Category: Reports

B’Tselem and HaMoked:Israel’s freeze policy on family unification in the Occupied Territories splits tens of thousands of Palestinian families

15 August 2006

Today, B’Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, are publishing Perpetual Limbo , a report on Israel ‘s policy of freezing family unification for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Although the policy affects almost every Palestinian family living in the Occupied Territories, it is unknown to the Israeli public.

For almost six years, since the beginning of the second intifada, in September 2000, Israel has forbidden Palestinians of the Occupied Territories from living with their spouses who are foreign residents. Israel also prohibits the foreign family members from visiting the Occupied Territories. Israel refuses to process the more than 120,000 requests for family unification that have been submitted during this period.

The freeze policy severely infringes the right to marry and found a family of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians: spouses are unable to live under the same roof; children are forced to grow up in single-parent families; people do not leave the Occupied Territories because Israel will not allow them to return; women who are foreign residents live in the Occupied Territories with no legal status and thus face the constant threat of deportation.

Israel contends that the freeze resulted from the intifada and the security situation. However, Israel has never explained how the policy serves its security needs. Indeed, research suggests that Israel is using the arbitrary and non-transparent freeze policy to advance forbidden demographic goals.

The report, it should be noted, does not deal with family unification inside Israel , but rather with Palestinians wishing to live with their foreign spouses in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel holds exclusive power over the ability of these families to live together. Only Israel can approve requests for family unification and visitor’s permits, given its control over the Palestinian population registry, and its control over the border crossings into the West Bank. Even following the disengagement, Israel retains complete control over family unification in the Gaza Strip as well. Israel continues to control the Gaza population registry, with spouses and children of Palestinians who do not carry a Palestinian identity card being forbidden from entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Instead they must enter through a border crossing controlled by Israel.

In the report’s conclusion, B’Tselem and HaMoked urge the government of Israel to immediately begin processing the requests for family unification and visitor’s permits.

Israeli Soldier in Bil’in: “This is Lebanon!”

Israeli activists have uploaded a video of the shooting of Lymor and the initial violence of the Israeli military in Bil’in on Friday, August 11th. To view it click here. Higher quality for broadcast is also available from the ISM media office

The video clearly shows the Border Police unit firing on the demonstrators from close range. There is no evidence that the soldiers were in danger. Typically, the military spokesperson has claimed that “activists threw stones” and Haaretz’s article yesterday reiterating the same false information. The video also clearly shows the commander of the unit saying, “This is Lebanon!” as he orders his force to fire on retreating demonstrators, and “I will not allow a demonstration during wartime!”

The commander, Majdei, made this decision despite a military court decision in August 2005 that people in Bil’in have the right to protest on their land on the village-side of the apartheid wall. Every week since the wall was finished in March 2006, the Israeli military has also denied them the right to protest on their farmland on the other side of the wall. The wall separates villagers from 60% of their farmland, half of which has already been annexed and developed by Jewish settlements.

In addition many villagers have been arrested in the night during army raids for participating in the demonstrations in Bil’in. Two villagers are still in prison: Esaam Matar, 29, has been imprisoned eight months and the military has ruled he is to be deported to Jordan; and Muhammad Burnat, 19, has been imprisoned for 3 months and has not yet had a trial for his alleged crimes.

According to official military regulations, which were reported in the Hebrew version of Haaretz today, soldiers are not allowed to fire from a distance closer than 40 meters. They are instructed not to fire at vital areas of the body and only to fire when they are in immediate danger. Each week during demonstrations in Bil’in, many non-violent demonstrators are injured in the head, neck and chest.

The Israeli who was shot in the head and a Danish woman beaten with a gun on Friday are the most serious injuries the army has caused since Ramzi Yassin, who was shot in the head with a plastic-coated steel bullet. Ramzi, from Bil’in, was handing out water during a demonstration in Bil’in on July 8th 2005, when he was shot in the side of the head. The bullet caused severe bleeding of his brain and he was left unconscious for 7 days and with permanent brain damage. Haitham al Khateeb of Bil’in, Yonathan Pollack, an Israeli, BJ from Denmark, and Phil of Austrailia were hospitalized at different times all for rubber bullets injuries to their heads at close range at Bil’in demonstrations, except for Haitham who was hit by a tear gas canister fired at his head.

Lymor, who was shot on Friday, is currently in a stable condition at Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv. It took the ambulances about an hour to get from the site where he was shot to the hospital. He was taken in for immediate surgery which took 3 hours, and a rubber bullet as well as shards of bone and damaged brain tissue were removed from his head and an internal heomorage was stopped. Before the surgery he was totally clear and aware even though he was in a lot of pain. After the surgery he was moving his arms and legs while he was under sedation. He was taken off sedation around 7pm yesterday evening. He can move his limbs and can talk but is having trouble with his vision.

Rina, from Denmark, is also currently in the hospital in Hebron, suffering from severe concussion caused by an Israeli soldier beating her with his gun. She is stable, but is still having trouble walking on her own.

