Fifty Reasons to Condemn Israel's Human Rights Record

For more than 50 years Israel has systematically violated the human rights of the Palestinian people. For 32 years Israel has refused to extend the protections of the Fourth Geneva Convention to Palestinians under occupation. Today, nearly six years after the handshake on the White House lawn initiated the Oslo "peace process", Israel as occupier continues to violate most of the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, with its various 'security' forces added another blow to the respect for human rights.

Article 1: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,..."
1. Israel as an exclusive Jewish state does not recognize equality of all peoples;
2. Palestinians under occupation are considered foreigners in their homeland.

Article 2: "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind..."
3. Israel discriminates against Palestinians (including its own citizens) in all areas of life.

Article 3: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person"
4. Palestinians under occupation are denied liberty.
5. Israel's shoot to kill policy denies right to life.
6. Palestinians subjected to beatings, shootings, and arbitrary arrest are denied personal security.
7. Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property are rarely prevented or punished by Israel.
8. Palestinians face arbitrary evictions, deportations, and house demolitions.
9. Palestinians have been abducted by Israeli secret services.

Article 5: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"
10. Israel has legalized torture and uses it routinely in interrogations, even against children.
11. Palestinians have died under interrogation and in Israeli custody.
12. Palestinians in Israeli prisons face inhuman and degrading conditions.
13. Prisoners, including children, have been denied visits by relatives.

Article 7: "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law..."
14. There is no equality before the law for Jews and non Jews. The Oslo process provides for a dual and unequal system of legal procedures in the occupied territories.
15. Palestinians living in Israel are generally given heavier prison sentences than Jewish citizens.

Article 9: "No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile"
16. Palestinians are subjected to mass arbitrary arrests.
17. A great number of Palestinians, including children, remain in administrative detention.
18. Two-thirds of the Palestinian people remain exiled from their homeland.

Article 10: "Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal..."
19. Palestinians are denied fair and public trials.
20. Palestinians are still being incarcerated for up to two years or more without charges or trials.

Article 11: "Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty...in public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense..."
21. Palestinians under arrest are not presumed innocent until proven guilty and are frequently not told of the charges against them.
22. Palestinians under arrest often do not get to see lawyers during the first 15 days - or longer - of interrogation.

Article 12: "No one shall be subject to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence..."
23. Israeli soldiers still raid Palestinian homes and conduct sweeps through villages.

Article 13: "Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country."
24. Palestinians are denied freedom of movement within the occupied territories, between the occupied territories and Israel, as well as travel to other countries.
25. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are barred from entering Jerusalem.
26. Palestinians, including those who are citizens of Israel, do not have freedom of residence.
27. Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are being stripped of their right to live in the city of their birth.
28. Palestinian refugees have been denied the right of return to the land of their birth.

Article 15: "Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality..."
29. Palestinians under occupation and Palestinians in refugee camps have been denied the right to a nationality and state.

Article 16: "...the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state"
30. Family reunification has recently been made even more difficult for Palestinians under occupation.
31. Many Jerusalem residents are being expelled from their homes when they reach 16 years of age.
32. Family members suffer collective punishment for the alleged offenses of relatives.

Article 17: "...No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property"
33. Palestinians face the demolition of their homes, as acts of reprisal or because they are built without permits (which are almost always denied).
34. Palestinians face the confiscation of their land for settlements, military use, security zones and bypass roads, and the destruction of their fruit trees and other property.
35. Palestinians are denied the control and adequate use of their water resources.
36. Waste from settlements is dumped on Palestinian-owned land.

Article 18: "Everyone has the right...to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance"
37. The Israeli government has barred Muslim citizens under 30 years of age from participating in the religious pilgrimage to Mecca.
38. Israel frequently prevents Muslims in the occupied territories from praying in Mosques in Jerusalem and Hebron.

Article 20: "Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association..."
39. Palestinians have been tear gassed, shot and beaten by Israeli security forces during peaceful demonstrations.

Article 23: "Everyone has the right to work...Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work"
40. Israeli-imposed closures have prevented tens of thousands of Palestinians from reaching their jobs and starved the economy of the territories.
41. Conditions of economic siege have caused a steep decline in the standard of living in the territories.

Article 25: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care..."
42. Israel routinely denies Palestinians building permits to relieve an acute housing shortage.
43. Palestinians from the territories are frequently denied access to hospitals in East Jerusalem and Israel.
44. Closures prevent the delivery of medical supplies.

Article 26: "Everyone has the right to education"
45. Palestinian children living near Jerusalem are prevented from attending their schools in East Jerusalem.
46. Students from the Gaza Strip are prevented from reaching their universities in the West Bank.
47. Schools are frequently raided by Israeli soldiers, and students injured.

Article 28: "Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration can be fully realized"
48. Palestinians who have lived under occupation for 32 years are being denied sovereignty and meaningful control over their own lives in a state of their own.
49. Under the Oslo process Palestinian human rights have been sacrified to Israel's security concerns.
50. During the 32-year-long occupation, Israel has refused to implement the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, UN Security Council resolutions, and various Covenants and Protocols of International Law.