PNGO and human rights organizations calls for immediately ending suffering of civilians due to electricity outages

29th November 2013 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights| Occupied Palestine

The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) and human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip express their deep concern for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions of the population of the Gaza Strip due to the continued tightened closure imposed by Israel on 1.8 million people and its impact on all aspects of their lives, while the international community remains silent towards human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces.  PNGO and human rights organizations are deeply concerned for the aggravation of the crisis of electricity outages resulting from these policies which leads to an imminent humanitarian disaster seriously impacting all vital interests of the population, including water and sanitation services, educational services and all daily necessary vital services.

PNGO and human rights organizations are concerned that the deterioration in all aspects of the population’s life may further aggravate as a result of the continuous consequences of the Palestinian political split and the failure of its two parties to solve the power and fuel crisis which has been persistent since late June 2006 when Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Power Plant.

PNGO and human rights organizations observe with deep concern the deterioration of humanitarian conditions of the Gaza Strip’s population since 01 November 2013, when the Gaza Power Plant was forced off due to the lack of fuel.  Both governments in Ramallah and Gaza have failed to take any effective steps to overcome this crisis and its consequences, and accordingly all daily basic services needed by the population have disastrously deteriorated.  As a result of the crisis, electricity supplies to all vital facilities, including houses and health, environmental and educational facilities, have been sharply decreased; electricity is off for 12 hours and then on for 6 hours only.

PNGO and human rights organizations believe that the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip is essentially a result of Israeli systematic policies against the civilian population, including bombarding the sole power plant in the Gaza Strip in late June 2006, and decreasing fuel supplies to the power plant in the context of the illegal closure imposed on the Gaza Strip.  PNGO and human rights organizations are aware of the continuous deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip due to the crisis of electricity outages, while the international community remains silent towards human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli forces, which have created and perpetuated the crisis, including targeting the infrastructure of the electricity sectors, such as supply and transmission lines and towers, during repeated incursions into the Gaza Strip, or using fuel and other consumptive goods as a means to punish the population, and the Israeli authorities’ failure to meet their obligations as an occupying power to maintain the operation of medical facilities and water and sanitation services.

It is worth noting that the electricity crisis has become a serious challenge to normal life of the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which poses imminent risks to all aspects of daily life due to its direct impacts.  Currently, the crisis has led to suspension of many health care programs and services, waste water treatment, water supplies, especially to high buildings, and educational services.  Vital economic sectors, especially workshops and commercial stores, have sustained large economic losses, due to Israeli attacks and the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip.  Life for Palestinians living in high buildings has become extremely difficult due to the lack of electricity that is necessary to operate elevators and provide water supplies.  The crisis has also impacted the educational process and the economic and living conditions of the population due to their inability to provide alternatives to electricity supplies, especially with the high prices of fuel which the population cannot afford.  Additionally, the electricity crisis and the population’s efforts to find alternatives have caused horrible human tragedies.  According to information of human rights organizations, 16 Palestinians, including 14 children and one woman, have died by fire, and 9 others, including 5 children, have sustained burns since the beginning of 2012.

PNGO and human rights organizations strongly condemn the failure of relevant parties to fulfill their obligations and take practical steps to ensure ending the suffering of the civilian population, while all justifications claimed by them are not acceptable.  There are concerns that the Gaza Strip may turn into an area of a disaster due to the deterioration of humanitarian conditions.  PNGO and human rights organizations believe that all concerned parties, including the international community, the occupying power pursuant to its international legal obligations and both governments in Ramallah and Gaza, should ensure protection of and respect for the inherent human dignity as a value whose waste can never be justified, or be subject to material or political bargains.  Causing this human suffering that may lead to loss of lives can never be justified.

PNGO and human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip call upon all parties to immediately act to stop the suffering of the civilian population and find sustainable and strategic solutions that take into the consideration the civilian population’s needs and ensure protection of their lives and respect for their basic rights, including supplying all consignments of medicines and foods and basic services that are necessary for the population.  PNGO and human rights organizations emphasize the following:

1. Israeli occupation authorities are legally responsible for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions of the Gaza Strip’s population and the illegal closure imposed on the Gaza Strip as a form of collective punishment, as Israel is an occupying power according to the international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

2. The international community is responsible for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip due to its failure to fulfill its legal and moral obligation and compel Israel to lift the illegal closure imposed on the Gaza Strip.

3. Both governments in Gaza and Ramallah must immediately and seriously act to end the electricity crisis, overcome the differences whose price is paid by the Gaza Strip’s population, abstain from pushing basic services and sectors into the political conflict, put an end to the suffering of the civilian population and find sustainable and strategic solutions that protect basic rights of people and the requirements for their adequate living conditions.

