Within a nine-day period at the end of February and beginning of March 1996, Palestinian suicide-bombers killed 58 and wounded some 200 persons in Israel. 1 The first bombing, which occurred in Jerusalem on February 25, killed 25 and injured scores of persons. On the same day, an attack in Ashkelon killed a soldier and injured 36 persons. Nineteen persons were killed and seven were severely injured in a bus-bombing in Jerusalem on March 3, and the following day, 13 per¬sons were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack in Tel Aviv.2
Following the attacks, Israel imposed a total closure on the territories and began to implement measures, including demolition of the homes of the families of the perpetrators of the attacks, arrest of male members of their families, imposi¬tion of curfew and closure on their home villages, closure of all West Bank villages and towns, closure of educational and welfare institutions, and large-scale deten¬tion, some administrative. In addition, a decision was made, in principle, to deport activists in Islamic organizations and family members of the suicide-bombers.
Israel has the right, and even the duty, to take measures to prevent additional attacks and to protect its citizens, but in doing so, Israel must adhere to its obliga¬tions to human-rights standards, international taw, and the various conventions to which Israel is a party. This report examines the violations of human rights of Palestinians in the ter¬ritories following the measures Israel had taken since the bombing attacks started. B'Tselem was assisted by information supplied to it by various human-rights organizations, Israeli and Palestinian, operating in the territories.

Demolition of Houses

OC Central Command, Ilan Biran, declared that the "house of each family of a sui¬cide [bomber), or one who intends to commit suicide, will be destroyed and the surrounding area will be severely punished. That will be the case in every village and town. We shall act mercilessly."
During March, security forces sealed nine houses of Palestinian families. Eight of them were either demolished by explosives or by bulldozers, and the ninth home was cemented. As a consequence of the explosion of one of the homes, a neighbor's house was totally destroyed.
The justification for demolition of houses currently voiced is that it deters potential attackers. According to B'Tselem's figures, since the beginning of the Intifada, more than 400 Palestinian homes have been demolished. However, the attacks continue.
Judge Amnon Strashnov, formerly Chief Military Prosecutor, recognizing this fact, questioned the assumption that the sanction of house demolitions is effective and acts as a deterrent: "This assumption has not been proven with certainty by any empirical research. Terrorist acts continued, as we know, notwithstanding the house demolitions. Brigadier General Aryeh Shalev, who was in charge of several house demolitions as Commander of the Judea alief Samaria Region in 1974-1976, in his research on the Intifada, wrote that demolition of houses did not contribute to the curbing of violence, and possibly aggravated it.
In its opinion, the Supreme Court placed a mantle of legitimacy on demolition of houses, and ruled as it had in dozens of previous cases over the years. In deciding to allow the demolitions, the court showed that it acts as a rubber stamp for governmental actions in the territories, and not as a defender of human rights and the rule of law.

Arrests and Interrogations

In recent weeks, Israeli security forces have been making wide-scale arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Some 1,000 Palestinians have been arrested, most of them suspected of belonging to Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and a small number of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
As of March 23, more than 580 West Bank Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank. According to HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, most of these arrests occurred in the area of Hebron.
On the night of March 27, the IOF initiated a wave of arrests in the Bir Zeit and Ramallah areas. The following day, media reports indicated that security forces had raided student dormitories at Bir Zeit University and homes in the city, and in the Ramallah District. That night, 376 Palestinians were arrested in the area, most of them students studying at Bir Zeit University. 3

Administrative Detention

Many of those arrested in recent weeks were placed in administrative detention, but the precise number has not been stated officially. According to figures provid¬ed by the IOF spokesperson on March 27, 324 Palestinians are being held in admin¬istrative detention. On February 22, before the bombings, the IOF spokesperson fixed the number of administrative detainees at 208.
According to figures B'Tselem received from the Palestinian organization, A¬-Damir: Prisoners Support Center, on March 26, 1996, 165 of the some 600 persons arrested in March were placed in administrative detention.

Arrest of Relatives

On March 5, OC Central Command, Ilan Biran, announced that he would arrest all male first-degree relatives of the suicide-bombers.
Nablus brigade commander, Col. Nitzan, said that "we arrested all the males in the families of the suicide-[bombers] to the degree of cousins."
The decision to conduct sweeping arrests based on the sole criterion of family relation, making absolutely no attempt to prove some involvement in acts of vio¬lence, constitutes collective and extra-judicial punishment.

Torture during Interrogations

Reports of human-rights organizations and attorneys of Palestinians detained dur¬ing the past month indicate that interrogators have used methods of torture and abuse in numerous instances.

Denial of the Rights of Detainees

Information about Location of Detainees

In most cases of arrest, no notice was given to the detainee's family that he was being detained and the location where he was being held. Between February 25 and March 29, 349 Palestinian families contacted HaMoked for help in locating rel¬atives who had been detained.

