Human Rights OrganizationsThe newsmedia and major human rights organizations have documented attacks on civilians,civilian structures, hospitals, mosques, and schools. The United Nations has commissionedan investigation similar to 2009’s Goldstone Report which will investigate such incidents asevidence of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, human rights monitorshave issued the following statements:

• On July 21, Defence for Children International – Palestine Section issued a statemententitled “Death toll of Palestinian children spirals as Israel expands Gaza offensive”which detailed several Israeli attacks that killed children, noting that: “Israel’s militaryoffensive on the Gaza Strip has been characterized by the direct targeting of civilian homesand infrastructure, and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, which constitutes a warcrime.”19

• Also on July 21, ten Israeli human rights organizations, including B’Tselem, The Associa-tion for Civil Rights in Israel, The Public Committee against Torture in Israel, Physiciansfor Human Rights – Israel and Rabbis for Human Rights, expressed alarm at the “highrate of civilian casualties,” which “raises concerns about grave violations of internationalhumanitarian law.” The accompanying press release noted:20

17See: http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-crisis-unimaginable-suffering18See: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=71744719See http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/death-toll-palestinian-children-spirals-israel-expands-gaza-offensive20See: bit.ly/1rEHyKn

46 Chapter 9. Assaults on Gaza

“The organizations emphasize that sending alerts or providing warnings to resi-dents does not transform them, or their homes, into legitimate military targets,and does not exempt the army from its duty to avoid executing indiscriminateattacks in the area. ‘In the absence of a protected area for residents that providesshelter and an answer to their humanitarian needs, military commanders cannot claim that they have taken sufficient precautions to avoid causing injury.”’

• On July 21, Amnesty International USA issued a statement entitled “Attacks on MedicalFacilities and Civilians Add to War Crime Allegations.” 21 Documenting large scaledestruction of civilian areas such as the Shejaiya neighborhood, and the escalating numberof civilian casualties, Amnesty noted, “Issuing warnings to evacuate entire areas doesnot absolve Israeli forces of their obligations to protect civilians under internationalhumanitarian law.” A Human Rights Watch statement that followed the next day foundthat, “In many, if not all, of these cases [that it investigated], Human Rights Watch foundno evidence of a military target. Israeli forces’ failure to direct attacks at a military targetviolates the laws of war. Israeli forces may also have knowingly or recklessly attackedpeople who were clearly civilians, such as young boys, and civilian structures, including ahospital – laws-of-war violations that are indicative of war crimes.”22

United Nations Works and Relief Agency Director Chris Gunness breaks down during an interview about thecivilian casualties of Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza

Degree of Civilian SufferingOn August 1, Oxfam released a statement entitled, “Gaza crisis spiraling out of control,” whichdocumented the degree of suffering in Gaza:

“The crisis in Gaza is fast spiraling out of control with water supplies criticallylow and a public health crisis imminent. . . The collapse of the latest brief ceasefireannouncement means many more lives will be at risk.

“Conditions are increasingly desperate in overcrowded schools and buildings whereup to 450,000 people are sheltering. Many people are getting as little as threelitres of safe water a day, far below international emergency standards. Massivedestruction of water and sewage systems and electricity supplies has reduced water

21See http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/israelgaza-attacks-on-medical-facilities-and-civilians-add-to-war-crime-allegations-0

22See http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/22/gaza-airstrike-deaths-raise-concerns-ground-offensive

9.3 2014 - Operation Protective Edge 47

supply to Gaza’s entire population of 1.8 million people. Spills of raw sewagethreaten to contaminate water sources and the threat of disease is rising. There arealready reports of 30 cases of meningitis, as well as skin diseases among childrenand cases of gastroenteritis.”

“The destruction of Gaza’s only power plant earlier this week has plunged muchof Gaza into darkness and left vital water pumps struggling to keep going. Threeof Gaza’s four main power supplies have now been completely destroyed or exten-sively damaged by the violence of the past few weeks, cutting off more than 80percent of Gaza’s power. Most municipal water supplies have now stopped running.”

