Amnesty International UK: Hurnall case – Israeli military forces still kill civilians with ‘near-total impunity’

To view original article, published by Amnesty International UK on the 7th October, click here

Ahead of a new television drama based on the controversial killing in 2004 in Gaza of British national Tom Hurndall (‘The Shooting Of Thomas Hurndall’, Channel Four Television, Monday 13 October), Amnesty International has renewed its call for justice for Mr Hurndall’s family.

The human rights organisation has described a situation where Israeli military forces kill civilians in Gaza with ‘near-total impunity’ – and while Mr Hurndall’s death has led to the conviction of one Israeli soldier on manslaughter charges, Amnesty insists that this was almost solely due to the determination of his family rather than the Israeli military authorities’ own efforts to see justice done.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

‘The shocking truth is that Israeli soldiers kill civilians in Gaza with near-total impunity, week in week out.

‘Tom Hurndall’s family have fought hard to achieve justice over his tragic death but the general position is one where independent investigations of civilian killings almost never happen and where the process itself lacks independence and impartiality.

‘Where, exceptionally, an individual Israeli soldier is held responsible for a civilian death or injury, typically no-one further up the command structure is ever held accountable.’

Amnesty remains extremely concerned that Israeli military personnel continue to operate unaccountably in Gaza. In April this year, for example, a Reuters cameraman – Fadel Shana – was killed by an Israeli tank shell in Gaza despite clearly displaying ‘TV-Press’ on his flak jacket and nearby vehicle.

Two Palestinian children – Ahmad Farajallah and Ghassan Khaled Abu ‘Ataiwi – were also killed in the attack that killed Shana and several other people were also injured. Shana and the two children were killed by a ‘flechette’ shell containing up to 5,000 5cm-long steel darts (or flechettes) that spread over an area as big as a football pitch when fired. These munitions are notoriously imprecise and should never be used in areas populated with civilians. In this case the Israeli army later wrote to Reuters saying it had investigated the incident saying the decision to attack the journalist was ‘sound’.

So far this year more than 420 Palestinians (including some 80 children) have been killed by Israeli forces, and 30 Israelis killed by Palestinian groups. Most of these deaths (some 385) occurred in Gaza. Amnesty International remains concerned at a widespread failure to bring people to justice for unlawful killings.

Kate Allen added:

‘Amnesty condemns in the strongest terms all killings and other attacks by Palestinian armed groups against Israeli civilians.

‘However, while Palestinians who commit such attacks are tried by Israeli military courts and given heavy sentences (with many also being assassinated by Israeli forces), Israeli soldiers responsible for unlawful killings and other attacks against unarmed Palestinian civilians almost always act with impunity.’

Farmers from Salim village discover theft and damage to their olive groves

On Monday 6 October approximately 15 families went to their lands near Elon More settlement only to discover many of the trees have yielded little harvest and the olives had been stolen by settlers.

The village had been given 3 days from the Israeli District Co-ordination Office (DCO) where protection for farmers would be provided in the area around the settlement which is a designated ‘Area C’ despite the land belonging to the village. The gate which marks the area was due to be opened at 7am, but farmers were not permitted to pass until 7:45.

International activists accompanying farmers to the fields were barred from passing and were informed by the army that the area was a “closed military zone for internationals”. The area had been deemed a closed military zone the previous night up until 31 December. Barring access for internationals accompanying farmers is a common tactic. The area that was actually deemed a ‘closed military zone’, however, was closer to the settlement and after 2 hours internationals were able to join farmers in the fields.

During this time many farmers had begun to return from their lands after discovering very few olives on the trees. Salim farmer, Abdul Hardi Jabur has 6 dunams of land near the settlement. He returned to the village after 1 hour with a total of approximately 100 olives. Last year he was able to harvest 16, 60kg sacks of olives from the same area. Several other farmers experienced similar problems. Abdul said “they have stolen (the settlers) our olives and brought in workers from outside the settlement to do it”.

This is not an isolated problem in the Nablus region or across the West Bank. During last years harvest both Tell and Sarra also experienced problems with settlers stealing the olive crop and many villages including Salim have suffered from settlers burning large areas of land containing olive trees. This year the problem has been exacerbated with many farmers not being permitted access to their lands to enable them to tend to trees throughout the year, which is vital to ensure a maximum crop yield during the harvest. Just 4 years ago the village planted 1,000 new trees, however, due to the limited access to the land just 100 have survived. There were also obvious signs of damage to a number of the trees where branches had been cut by electric chainsaws. The farmers believe that this year will see them harvest just 20% of the yield harvested in the previous year.

While the Israeli Government has publicly declared that settlement expansion has ceased, the tactic employed by settlers of damaging trees, land and theft of crops renders the farmland useless. This combined with the use, by the Israeli army, of the illegal ‘permit’ system denying access to Palestinians to their land, effectively annexes it to the settlements, a story repeated across the West Bank.

The villages of Qusin; Deir Sharaf; Burin; Kufr Qalil; and Awarta in the Nablus district were able to harvest their olives without incident on Monday 6th October; whilst a number of villages in the Salfit region experienced difficulties and harrassment from Israeli soldiers both trying to access their lands, and whilst harvesting.

ISM Rafah: Israeli navy fire shells at Gazan fishermen

On Sunday October 5th, two international human rights observers accompanied a Gazan fishing boat offshore of Jabalya.

Soon an Israeli gunboat approached. The internationals, after a request from the Palestinian captain, made clear that there was an international presence on board. For a while the Israeli gunboat seemed to leave but then, suddenly, from a large distance began to fire shells very close to two Gazan fishing boats, including the one accompanied by the internationals. The Palestinian fishing boats were about 4 nautical miles from the coast.

