Amnesty International,
The human rights situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories continues to deteriorate. Some 2,500 Palestinians, most of them unarmed and including some 450 children, have been killed by the Israeli army and more than 900 Israelis, most of them civilians and including more than 100 children, have been killed by Palestinian armed groups since the start of the current uprising, or Intifada, in September 2000. Tens of thousand of Palestinians and thousands of Israelis have been injured, many maimed for life. Palestinians do not feel safe neither in the street nor in their homes, as Israeli army aircrafts, helicopter gun-ships and tanks frequently shell Palestinian refugee camps and densely populated residential areas. Israelis also do not feel safe when they leave their homes, as Palestinian armed groups deliberately target Israeli civilians in suicide bombings and other attacks on buses, restaurants and other public places.
In addition, Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are subject to a wide range of human rights violations. Close to 20,000 Palestinians have been made homeless and thousands of others have lost their livelihood as the Israeli army has destroyed some 3,000 homes, vast areas of agricultural land and hundreds of other properties in the past three and a half years alone. Thousands of other houses have been damaged, many beyond repair. Israel's justification for the destruction is “military/security necessity”. In Israel and in the East Jerusalem area security forces have also destroyed hundreds of homes of Palestinian citizens and residents of Israel on the grounds of lack of building permits.
Families are forcibly evicted from their homes, often at night, without prior warning. They are given only a few minutes to leave their home and are not allowed to salvage their possession. The unprecedented scale of destruction has resulted in widespread violations of the right to adequate housing and standard of living for tens of thousands of people and violates fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. Whatever the justification for the destruction, the result is the same: thousands of families have been made homeless and left to rely on the charity of relatives, friends and humanitarian organizations.
The massive destruction of agricultural land in the Occupied Territories includes vast areas of land recently destroyed to make way for a fence/wall which Israel is building in the West Bank. Composed of a series of obstacles 60 to 80 meters wide in average, the fence/wall is planned to run for more than 600 kilometers. Although Israel claims that it is intended to block entry into Israel to Palestinian suicide bombers and other potential attackers, most of the fence/wall (close to 90%) does not run between Israel and the Occupied Territories but inside the West Bank, turning Palestinian towns and villages into isolated enclaves, cutting off communities and families from each other, separating farmers from their land and Palestinians from their places of work, education and health care facilities and other essential services. The route of the fence/wall has been designed so as to encompass a large number of Israeli settlements inside the Occupied Territories, in violation of international law.
The construction of the fence/wall inside the Occupied Territories violates international law and is causing grave human rights violations. Israel's legitimate need to secure its borders and prevent entry to people who may constitute a threat to its security do not justify the building of such a fence/wall inside the Occupied Territories, as security measures could be taken on Israeli territory, between Israel and the Occupied Territories
In addition to the fence/wall, military checkpoints, blockades and a barrage of other restrictions confine Palestinians to their homes or immediate surroundings. Such disproportionate and discriminatory restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have had a devastating impact on the lives of three and a half million Palestinians.
For Palestinians even short trips of a few kilometers, when at all possible, can take hours on lengthy detours to avoid areas surrounding Israeli settlements and roads used by Israeli settlers. Ordinary activities, such as going to work or to school, getting to hospital or visiting relatives expose women and men, young and old, to such risks.
As a result, the Palestinian economy has virtually collapsed. Unemployment has soared to close to 40%, two thirds of the Palestinian population is now living below the poverty line, and malnutrition and other health problems are spreading. Most Palestinians are now forced to rely, to some degree at least, on charity for food and other basic needs.
Israel's right to take reasonable, necessary and proportionate measures to protect the security of its citizens does not allow such disproportionate and discriminatory restrictions and collective punishment, which violate international law.
The worsening situation is frequently discussed by world leaders, the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and others. Yet the international community has failed the Palestinian and Israeli victims in the pursuit of a “peace and security” formula which, if achieved, cannot be durable unless based on respect for the fundamental human rights of all and unless all parties are held accountable for their abuses. As the situation continues to worsen the need for steps to be taken becomes more pressing. Amnesty International has repeatedly called for international monitors to be sent to Israel and the Occupied Territories. The call has been echoed by Palestinians and Israelis and at the international level, but the international community has failed to act in the face of Israel's refusal to allow monitors. While the deployment of human rights observers alone cannot solve the complex situation, their presence could contribute to saving Palestinian and Israeli lives..
Source: Amnesty International