Detention in Israel

According to figures provided by HaMoked, the majority of persons detained in the past month are being held in detention facilities inside Israel. Transfer of pris¬oners from occupied territory to detention in the territory of the occupying coun¬try is prohibited under international law.

Prohibition on Meeting with Legal Counsel

Security legislation in the territories allows GSS [General Security Services] inter¬rogators to prevent, by order and for a period of up to 30 days, detainees from meeting with their attorney. The GSS has made wide scale use of this power.

Detention Conditions of Minors

On March 25, 1996, attorneys on behalf of Defense of Children International described the harsh prison conditions in which several minors are being held in the GSS Interrogations Wing at Shikma Prison, in Ashkelon.4

Violence during Detention

Several Palestinian detainees being held in the Russian Compound, in Jerusalem, were violently beaten by police after the bus-bombing in Jerusalem on March 3 and the bombing in Tel Aviv the following day.

Closure of Educational and Welfare Institutions

At its meeting on March 3, the government also decided that "the Hamas centers would be broken up." Pursuant to this decision, the security forces closed education¬al and charitable institutions which function, according to them, as Hamas centers.
Closure of educational and welfare institutions because they ostensibly identify with Islamic movements, without a judicial finding that the institution is involved in illegal acts, is collective punishment, which violates the right of free¬dom of association and the right to education.

Restrictions on Movement

Closure

Immediately following the attacks in Jerusalem and Ashkelon on February 25, the government imposed a total closure on the territories.
B'Tselem recognizes Israel's right to determine who will enter its territory. However, under international law, Israel is obligated to enable the residents of the territories to live suitably. This duty includes, inter alia, ensuring their right to make a living, to study, to pray, and to obtain necessary medical care.
The prolonged closure on the territories and the internal closure imposed on West Bank communities grossly violate the rights of Palestinians in the territo¬ries [and in Jerusalem] and constitutes collective punishment of some two mil¬lion persons, in critical areas like health, economics and education.
Israel justifies imposition of the closure on the grounds that the closure is necessary to ensure the security of its citizens. However, this contention cannot justify the severe distress the closure causes to the entire Palestinian population in various critical areas of daily life.
Unlike earlier instances of closure, this time, restrictions on movement were also placed on foreign workers of international non-governmental organizations, which made it difficult for them to provide medical and welfare services.

Ramifications of the Closure on Health

Difficulty in Obtaining Medical Treatment

Since only basic health services are available in the Gaza Strip, its residents must utilize hospitals in Israel or the West Bank for more advanced treatments.
The total closure on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank make it extremely diffi¬cult for ill persons in the territories to obtain [all kinds of] medical treatment in West Bank cities or in Israel. Very few patients from the territories are permitted to leave them to receive treatments in Israel or in East Jerusalem. Consequently, all the treatments, examinations and surgical operations that had been scheduled for Palestinians to receive in Israel and East Jerusalem were canceled. For example, some 60 cancer patients from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who receive regu¬lar chemotherapy treatments in Israel are unable to receive these treatments because of the closure. The case is the same for children with kidney problems who were receiving dialysis in Israel.
The closure prevents residents of the West Bank and Gaza from obtaining access to vital medical services in East Jerusalem. The spokesperson of Maqassed Hospital stated in early March that 220 of the hospital's 264 beds were empty since sick Palestinians from the territories were not permitted to enter Jerusalem.

Cases of Death

Khadija Muhammad 'Adwan, aged 54, from Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, died on February 27, 1996, shortly after she arrived at Assaf Harofe Hospital in Israel following a delay of some hours at the Erez Checkpoint;
Muhammad Awad Ali Hawalda, a two-year old infant from Khan Yunis, died on February 29, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, after a request to be transferred urgently to Maqassed Hospital, in East Jerusalem, was not approved;
Ahmad Muhammad Hassan Za'anun, aged 32, from Rafah, died on March 3, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, after requests to transfer him to an Israeli hospital for emergency treatment were not approved;
Shaker Bassem Yusuf Shawaneh, a three-week-old infant from Qalqilya, died on March 10 at the hospital in Tulkarem following prolonged delay in reaching the hospital from Qalqilya. Following an IDF investigation, it was recommended that disciplinary charges, for failure to hasten the procedure of allowing the infant to move between towns, be brought against the assistant commander of the Israeli Liaison Office;
Salma Alyan, aged 80, from the Sheikh Sa'ad neighborhood adjoining Jerusalem, died on March 10, a few days after her request to enter Israel to obtain vital medical treatment recommended by her physician was refused;
The newborn child of Jamila Al-Khadur, aged 43, from Bani Na'im village, Hebron District, died on March 15, several hours after birth. Jamila gave birth at home after the soldiers at the checkpoint leading into Hebron refused to let her pass;
Newborn twins of Hanan Khalid Zaid, aged 24, from Nahalin village, died shortly after birth on the morning of March 11, 1996. Hanan gave birth while wait¬ing more than an hour at the IDF checkpoint, where the soldiers refused to grant her permission to cross in order to go to the hospital in Bethlehem;
Mustafa Abd Al-Wahed Thabet, aged 54, from Shukba village, west of Ramallah, died on March 13, from a heart attack while waiting at a checkpoint near Rantis village for an ambulance that the soldiers at the checkpoint had summoned.