“‘The outrageous level of destruction is much worse than anything we have seen inprevious military operations and the situation is getting worse by the hour. Tens ofthousands of families have fled but are trapped with nowhere safe to escape, shel-tering in horrific conditions and terrified to move. The international community’sresponse to such suffering has so far been shamefully weak. Every day that thisgoes on is putting many more civilian lives at risk,’ said Nishant Pandey, head ofOxfam in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.”

“Hospitals that Oxfam works with are struggling to cope. Six of the nine busiesthospitals in Gaza have been directly hit or badly damaged, with three of them nowclosed. Another four Oxfam-supported health clinics and many others have beendamaged or shut. Many health facilities are running short of fuel to keep life-savingoperations going.”

“‘Oxfam condemns the rockets that continue to be fired from Gaza towards Israel,but this does not justify Israel’s outrageously disproportionate use of force whichhas killed so many civilians and destroyed so much of Gaza. All civilians, whetherPalestinian or Israeli, have the right to live in security, but military operations thatbring such levels of death and destruction will not make anyone safer in the longterm,’ said Pandey.

“Oxfam said the international community must do much more to ensure an urgentand permanent ceasefire, but that lasting peace will only be possible with an endto the ongoing blockade of Gaza. For the past seven years people in Gaza havebeen living under an Israeli blockade which prevents the free flow of goods andpeople in and out of Gaza, devastating the economy and severely restricting people’slivelihoods.”

Israeli ClaimsIsraeli government officials have claimed that they warned civilians sufficiently and that Pales-tinians were using civilians as human shields. These claims are directly contradicted by humanrights monitors. Amnesty International wrote on July 25th,

“Israeli forces have carried out attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians, usingprecision weaponry such as drone-fired missiles, as well as munitions such as ar-tillery, which cannot be precisely targeted, on very densely populated residential

48 Chapter 9. Assaults on Gaza

areas, such as Shuja’iyyeh. They have also directly attacked thousands of homes. Is-rael appears to consider the homes of people associated with Hamas to be legitimatemilitary targets, a stance that does not conform to international humanitarian law."

“Although the Israeli authorities claim to be warning civilians in Gaza, a consistentpattern has emerged that their actions do not constitute an ‘effective warning’ underinternational humanitarian law. Israeli attacks have also caused mass displacementof Palestinian civilians within the Gaza Strip.”

“Effective advance warning to civilians is only one of the prescribed precautions inattack aimed at minimizing harm to civilians. When Israeli forces have given warn-ing in many cases key elements of effective warning have been missing, includingtimeliness, informing civilians where it is safe to flee, and providing safe passageand sufficient time to flee before an attack. There also have been reports of lethalstrikes launched too soon after a warning to spare civilians. In any event, issuinga warning does not absolve an attacking force of its obligations to spare civilians,including by taking all other necessary precautions to minimize civilian casualtiesand damage to civilian structures. Israel’s continuing military blockade on the GazaStrip and the closure of the Rafah crossing by the Egyptian authorities since thehostilities began mean that civilians in Gaza cannot flee to neighbouring countries.”

Amnesty also disputed claims of human shields, stating, “Amnesty International is moni-toring and investigating such reports, but does not have evidence at this point that Palestiniancivilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the currenthostilities to ‘shield’ specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks.”

International Criminal CourtAmnesty International responded to Operation Protective Edge by releasing a statement entitled,“International Criminal Court key to breaking cycle of injustice for war crimes,” which read inpart:

“The UN Security Council has repeatedly failed to take effective action to respondto violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories or hold perpetratorsaccountable, in large part because of opposition from the USA, which has repeatedlyvetoed resolutions critical of Israel. On some occasions the USA has been the solevoice against all other members of the Council.”

“Amnesty International is also calling on both the Palestinian and Israeli authoritiesto support a Security Council referral, and take other measures that would allow theICC to step in and ensure their co-operation with the Court.

“In particular, the organization calls on the Palestinian Authority to submit a declara-tion accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes under international law committedsince 1 July 2002, when the Court was established. Amnesty International also callson the Palestinian Authority to become a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty thatestablished the ICC.”