Israeli soldiers destroy home in Tel Rumeida in search of nothing


Soldiers invade the home at night and keep internationals from entering. Settlers taunt internationals and watch.

by Sunbula

At around 10 pm on Friday August 11th in Tel Rumeida, 12 soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces entered an apartment building where 3 Palestinian families live as well as international volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement. The internationals approached the soldiers in order to speak to the families inside, but the soldiers prevented them from entering the house and attempted to close the front door. The soldiers were aggressive and pushed one Austrian man to the floor. A member of the household tried to relay to the internationals that soldiers woke the entire family in the middle of the night, including the elderly and children, ordered them to leave the house, and then destroyed the contents inside.

The soldiers remained inside the house with the family. The Israeli Police arrived at the request of the internationals, and at the same time, a few soldiers left the house. The army told the police that their entrance was a mistake. The Police then declared that the Army had no right to act in such an aggressive manner and if they were searching for something they are forbidden to destroy the house. One Palestinian quoted that the Police told him that the soldiers act as ‘stupid as donkeys’. The Policeman stated that he can only tell them to not be destructive in the search, but he cannot order them not to search houses without a warrant or just cause, since it is their legal right to do so.

The remainder of the soldiers finally retreated at 11:15 pm leaving the house a mess and many broken household items, inlcuding a washing machine. The soldiers then ran up a hill close to some nearby houses and internationals began to follow them in fear they might raid more houses, but stopped when they became worried that their actions would provoke the soldiers.

Palestinians Force their way Through Closed Checkpoint


Hundreds of people wait at Huwarra checkpoint when soldiers closed it completely on Thursday

by Michael

At Huwarra checkpoint on August 10th at 2:30, there was a crowd of up to 300 Palestinian people waiting to cross. The soldiers stationed at Huwarra checkpoint would not let anyone through and were aggressive and violent towards the crowd. Instead of standing in orderly lines of one or two people abreast, with their ID-cards ready, the men, women and children were spread out across the entrance of the checkpoint.

About twenty Israeli soldiers were shoving, yelling and poking their guns into the chests of people in the crowd, attempting to make them “get back”, “shut up” and “go into the pen.” The frustration of the Palestinians mounted at the closure of the checkpoint. Old men, mothers with children and shoppers of all ages were determined to push through the line of soldiers and refused to back off. People continued to make problems for the soldiers despite the fact that Israeli soldiers had fired live ammunition into the air only ten minutes before.


A female soldier attempts to remove the hijab of a woman wanting to cross the checkpoint

After some time, the frustrated crowd decided that old people and women with children should be allowed to pass. As two cars filled with Red Cross personnel backed up to wait on the side of the road, elderly Palestinians picked up their bags and simply walked through the car lane. Exasperated, the soldiers started checking their ID’s, pretending that this had been their plan all along. As the crowd started thinning, with several people pushing through at the same time, the military finally gave in and opened up the regular entrance to the checkpoint.

Perhaps as a form of retaliation, one of the female soldiers started checking each person who passed through her lane in a very rough manner. She grabbed several women’s hair, almost pulling their headscarfs off, and patted their breasts for an unnecessarily long time. The same soldier also inspected the men, groping their behinds and waist area in a culturally inappropriate and humiliating way. After some negotiation with a commander, the men were inspected by a male soldier.

The checkpoint at Huwarra will be full of people yet again being refused passage tomorrow, or at any time, but today people were able to use civil disobedience to force their way through.

Military Uses Collective Punishment of villages near Nablus


Over 100 Palestinian men wait at Beit Furik checkpoint after Israeli military closed it completely

by Lina

After an exchange of fire between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli military on one of the apartheid roads connecting Israeli settlements north of Nablus, the Israeli military retaliated by collectively punishing Salim and other surrounding villages. About 15 Israeli jeeps entered the 5 500 person village of Salim, completely closing all entrance and exit to the village and interupting the festive preparation to the evening’s wedding party.

All the roads around Salim, including the dust paths ordinarily used by people to get around sporadically closed checkpoints, were blocked by military at around three o’clock in the afternoon and no one was allowed in or out of the village. Some frustrated people decided to try and cross over the open fields, with varying results. Several vehicles carrying people, all tired and hungry after a hard day at the office, were turned back at gunpoint.


Soldier points his loaded gun at Palestinians waiting in the checkpoint terminal

The major checkpoint at Beit Furik was also completely closed, affecting the inhabitants of not only Salim but of several villages in the area. The soldiers there initially promised to let women, children and sick people through, but were then given stricter orders by their commanders and closed the checkpoint completely. After some negotiation, women with very
young children and the ill were allowed to pass. A large crowd of about
100 men were, however, forced to wait for almost four hours before the
checkpoint was opened to them at about half past seven.

The elderly men of over 50 years of age were initially denied passage unless they backed away from the checkpoint and stood behind the metal barrier used to stop cars from driving through. The soldiers were, however, forced to stop this ridiculous order, seemingly purely designed to humiliate, since everyone decided to ignore it.

The roads around Salim were closed until around nine o’clock in the
evening, when the Israeli military finally left. Undaunted by this kind of
recurring interruption to their daily lives and trains of thought, the people of Salim are expecting the wedding festivities to go on all night.