11 March, 1996

STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

IN THE WEST BANK

Land and Water Establishment

PO Box 20873

Jerusalem, via Israel

Tel: (972) (2) 812364/824559

Fax: (972) (2) 811072

email: lawe@netvision.net.il

Land and Water Establishment expresses its concern that the fundamental human rights of the Palestinians and Israel's international obligations under the Oslo Accords are both being sacrificed in pursuit of security objectives. The so-called security measures imposed by the Israeli government are no more than a collective punishment and, as has been proven in the past, only serve to heighten hostilities between the two nations.

LAWE, in response to the grave situation facing Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and Autonomy areas, will begin to issue continuous updates on the human rights situation in the West Bank.

The following is a brief summary of the situation, and some of the more serious human rights abuses currently taking place.

Since the bombing in Tel Aviv on 4 March, which followed on the heels of two bus-bombings in Jerusalem, the situation in the West Bank and Gaza has become increasingly unstable. The Israeli government has imposed a series of highly oppressive security measures in both areas. Israeli troops have been massed along the green line, and tanks have been deployed along the Qalqilya-Tulkarem border in the north of the West Bank. Palestinians are preparing themselves for an Israeli re-entry into Area A.

Immediately following the Monday attack in Tel Aviv, Israeli authorities clamped a curfew on 465 villages and towns in the West Bank. The seven autonomous zones in the West Bank have been declared closed military zones, effectively placing its residents under town arrest. Major transportation routes have been closed, no movement has been allowed in between the different Areas (A, B, and C) of the West Bank, and no produce, supplies or any other goods or people have been allowed to pass.

Severe food shortages have already been reported in refugee camps, particularly in al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron. On 9 March a food shipment from Dura village in the Hebron region was refused entry into al-Fawwar. The situation in this camp has become critical, and on several occasions the sick in the camp have been denied access to medical care. Gaza is facing an acute shortage of sugar and flour. Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Jenin have reported shortages in basic produce, hard goods and petrol.

Economic activity has nearly ground to a halt, as employees cannot reach their places of work and farmers cannot reach their fields. Estimates put the current unemployment rate at 70-80%.

Education has suffered severely. Students and professors cannot reach their schools, and transportation is hazardous due to feared settler attacks. The following educational facilities have been closed by the Israeli authorities: the Technical Institute in Abu Dis, the Islamic University in Hebron (2000 students), Hebron Polytechnic (900 students), the Islamic Welfare Association, the Young Men's Islamic Association, the Central Islamic Welfare Association, the Islamic Science and Technology Association, and the Islamic religion faculty at al Quds University in Jerusalem. In addition, the sealing of the different areas of the West Bank has prevented the entire university community of 5000 from entering the Bir Zeit University campus, north of Ramallah. Students continue to be prevented from attending classes, and the students from Gaza have been forced to quit their studies and return home. Bethlehem University has announced that classes will be suspended until the closure is lifted due to lack of students and staff.

The closure is also affecting Palestinian medical institutions. Hospitals are on high alert due to the shortages of basic medical supplies, food and personnel, which have been prevented from reaching area hospitals. In addition, these "security measures" are preventing the sick and infirm from obtaining treatment. In one case, parents from Hossan village (Area C) and their 1 1/2 year old sick child violated curfew on 5 March at 9:00 at night in order to take their child to Caritas Hospital in Bethlehem. The Israeli soldiers refused to allow them to enter the Area A, and a two hour negotiation ensued with the Joint Coordinating Committee. The Israeli army continually refused entry, and eventually the family, at 11:00 at night, gave up and carried their child on foot through the hills surrounding Bethlehem in order to reach the hospital.

In another, more tragic case, on 10 March an ambulance carrying a 3 week old baby from Qalqilya to Tulkarem was refused permission to travel between the two cities. The baby's situation was critical, and he died before any decision was made to allow the ambulance to pass. Physicians for Human Rights reported also that a patient from Gaza died in hospital after she was delayed at Erez check-point for over five hours and forced to move from one ambulance to another.

Ambulances in the Tulkarem area have generally not been able to travel, and in Bethlehem a patient suffering from kidney failure is not being allowed to go to the hospital in Hebron for treatment. The more advanced medical facilities in Jerusalem are now totally out of reach, and therefore cancer and other patients are not receiving the testing and treatments they need.

The Palestinian Authority has arrested somewhere between 400-600 people, mainly HAMAS and Islamic Jihad activists and Popular Front members. The Israeli army has arrested some 175 people in areas under its control. Most of these prisoners are being kept in prisons inside Israel, in violation of international law (which prohibits detainees from occupied territories from being detained outside the occupied territory). In addition, most of those arrested have been placed in administrative detention for one year, which means arrested without charge and kept without trial.

A total of seven homes belonging to family members of the bombers have been sealed, and two have already been demolished. In one case, during the demolition of a home in Burqa village, a neighbor's house was destroyed as well. Family members of several of the bombers have been arrested. Here it is important to note that this type of collective punishment, in which family members of bombers are arrested, their homes destroyed and their villages punished, is a selectively applied punishment only to Palestinians. The family home of Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, who carried out the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron in 1994 in which 29 Palestinians were killed, remains standing, and no action was taken against his family.

All international borders have been closed to Palestinians.

LAWE condemns these oppressive measures taken by the Israeli government, and fears that such measures will only provoke further acts of violence as the situation becomes more desperate for Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Maj.-Gen. Oren Shahor, the government coordinator in the territories, have already announced that the sealing of Areas A, B and C will remain in effect for at least another two weeks. Following the closure of HAMAS' social and educational institutions, the HAMAS organization has already revoked its cease-fire issued shortly after the Tel Aviv bombing. These factors seem to indicate that the human rights situation will continue to deteriorate.

Land and Water Establishment is a non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. Your comments on the above are welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact us.