9.3 2014 - Operation Protective Edge 49

“The Palestinian Authority has been consistently pressured by the USA, Israel,Canada, the UK and other EU Member States not to take steps to grant the ICCjurisdiction; such pressure has included threats to withdraw financial assistance onwhich the Palestinian Authority depends.”

Human Rights Watch has joined Amnesty International in strongly recommending theintervention of the International Criminal Court.

Arms EmbargoAmnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both taken strong positions in favor ofending military transfers to Israel and Gaza pending adherence to international law. AmnestyInternational’s July statement read in part, “Amnesty International is also calling on the UN toimmediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and Palestinian armedgroups with the aim of preventing further serious violations of international humanitarian law andhuman rights by the parties to the conflict. Pending such an embargo, all states must immediatelysuspend all transfers of military equipment, assistance and munitions to the parties, which havefailed to properly investigate violations committed in previous conflicts or bring those responsibleto justice.” 23

Human Rights Watch joined this call on August 11th. The Executive Director of its MiddleEast Division, Sarah Leah Whitson, wrote to US State Department, urging it to “help bring anend to these [human rights] violations” by:

• Suspending the provision of weapons to Israel that have been documented or crediblyalleged to have been used in the commission of war crimes or other serious laws-of-war violations, as well as funding and support for such materiel. Implementing humanrights vetting, as per the provisions of the Leahy Law, to include vetting of militaryequipment allocated to Israel under the Foreign Military Financing account, to ensurethat no equipment reaches Israeli military units credibly alleged to have committed grossviolations of international human rights or humanitarian law and to sanction units that arefound to have committed such violations.

• Contributing to the effectiveness of the fact-finding mission that the UN Human RightsCouncil established on July 23 – despite the sole US “no” vote – by urging all partiesto cooperate with and provide access to the mission; by urging the mission to report onlaws-of-war violations by all parties to the conflict; and by supporting the mission as astep toward holding all parties accountable.

• Ending opposition to, and the encouragement of other governments to oppose, Palestinianinitiatives to enable the International Criminal Court (ICC) to exercise jurisdiction overserious international crimes committed on and from Palestinian territory by all parties tothe conflict.

• Calling on Israel and Egypt to end their unlawful blockade of Gaza and allow the passageof civilian goods and people, with restrictions limited only to the import of militaryequipment that has been used to violate the laws of war.24

23See http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/israelgaza-un-must-impose-arms-embargo-and-mandate-international-investigation-civilian-death-t

24See http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/11/human-rights-watch-letter-us-state-secretary

The NakbaFacts about The Right of Return & Pales-tinian Refugees

Palestinian Refugees: Facts & FiguresResponsibility for the Palestinian RefugeeProblem

10. Refugees

An elderly Palestinian refugee holds his old ID card in the Shatila refugee camp in the southern suburbs of Beirut

10.1 The NakbaWhile Israelis look back at May 15th, 1948 as a day of independence and take their celebrationsto the streets, Palestinians look back at that very same day and see an entirely different story. 65years ago, over 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes and most of their possessions, their landand their businesses, and watched as their towns and villages were erased off the map by Israeliforces. Jewish militias seeking to create a state with a Jewish majority in Palestine, and later,the Israeli army, drove out nearly a million Palestinians and moved Jews into the newly-emptiedPalestinian homes. Al-Nakba, or The Catastrophe, will be remembered by Palestinians as theday their society was destroyed and their homeland was taken over, creating the refugee crisisthat persists today.

10.2 Facts about The Right of Return & Palestinian Refugees• All refugees have a right to return to areas from which they have fled or were forced,

to receive compensation for damages, and to either regain their properties or receivecompensation and support for voluntary resettlement. This right derives from a numberof legal sources, including customary international law, international humanitarian lawgoverning rights of civilians during war, and human rights law. The United Nations’Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 13(2) that "[e]veryone has theright to leave any country, including his own, and return to his own country." This is anindividual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties.1

• In December 1948, following Israel’s establishment and the attendant displacement ofapproximately 750,000 Palestinians from areas that fell within its control, the UN GeneralAssembly passed Resolution 194, which states,

"[R]efugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neigh-bours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compen-sation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss

1See the Declaration: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

52 Chapter 10. Refugees

of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity,should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." 2

• The Palestinian right of return has been confirmed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly,including through Resolution 3236, which "Reaffirms also the inalienable right of thePalestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displacedand uprooted, and calls for their return."