Day of Rage against the Prawer Plan will be held this Saturday, 30th of November, in the Naqab

10th November 2013 | Prawer Won’t Pass Campaign | Occupied Palestine

After a month laden with demonstrations and debates in the Interior Affairs Committee of the Knesset, this Saturday will see the largest event held thus far in the Naqab (Negev), with thousands of protesters expected to arrive from around the country. Parallel protests will be held in Gaza, Ramallah, Haifa, Berlin, The Hague, Cairo and 25 other cities around the world. This is a critical moment: the fate of up to 70,000 Palestinian-Bedouin indigenous to the Naqab (Negev) will soon be determined.

In their words, “We are human beings and citizens, but the Prawer Plan treats us like animals who can be moved around from place to place with no consultation or regard for our wishes. This Saturday, we will stand with our supporters from near and afar, and call for the recognition of the villages denied recognition and for a halt to this cruel plan.”

The Prawer-Begin plan will allow Israeli police to use force in its expulsion of Palestinian-Bedouins. It will also permit the police to arrest and imprison any Palestinian-Bedouin up to two years for violating the law. The plan negates Palestinian-Bedouin ownership rights in their ancestral land, it gives Israel’s Prime Minister unprecedented powers to implement the plan and it legitimizes the use of violence and coercion in the execution of the plan. Moreover, it is  a plan that has at its heart the demographic transformation of the Naqab (Negev) area, by expanding Jewish-Israeli presence on the expense of the indigenous Palestinian-Bedouins. In short, the Prawer-Begin Plan rises to a crime against humanity as delineated in the Rome Statue, Article 7.1 (d) and 7.2 (d).

“The state is treating us like objects to be shunted about,” says Huda Abu-Obeid, a law student and an activist against the Prawer Plan. “We are being denied the basic right to decide our own fate – to decide where to live and how to dispose our property, our basic right to a home. But we will not give up and will continue to resist the Plan nonviolently.”

Abu-Obeid adds: “Imagine the State of Israel enacted a law forbidding citizens whose name starts with an A to live west of Route 4, in central Israel. The Prawer Plan says something similar to the Palestinian-Bedouins of the Naqab – it forbids them from living and holding property west of Route 40. The government is trying to present the plan as ‘in the best interest of the Bedouin,’ while with one hand it is acting to destroy Bedouin villages through the Prawer Plan and with the other it is building new Jewish localities in the Negev, some of these in the very same places where the villages stand today.”

“The plan is titled ‘The plan to regularize Bedouin settlement in the Negev’, but it does nothing to solve problems and regularize our settlements – it stipulates only destruction,” says Fadi El-Obra, a 29-year-old from Rahat, active against the Prawer Plan. “What about the people the government plan to deprive of their homes? We Palestinian Bedouins live in the villages because our livelihood depends on it; you cannot uproot an entire population and urbanize it without consultation – and that is precisely what the government is doing.”

Israel’s government claims that the plan’s objective is to ‘modernize’ and ‘alleviate’ the socio-economic conditions of Palestinian-Bedouins runs counter to many historical facts, and is racist on its own. First and foremost, the Israeli government did not approach the Palestinian-Bedouin community to ask them for their needs, nor did they consult the Palestinian political leadership within Israel. This is a plan devised by the government without any input from those immediately and directly affected. Second, unlike Israel’s claim Palestinian-Bedouins are not ‘nomads’, they have settled in villages more than a century ago and have lead a sedentary, agricultural based life on their ancestral land for decades now.

The central rally will take place at 3:30 pm at the Hura Junction on Route 31 in the Naqab.

BDS workshop draws dozens of farmers and agricultural officials in Gaza

28th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Maria del Mar Fernandez and Mohammed Abedullah | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

(Photo by Shadi al-Qarra)
(Photo by Shadi al-Qarra)

On Monday, 25th November 2013, a conference on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli apartheid, colonization and occupation was held in Gaza City by the Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD) and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).

Abeer Abu Shawish of ACAD coordinated the event.

About 43 people, 22 women and 21 men, attended. They were farmers and representatives of the civil society and national organizations in the agriculture sector in Gaza, NPA representatives, and BDS activists.