Although the 2 fishing boats had already changed their course the Israeli gunboat intercepted them and started to fire machine gun shots in front of their bows (something which also constitutes a breach of the ceasefire agreement). This Israeli gunboat didn’t stop harassing the fishing boats till the moment a larger boat of the Israeli Navy arrived and began a severe water cannon attack on the fishing boat which the internationals were present on. The Israeli soldiers, from a close range were shooting high pressure water directly on to the Palestinian fishermen (including a minor) and the internationals. They were also shooting the water inside the wheelhouse preventing the captain from steering the fishing boat. They caused damages to the fishing boat including to electrical lights and by breaking the glass windows of the wheelhouse, and the wooden panels which had been attached to protect them. Fortunately no one was injured (in a similar incident on 16/9 an Italian activist had been injured by shattered glass and was hospitalized). There were also shots from the machine gun of the Israeli navy boat, while it was sailing side by side with the Gazan fishing boat.

Later, the same fishing boat received continuous harassment by other Israeli gunboats that were shooting with their machine guns around the fishing boat. There were times when the internationals observed at least 4 Israeli heavily armed gunboats having invaded Palestinian waters out of northern Gaza strip in order to harass no more than 3 Palestinian fishing boats in the whole area.

In the afternoon one of the gunboats approached the fishing boat and started circling it producing waves in order to destabilize it.

Finally, after the sunset, as the fishing boat was returning to port a distant gunboat began firing a machine gun in its general direction. Just how close this fire was to the boat was clear from the glow of the tracer bullets. The internationals also observed once more that in clear violation of international nautical law, the Israeli gunboats are not using their lights during night time.

Israeli Naval Violence against Palestinian fishing boats continues

On Saturday 4 October two international human rights observers accompanied a Gazan fishing boat in its daily work, important not only for the fishermen’s families but also for the Palestinian economy in general, especially in the besieged Gaza Strip.

When the fishing boat was at about 8 nautical miles from the coast it was intercepted by an Israeli gunboat that began circling it and from loud speakers ordering it to go back. After a request from the captain, one of the internationals talked on the VHF radio making clear that there was an international presence on board.The Gazan fishing boat continued to fish along the Gaza Strip, maintaining the same distance from the shore and the Israeli gunboat gave up trying to threaten it.

Later another Israeli gunboat approached the fishing boat, again after a request of the captain, one of the international human rights workers announced the international presence over the VHF radio and the Israeli gunboat didn’t proceed in any kind of harassment.

But a little bit after noon, people in this fishing boat observed an Israeli gun boat circling another Palestinian fishing boat and shooting very close to it (something which also constitutes a breach of the ceasefire agreement). The attacked fishing boat appeared to have stopped and was fishing roughly 7 nautical miles from shore. Again the internationals were requested to make a call through VHF radio asking the Israeli gunboat to cease its attack. The internationals also filmed part of the incident. The Israeli gunboat continued its harassment for a while but finally it quit.

International human rights workers will continue to accompany Gazan fishermen and monitoring the daily attacks that they suffer from the Israeli Navy.

Olive Harvest Campaign 2008: Israeli forces prevent residents of Tell from harvesting their olives

Israeli forces marked the beginning of the olive harvest season by forcing Palestinian farmers from their lands in Tell.

After the recent rain in Palestine, the 2008 Olive Harvest Campaign was launched today, ten days earlier than planned. For more information on the campaign please click here

On Sunday 5th October, approximately twenty farmers attempted to harvest olives from their lands adjacent to the notoriously violent Israeli settlement of Harvat Gilad. Whilst the Palestinian olive harvest does not officially begin until 10th October, farmers from Tell, a village near Nablus, felt compelled to start harvesting their olives early, due to the fact that settlers stole all olives from nearby lands the previous year.

Farmers were able to harvest for only two hours, under the watchful eye of Gilad’s “hilltop youth”, before Israeli police arrived, questioning farmers and ordering them to cease their harvesting and leave their lands immediately. Aware of the illegality of this instruction, international activists accompanying the farmers called the Nablus District Co-ordination Office (DCO), to inform the office of the breach in law. After explaining the situation twice to the officer in the DCO, the officer refused to take any action by saying “I don’t understand and I don’t care”, before hanging up.

Israeli soldiers then arrived to the olive groves, and also ordered the farmers and internationals to leave, advising that they had implemented a “closed military zone” – a territorial closure of a specific area in response to a “threat of terror”. The use of a “closed military zone” in such a situation, where there was no apparent threat to the security of settlers or Israeli forces, constitutes a clear violation of the laws governing its implementation. To force farmers to abandon their harvest also violates the laws governing the use of a “closed military zone”, as the High Court ruling from 2006 obliges Israeli forces to allow Palestinian farmers the opportunity to complete all necessary agricultural work on their land “up to the last olive”.

The Israeli soldiers refused to show the maps that demarcated the “closed military zone” (a legal requirement of its implementation) until all farmers and activists had evacuated the area. Once on the nearby road, the unit commander produced a map with a red circle marked sloppily around the whole area – a further violation of the Israeli law that states that the area subject to closure must not exceed the minimal amount of territory that is necessary to provide effective protection to the Israeli residents.

A map of the “closed military zone” procured from the Nablus DCO by an Israeli human rights activist, however, showed the closure to be only
a small area nearby to the settlement, although farmers and activists were evicted from lands more than 500 metres from Harvat Gilad. Throughout the eviction process, Israeli soldiers referred to dates that the DCO had issued in which to offer protection to the farmers as times in which the farmers would be “allowed” to harvest on their lands. This is a reflection of the increasing trend amongst the Israeli forces to transform their legal obligation to protect Palestinian farmers into a permit system – thereby creating a practice whereby Palestinians are systematically denied free access to their lands.