• The Palestinian right of return has also been recognized by major human rights organi-zations such as Amnesty International, which issued a policy statement on the subject in2001. It concluded:

“Amnesty International calls for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from Israel,the West Bank or Gaza Strip, along with those of their descendants who havemaintained genuine links with the area, to be able to exercise their right to return.Palestinians who were expelled from what is now Israel, and then from the WestBank or Gaza Strip, may be able to show that they have genuine links to both places.If so, they should be free to choose between returning to Israel, the West Bank orGaza Strip.

’Palestinians who have genuine links to Israel, the West Bank or Gaza Strip, butwho are currently living in other host states, may also have genuine links to theirhost state. This should not diminish or reduce their right to return to Israel, the WestBank or Gaza Strip.” 3

According to a statement issued by Human Rights Watch in 2000:

“HRW urges Israel to recognize the right to return for those Palestinians, and theirdescendants, who fled from territory that is now within the State of Israel, and whohave maintained appropriate links with that territory. This is a right that persistseven when sovereignty over the territory is contested or has changed hands.” 4

• The U.S. government supported Resolution 194, and consistently voted to affirm it until1993, when the administration of President Bill Clinton began to refer to Palestinianrefugee rights as a matter to be negotiated between the two parties in a final peaceagreement. In recent years, the U.S. has supported the right of refugees to return to placeslike Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and East Timor.

10.2.1 Palestinian Refugees: Facts & Figures• Palestinian refugees are the largest and longest-standing population of displaced persons

in the world. Reliable figures on their numbers are hard to find, as there is no centralizedagency or institution charged with maintaining this information. However, a surveyreleased in 2010 by BADIL, the Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and RefugeeRights, found the refugee and displaced population to be at least 7.1 million, made up of6.6 million refugees and 427,000 internally displaced persons. It also found that refugeescomprised 67% of the Palestinian population as a whole. 5

• Most Palestinian refugees are Palestinians and their descendants who were expelled fromtheir homes in the parts of historic Palestine that were incorporated into the newly created

2See the Resolution: http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/c758572b78d1cd0085256bcf0077e51a?OpenDocument3See: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/013/2001/en/3cdb18f4-db6e-11dd-af3c-

1fd4bb8cf58e/mde150132001en.pdf4See: http://www.hrw.org/news/2000/12/21/human-rights-watch-urges-attention-future-palestinian-refugees5See BADIL: http://www.badil.org/

10.2 Facts about The Right of Return & Palestinian Refugees 53

state of Israel in 1948. Other Palestinian refugee categories include Palestinians whofled their homes but remained internally displaced in areas that became Israel in 1948;Palestinians who were displaced for the first time after Israel occupied the West Bank, EastJerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 War; Palestinians who left the occupied territoriessince 1967 and have been prevented by Israel from returning due to revocation of residencyrights, denial of family reunification, or deportation; and Palestinians internally displacedin the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip since 1967.

• Most Palestinian refugees live in camps in the occupied territories and neighboring Arabcountries, with 1.9 million in Jordan, 1.1 million in Gaza, some 779,000 in the West Bank,427,000 in Syria, and 425,000 in Lebanon. Throughout the region, many Palestinians relyon the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East(UNRWA) to survive.

10.2.2 Responsibility for the Palestinian Refugee Problem

Palestinians flee Jaffa by boat during the Nakba.

• During the creation of Israel (1947-9), approximately 750,000 Palestinians were expelledby Zionist militias and Israeli government forces seeking to create a Jewish-majoritystate in historic Palestine, where the indigenous Palestinian Arab population was theoverwhelming majority (approximately 67% in 1947). Palestinians call this the "Nakba,"Arabic for "catastrophe" or "disaster." 6

• By the time of the declaration of the state of Israel in May 1948 and the entry of neighboringArab countries into the conflict, more than 200 Palestinian towns had already been emptiedas people fled in fear or were driven out by Zionist paramilitaries.