“This kind of boycott of Israel is historical in Palestine and has succeeded in making changes in the past,” said ACAD director Muhsen Abu Ramadan. “The South African anti-apartheid movement succeeded using a boycott strategy. We should boycott and also ask for divestment from Israel in general, and also settlements. We also need to promote local products and to encourage investments in Palestinian products, as this will complement the boycott. We have to use international replacements for Israeli products if we don’t have a Palestinian product. Boycott is not only about trade but also educational centers. Israeli universities are used for research to kill Palestinians. Experience of the boycott movements has shown that it is a good way to affect Israel. It is hard to boycott here in Gaza because of the limited options, but we have to encourage the culture of boycotting. We have also to boycott some of the facilities and traders who deal with Israelis, because Israel tries to show that the conflict is just between politicians and not popular among the people. So, they tell other countries, why are you boycotting us when even Palestinians are not boycotting us? Some farmers’ unions in Europe adopted the boycott movement, and we can have a huge influence by boycotting agricultural products. We have to take care about Israeli procedures that intend to create normalization between Palestinian and Israeli products. We demand more serious positions against importing products from Israel at all, not just from settlements. We have to defend the rights of our farmers and their right to import and export products.”

Acting NPA country director Mahmoud Hamada showed the summary and recommendations of his organization’s 2012 report, “Dangerous Liaisons: Norwegian ties to the Israeli Occupation.”

He pointed out that “boycott is a national strategy for taking our rights, especially in the absence of compliance with international law with regard to Palestinians. This is a way to punish Israel, which is using the Palestinian market to make it just a consumer market so they, Israel, can benefit from it. The Israelis intend to create normalization between the occupied and the occupier. We found that 51 Israeli and international companies invest their money in settlements. We have contacted these companies and we contacted the Norwegian pension fund to boycott these companies. One of the companies is G4S , the British/Danish security firm which has held a contract to provide equipment and services to the Israeli prison system and checkpoints since 2007. Caterpillar provides the Israeli military with weaponized bulldozers used to illegally destroy homes and orchards of Palestinian families. And they are the very same bulldozers as the one that killed a 23-year-old American peace activist, Rachel Corrie, in Rafah in 2003, when she tried to protect the home of the Nasrallah family. Hewlett Packard, HP, provides the technology for Israeli gunboats that kill Palestinian fishermen, and provide the tracking system that controls all movements of Palestinians at checkpoints throughout the West Bank. We demand to talk with the investment funds in Europe, and that they boycott all these companies. Sadly, some Arab countries invest in them.”

He asserted the importance of joining the BDS movement, refusing to buy any Israeli product from the local markets and encouraging the national products. “By that, we can support our economy and destroy the Israeli economy.”

“We don’t have real experience in BDS as UAWC, or any other civil society organizations in Gaza,” said Sa’ad Ziada, project coordinator for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). “We just have some activities boycotting the Israeli products.”

“We established the Palestinian Day for Agriculture, held on 9th February 2013. We have been discussing how we can export our products without the intervention of Israeli companies. We have to create a long-term strategy and we need to talk with all factions in order to encourage them to create a culture of boycotting Israel. We want to make pressure on the Palestinian government to support the idea. We know that it’s really hard to boycott Israel, especially in Gaza, because most of our basic goods are from them, but at least we can boycott the products for which we already have national alternatives. The Israeli occupation is establishing a new form of slow killing, such as with this closure, the lack of jobs, electricity, unclean water, bad education, and using poisons in agricultural materials such as fertilizers and pesticides. That leads to the killing of Palestinians slowly, over the long term, not directly with bombs, but in another way. 95 million dollars is the profit from Israeli goods imported into the Gaza Strip, more than four million dollars per year. So that means if we boycott Israel, we can really affect the Israeli economy and change their policy towards us.”

“Of course the boycott is an important type of resistance. Not all the people are going to do armed resistance, but they can do this kind of resistance.”

Zaid Shuabi, outreach officer of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), gave a report by Skype from the West Bank.

He started his speech with a brief introduction to the BNC, its history, its start and its role and activities in Palestine.

The coalition reflects “the broad consensus among Palestinian civil society about the need for a broad and sustained campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS),” he said. “This resulted in the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel launched in July 2005, with the initial endorsement of over 170 Palestinian organizations. The signatories to this call represent the three major components of the Palestinian people: the refugees in exile, Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the oppressed Palestinian citizens of the Israeli state.”

Efforts to coordinate the BDS movement, which began to grow rapidly after the 2005 call was announced, culminated in the first Palestinian BDS Conference held in Ramallah in November 2007. Out of this conference emerged the BDS National Committee (BNC) as the Palestinian coordinating body for the BDS movement worldwide.”

The BNC’s mandate and role is:

• To strengthen and spread the culture of boycott as a central form of civil resistance to Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid;
• To formulate strategies and programs of action in accordance with the 9 July 2005 Palestinian Civil Society BDS Call;
• To serve as the Palestinian reference point for BDS campaigns in the region and worldwide;
• To serve as the national reference point for anti-normalization campaigns within Palestine;
• To facilitate coordination and provide support and encouragement to various BDS campaign efforts in all locations.