• By the end of 1948, some three-quarters of the Palestinian Arab population had beenexpelled. It’s estimated that more than half were driven out under direct military assault.Others fled as news spread of massacres committed by Zionist forces in Palestinian citiesand towns such as Deir Yassin, Ad Dawayima, Eilaboun, Saliha, and Lydda.

• More than 400 Palestinian cities and towns would be systematically destroyed by Zionistand Israeli forces. In dwellings that weren’t destroyed, Israel rapidly moved Jews, many ofthem recently arrived immigrants from Europe, into the newly emptied Palestinian homes.

6See: http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/20100118141933.pdf

BackgroundInstitutionalized discriminationTrends of Intolerance inside IsraelDiscrimination in the Educational Sector

Discriminatory legal structureWillful discrimination against Palestinians:Academic support for violence

11. Palestinians in Israel

Palestinian children dance at a summer camp held in the destroyed village of Iqrit, in Israel

11.1 BackgroundPalestinian citizens of Israel are those Palestinians who remained behind in what became thestate of Israel following the Nakba (1947-9), or "catastrophe," when approximately 750,000Palestinians were expelled from their homes and land by Zionist forces in order to make way fora Jewish-majority state.

Between 1948 (when Israel declared independence) and 1966, Palestinians living in Israelwere granted no political rights and were subject to Israeli military rule. After 1966, theywere granted the right to vote and other civil rights, but to this day they continue to sufferfrom widespread, systematic and institutionalized discrimination affecting everything fromland ownership and employment opportunities to family reunification rights. Today, there areapproximately 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, about 20% of the population.

11.2 Institutionalized discrimination• There are more than 30 laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. directly

or indirectly, based solely on their ethnicity, rendering them second or third class citizensin their own homeland. 1

• 93% of the land in Israel is owned either by the state or by quasi-governmental agencies,such as the Jewish National Fund, that discriminate against non-Jews. Palestinian citizensof Israel face significant legal obstacles in gaining access to this land for agriculture,residence, or commercial development. 2

• More than seventy Palestinian villages and communities in Israel, some of which pre-datethe establishment of the state, are unrecognized by the government, receive no services,and are not even listed on official maps. Many other towns with a majority Palestinianpopulation lack basic services and receive significantly less government funding than domajority-Jewish towns.

1See Adalah: http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/2011/Adalah_The_Inequality_Report_March_2011.pdf2See: http://www.forward.com/articles/2854/

56 Chapter 11. Palestinians in Israel

• Since Israel’s founding in 1948, more than 600 Jewish municipalities have been established,while not a single new Arab town or community has been recognized by the state.

• Israeli government resources are disproportionately directed to Jews and not to Arabs, onefactor in causing the Palestinians of Israel to suffer the lowest living standards in Israelisociety by all socio-economic indicators.

• Government funding for Arab schools is far below that of Jewish schools. According todata published in 2004, the government provides three times as much funding to Jewishstudents than it does to Arab students. 3

• According to the 2009 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report,“Many of the national and municipal policies in Jerusalem were designed to limit ordiminish the non-Jewish population of Jerusalem.” 4

• The Nationality and Entry into Israel Law prevents Palestinians from the occupied territo-ries who are married to Palestinian citizens of Israel from gaining residency or citizenshipstatus. The law forces thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel to either leave Israel orlive apart from their families. 5

• In October 2010, the Knesset approved a bill allowing smaller Israeli towns to rejectresidents who do not suit "the community’s fundamental outlook", based on sex, religion,and socioeconomic status. Critics slammed the move as an attempt to allow Jewish townsto keep Arabs and other non-Jews out. 6

• The so-called "Nakba Bill" bans state funding for groups that commemorate the tragedythat befell Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948, when approx. 750,000 PalestinianArabs were ethnically cleansed to make way for a Jewish majority state. 7

• The British Mandate-era Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance law allowsthe Finance Minster to confiscate land for "public purposes.” The state has used this lawextensively, in conjunction with other laws such as the Land Acquisition Law and theAbsentees’ Property Law, to confiscate Palestinian land in Israel. A new amendment,which was adopted in February 2010, confirms state ownership of land confiscated underthis law, even where it has not been used to serve the original confiscation purpose. Theamendment was designed to prevent Arab citizens from submitting lawsuits to reclaimconfiscated land.

• Over the entirety of its 63-year existence, there has been a period of only about one year(1966-1967) that Israel did not rule over large numbers of Palestinians to whom it grantedno political rights.

• Former Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert have both warned that acontinuation of the occupation will lead to Israel becoming an "apartheid" state. Barakstated: "As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one politicalentity called Israel it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic. . . If this bloc ofmillions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."

• Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, heroes of the struggle against apartheidin South Africa, have both compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid.

• Today, there is a virtual caste system within the territories that Israel controls between theJordan River and Mediterranean Sea, with Israeli Jews at the top and Muslim and ChristianPalestinians in the occupied territories at the bottom. In between are Palestinians withIsraeli citizenship and Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem.

3See: http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/2011/Adalah_The_Inequality_Report_March_2011.pdf4See the report: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htm5See Adalah: http://www.adalah.org/eng/famunif.php6See Ha’aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-panel-approves-controversial-bill-allowing-towns-

to-reject-residents-1.3214337See: http://972mag.com/nakba-law-inside-pandoras-box/

11.3 Trends of Intolerance inside Israel 57

• During Operation Protective Edge, an Israeli Professor who expressed sympathy forPalestinians and Israelis was the target of intense national criticism and was publiclyrebuked by his university.8

• Also during Operation Protective Edge, Right wing citizens created lists of leftists whopost criticism of the war on their social media accounts and launched a coordinated effortto get them fired from their jobs.9

• Similarly, many workplaces disciplined or fired Palestinian citizens of Israel who spokeout against the war.10

11.3 Trends of Intolerance inside Israel• In September 2011 a survey found that a third of Israeli Jews don’t consider Arab citizens

to be real Israelis. 11

• According to a February 2011 survey, 52% of Israeli Jews would be willing to limit pressfreedoms to protect the state’s image, while 55% would accept limits on the right to opposethe government’s "defense policy.” 12

• A poll done by the Israel Democracy Institute and released in January 2011 found thatnearly half of Israeli Jews don’t want to live next door to an Arab. 13

• In November 2010 the chief rabbi of the town of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, issued a rulingforbidding Jews from renting property to Arabs. Eliyahu had previously advocated hangingthe children of terrorists.

• In December 2010, dozens of municipal chief rabbis on the government payroll signed aletter supporting Eliyahu and his decree prohibiting Jews from renting property to non-Jews. One of the signatories, Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, head of the Ashdod Yeshiva (religiousschool), stated, "Racism originated in the Torah. . . The land of Israel is designated for thepeople of Israel." 14

• In December 2010, the wives of 30 prominent rabbis signed an open letter calling onJewish women not to date or work with Arabs. The letter stated: "For your sake, for thesake of future generations, and so you don’t undergo horrible suffering, we turn to youwith a request, a plea, a prayer. Don’t date non-Jews, don’t work at places that non-Jewsfrequent, and don’t do national service with non-Jews.” 15

• According to a September 2010 poll, half of Israeli Jewish students don’t want Arabs intheir classrooms, while an earlier survey found about the same number oppose equal rightsfor Arabs. 16

• In August 2010, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of a state-funded religious school in theWest Bank settlement of Yitzhar, published a book that condoned the murder of non-Jewish children on the grounds that they may grow up to pose a threat to the state, writingthat non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and attacks against them "curb their evil

8See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.6078889See: http://www.haaretz.co.il/captain/net/.premium-1.2388411

10See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.60668111See: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/09/25/3089580/study-one-third-of-jewish-israelis-say-arab-citizens-

arent-israelis12See: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-most-israeli-jews-willing-to-limit-media-freedom-1.34046113See the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/23/world/la-fg-israel-intolerance-2011012314See Ha’aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/top-rabbis-move-to-forbid-renting-homes-to-arabs-say-

israel-belongs-to-jews-1.32932715See Ha’aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/rabbis-wives-urge-israeli-women-stay-away-from-arab-

men-1.33384116See Ha’aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/poll-half-of-israeli-teens-don-t-want-arab-students-in-their-

class-1.312479

58 Chapter 11. Palestinians in Israel

inclination.” Several other prominent rabbis subsequently endorsed the book.• In July, 2009, Israel’s Housing Minister, Ariel Atlas, warned against the "spread" of Israel’s

Arab population and said that Arabs and Jews shouldn’t live together, stating: "if we goon like we have until now, we will lose the Galilee. Populations that should not mix arespreading there. I don’t think that it is appropriate for [Jews and Arabs] to live together."