The BNC’s main activities include:

• Campaigning with BDS activists locally and worldwide by preparing and disseminating BNC statements; public speaking; organizing the annual Global BDS Action Day on 30 March (Palestinian Land Day);
• Advocacy by briefing and lobbying policy makers;
• Monitoring and Rapid Response by means of BNC calls for action against projects and initiatives which amount to recognition of or cooperation with Israel’s regime of apartheid, colonialism and occupation (i.e., normalization);
• Media Outreach in Palestine and abroad, based on a professional media strategy;
• Coordination with BDS activists locally and worldwide, including preparation of regional and international organizing meetings and conferences;
• Awareness Raising and Training for activists and organizations about BNC analysis, standards and BDS campaign work; through workshops, BNC information materials and the BDS campaign website;
• Developing the BDS movement in Arab countries;
• Research and BDS Strategy Development.

In the West Bank, they have made some progress boycotting Israel, although they have faced many problems with the Israelis. Shuabi talked about the boycott in many countries and how Palestinian traders are forced to buy Israeli goods, sometimes from settlements, so Israel can argue with Western audiences that Palestinians themselves buy from Israel.  He explained efforts to export goods through companies boycotting Israel. This project has made good progress outside Palestine.

After the speeches, there was an animated debate among organizers and participants.

An unrelenting assault on the village of Deir Istiya’s farmland

28th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Deir Istiya, Occupied Palestine

The village of Deir Istiya has encountered severe disruption to its agriculture and water supply since 1990 from the Israeli authorities and nearby illegal settlements. This has culminated in the Israeli army’s planned action to uproot nearly 2500 olive trees in the very near future.

The army’s mandate to perform this action stems from a court ruling given in May 2013 that gave permission for them to cut down all olives trees in the Wadi Kana (a valley making up a large part of the village’s farmland) that are under two years old. However trees that were planted over five years ago have been included in the marking action over the last five months, a marking action typically precludes the actual uprooting process.

On the 26th of November, four men in civilian clothing marked 157 more trees across the village farmland. Before the army actually begins the action, under Israeli law, they have to inform lawyers representing the village of the date that this will commence. Although from past experience, villagers across the West Bank have not received such prior warning in similar cases. If the army succeeds with its plan, the destruction of more than 2,500 olive trees will decimate the village’s agriculture and economy, destroying the livelihoods of many of the 4000 inhabitants of Deir Istiya.

This is the latest in a long line of aggressive acts that the Israeli government, army, court and nearby illegal settlers have inflicted upon the people of this village. In 1990 nearby settlers deposited sewage from three separate illegal settlements into the 12 springs that provided water for the village. This water was crucial for the irrigation of the traditional crops of the village, lemon and orange trees. As water became scarce for the village, the farmers abandoned the orange and lemon crops, replacing them with olive trees due to the fact they require far less water. This is typical of the Israeli state to dramatically reduce the Palestinians methods for survival only to attempt to snatch away the small ray of hope that they have managed to build for themselves in the face of such adversarial conditions.

Moreover, on the 23th of November, illegal settlers from a nearby settlement trespassed on Palestinian land in order to steal 100 meters of fencing material. The purpose of this fence was to protect a number of olive trees from pigs that have infested the area since Israeli settlers began releasing them for the exact purpose of disrupting Palestinian olive farming.

Demonstration against Israeli forces as invasions and arrests increase in Azzoun

28th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Azzoun, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday afternoon in Azzoun village, there was a demonstration attended by more than 250 people. This protest was against the Israeli forces’ continuing night invasions, arrests, and their treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

The demonstration began in the center of Azzoun at noon, hundreds of people marched to the outskirts of the village, several speeches were given and a reception was held after the protest ended. The population of Azzoun has been subject to an increase in night raids; there have been 32 arrests so far this month. The average number of people arrested in the village since 2007 is 170 Palestinians per year.

In 2007 a young Palestinian, Jihad Abu Haniya, was arrested and sentenced to 16 years in prison for being a suspected member of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. His parents are allowed to visit him once a year, and at their most recent visit they were extremely concerned for his physical wellbeing. After the demonstration, arranged by Azzoun Municipality and Prisoner’s Club, villagers visited Jihad’s family to show their solidarity and support.

The village of Azzoun has suffered considerably due to the occupation, after 1948 the villagers lost 24,000 dunums of land and today they have access to less than half of their land due to settlements established in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The illegal settlements of Qarne Shomron and Malalae Shomron now occupy approximately half of the land with infrastructure separating Azzoun into smaller areas. Agriculture constitutes the majority of the villagers’ income, and the loss of land is a huge burden to many families. Furthermore, due to road blockades surrounding Azzoun, trading is complicated with rest of the West Bank, and 47% of the inhabitants are unemployed. Many citizens have been forced to find jobs in Israel, but every time a member of a family is arrested, all family members lose their work permits.