• In the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s devastating three-week military assaultagainst Gaza that killed more than 1300 Palestinians in the winter of 2008-9, the Israelidaily Ha’aretz reported that Israeli army units had been printing t-shirts depicting dis-turbing, violent images such as dead Palestinian babies, Palestinian mothers weepingon their children’s graves, a gun aimed at a child, bombed-out mosques, and a pregnantPalestinian woman with a target superimposed on her belly and the caption, “1 shot, 2kills”. Another showed a Palestinian baby, growing into a boy and then an armed adult,with the inscription, “No matter how it begins, we’ll put an end to it." 17

• During Operation Protective Edge a number of examples of incitement to violence, hatecrimes, and instances of mob violence against Palestinian citizens of Israel were reported.18

11.4 Discrimination in the Educational Sector

Although the Israeli university system is embedded in a state structure which discriminatesagainst its Palestinian minority, these universities also take independent actions which reinforcethe systematic discrimination against the Palestinian minority in Israel.

11.4.1 Discriminatory legal structureState policies of inequality are applied to universities, which also makes them sectors of dis-crimination. For example, the Absorption of Discharged Soldiers Law gives former soldiersextensive benefit packages including tuition subsidies, free and preferential access to housing,etc, on the basis of military service or residency in a priority area. Because Palestinian citizensof Israel do not serve in the military, these types of laws appear facially neutral but their impactis discriminatory in effect.

In a similar manner, when the Israeli government violates international law by buildingin occupied territory, Israeli universities comply by expanding services to these areas. Israeliuniversities, like Hebrew University, have illegally built parts of their campuses in the occupiedterritories.19 Ariel University is entirely built in the illegal settlement of Ariel, deep inside theOccupied West Bank.

11.4.2 Willful discrimination against Palestinians:• 20% of the Israeli population is Palestinian, yet only 11% of university students are

Palestinian.20

• Palestinian applicants to Israeli universities are three times more likely to be rejected thanJewish applicants. 32% of Jewish applicants meeting minimal requirements are accepted

17See: http://www.miftah.org/PrinterF.cfm?DocId=1916618See http://972mag.com/how-freedom-of-speech-was-crushed-during-protective-edge/96179/ and

http://imeu.org/article/israeli-incitement-fueling-intolerance-hate-crimes19See: http://www.usacbi.org/2013/09/do-not-apply-open-letter-campaign-to-boycott-hebrew-university/20See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-to-launch-campaign-to-attract-more-arab-students-to-

universities.premium-1.471184(In the US, by contrast, which is no picnic for African Americans, the Blackpopulation is 13.1%, while the Black student population in universities is 14%.)

11.4 Discrimination in the Educational Sector 59

into Israeli universities, while only 19% of Palestinian students meeting those requirementsare accepted.”21

• Recently, the Carmel Academic Center in Haifa closed its accounting major because, asone of its leaders was recorded saying, there were too many Arabs enrolling.22

• In 2007, Tel Aviv University’s medical school created high age restrictions for studentenrollment, which does not affect Jewish students who spend the intervening time doingrequired military service, but which bans Palestinians students who do not serve in thearmy from enrolling. Instead, they are forced to either waste the intervening years, or goabroad for medical school.23

• Lastly, the Israeli Ministry of Health excludes Palestinian graduates from Al-Quds univer-sity medical school by ruling that they are neither Israeli, nor foreign, and therefore do notfit any of the categories of candidates who can sit for the qualifying exam.24

• Haifa University conditioned living in the dorms on military service, and was allowed todespite the clear disparate impact this has on Palestinian students.25

• Haifa University banning of the Palestinian flag at protests26 and the widespread silencingof Palestinian student protests during Cast Lead (for “security reasons”).27

In most of the admissions cases listed above, the university uses military service as a proxyfor race, creating a disparate impact that effectively excludes Palestinians without openly sayingso. This system of exclusion applies to Palestinians living under occupation as well, but isperformed in a more blatant manner. In addition to the more publicized ways that the Israelistate denies access to education to Palestinians (roadblocks, denials of permits, etc), the Israeliuniversity system is also engaged in blatant exclusion of Palestinian students. Although theyhave protested it, the universities currently allow the military to apply “non-security” criteria toscreen Palestinian applicants to Israeli universities. Undergraduates are totally excluded, andonly masters and PHD students can apply. Even after that, they can only be admitted underextremely narrow circumstances.28

11.4.3 Academic support for violence• Technion university provides military research and testing used to produce army equipment

known to be used in violations of human rights and international law.29

• Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies developed the military strategyknown as the Dahiya Doctrine.30 This military strategy calls for the wholesale flatteningof a neighborhood as a “message” to the other side (a willful example of collectivepunishment and targeting of civilians). Dahiya refers to a neighborhood in Lebanon thatwas subjected to this strategy in 2006.

21See: http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-students-surrounded-guns-israeli-universities/1221522See: http://www.usacbi.org/2009/06/the-carmel-academic-center-in-haifa-closes-academic-track-as-too-many-

palestinian-students-registered/23See: http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-universitys-age-restrictions-discriminates-against-arab-

students/316924See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/palestinian-medical-school-grads-protest-exclusion-from-israeli-

hospitals.premium-1.52692025See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/court-allows-haifa-university-to-continue-contentious-dorm-policy-1.21781026See: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/University-bans-Arab-students-from-waving-Palestinian-flag-during-

protests-33344627See: http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-repression-palestinian-students-reached-new-level-during-gaza-

attack/1194828See: http://mondoweiss.net/2009/05/palestinian-students-have-to-pass-admissions-process-and-military-screen-

to-study-in-israel.html29See: http://nyact.net/links/about-the-technion/30See: http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-dahiya-doctrine-comes-gaza/8006

60 Chapter 11. Palestinians in Israel

• Israeli academics have provided advice to the government about how to preserve highproportions of Jewish citizens relative to Palestinians inside Israel. The exemplar of thiswork is Arnon Sofer, an academic who also advised the state on the route of the apartheidwall.

• This blatant support for occupation is paralleled by widespread silence over injusticescommitted against Palestinians. In 2008, activist scholars sent a petition for academicfreedom in the occupied territories to 9,000 fellow Israeli academics. It was signed byonly 4.5% of professors, 407 in total.31

• During Cast Lead, an Israeli university, IDC Herzliya, went so far as to set up a “warroom” to produce and send propaganda in support of the assault.32

• During Operation Protective Edge, Tel Aviv University issued statements of support forthe army and waived tuition costs for soldiers.33 Similarly, Hebrew University declaredit was “joining the war effort" and asked individuals to donate to a scholarship fund forsoldiers serving in the attacks on Gaza.34

31See: http://academic-access.weebly.com/32See: http://bit.ly/1AP6OA533See: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-universities-lend-support-gaza-massacre34See: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-universities-lend-support-gaza-massacre

12. Conclusion

Young Palestinians run in the street during an Israeli military assault in the Gaza Strip in January 1988 during theFirst Intifada. Photo by Jean-Claude Coutausse.

This booklet is a humble attempt to introduce readers to the Question of Palestine. However,it is by no means comprehensive, and readers are encouraged to continue to pursue topics suchas the situation of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and around the world, the pre-Nakbaera of Mandate Palestine, the history of resistance movements and the PLO’s evolution overtime, the peace process, Palestinian culture, systematic inequalities facing Palestinians in Israel,the rich history of Israeli resistance to the occupation, Palestinian protest movements and theemerging movement for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions, and the ongoing debates over thefuture of the people living in and expelled from historic Palestine - whether through one state ortwo. We urge readers to locate and focus on Palestinian narratives of their histories and struggles,which are so often excluded from the voices we hear in the West.

Finally, and above all else, we hope that readers are motivated to act, in whatever way theycan, to support the freedom and liberation of the Palestinian people.