Restriction on Movement of Medical Personnel

West Bank

According to Dr. Riad Za'nun, the P A's [Palestinian Authority] Minister of Health, during the internal closure, 318 physicians and 705 nurses, technicians and admin¬istrative employees were absent from their jobs in the Palestinian health system, constituting 60 percent of the health system's employees.

East Jerusalem

Every time a closure is imposed on the territories, medical personnel from the ter¬ritories working at hospitals in East Jerusalem have difficulty reaching work. Under these circumstances, the hospitals in East Jerusalem cannot provide proper treatment, which in some instances endangers the patient's life.

Lack of Medical Equipment and Medications

At the beginning of the closure, Israel forbade the movement of medical equipment and medications from Israel to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Within days, hospitals, clinics and pharmacies in the territories felt the lack of medical equipment and medications routinely brought from, or through, Israel. Human-rights organizations reported that several clinics were forced to close because of the lack of medications.
Only on March 12, after three weeks of total closure, were procedures devel¬oped to enable, upon the request of the P A, movement of drugs from Israel through the Erez Checkpoint.

Movement of Food to the Territories

On February 25, following the suicide-bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon, Karney Crossing, intended for the movement of goods to and from the Gaza Strip, was hermetically closed. The crossing was opened on February 29, but it was once again closed on March 5, after it was learned that the perpetrator of the attack in Tel Aviv had entered through it to Israel.
On March 8, a sea closure of one week was imposed on the Gaza Strip. The clo¬sure prohibited thousands of fishermen from going out to sea. Severe restrictions remain on fishing along the Gaza Strip's coast after removal of the total sea closure. The sea closure and restrictions that followed created a drastic fall in the supply of fish, an important part of the local residents' diet.
In the West Bank, too, there were reports of scarcity of basic foodstuffs and fuel during the internal closure. The scarcity resulted from the difficulties in transport¬ing goods from one town to another.
As a result of reports on the shortage of food products in the Gaza Strip, on March 12, Israel began to relax the closure as regards entry of goods. Since March 19, in coordination with Israeli merchants, the Palestinians and the Liaison Office, raw materials and goods from Israel have been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip via the Erez and Karney crossings.

Economic Ramifications of the Closure

Following many years in which Israel prevented the establishment of an indepen¬dent economy in the territories, the economy of the territories is almost totally dependent on their relationship with Israel. The underlying principle of the Oslo accords as regards economic matters is that of one economic market, comprised of Israel and the territories that enables free movement of goods and workers.

Preventing Sources of Income

Some 60,000-70,000 families in the territories depend for their sustenance on a fam¬ily member working in Israel, in the Erez industrial area in the north of the Gaza Strip, or in Jewish settlements in the territories. Because of the closure, Palestinian workers are prevented from reaching their place of work in Israel or in Erez.
Many Palestinians who do not receive permits to enter Israel and have difficul¬ty finding employment in the territories enter Israel illegally in order to earn a living and support their families. After the closure was imposed, the police conducted
a broad-scale operation to locate and arrest Palestinian workers staying in Israel without permits. (They were given heavy sentences, imprisonment and fines.) Many Palestinians who work in the territories in industry or construction are without work because of the shortage of raw materials, whose entry from Israel is prohibited. Estimates have set the number of such persons at tens of thousands.
Even following partial lifting of the sea closure on March 14, severe restrictions on fishing remain, affecting thousands of workers in the Gaza Strip.
Workers in other sectors of the economy [like exports] are also harmed by the closure. The internal closure in the West Bank also caused an increase in the num¬ber of unemployed: many workers could not reach their place of work, thousands of farmers were prevented from getting to their fields, and thousands of truck and cab drivers found themselves without work. Many shopkeepers could not reach their shops. The head of the Jenin Bureau of Commerce reported in early March that some 90 percent of the stores in the city were closed because their owners were unable to enter the city.
On March 22, the P A's Minister of Labor, Dr. Samir Ghosheh, stated at a meet¬ing of the Palestinian cabinet that unemployment among Palestinians had reached 78 percent. Estimates of other authorities and human-rights organizations reached a comparable percentage.
Human-rights organizations report an increase in the number of families in Gaza who do not have enough money to buy food. Numerous families who lost their source of income were forced to adopt an unbalanced diet, based primarily on bread. Health personnel in Gaza fear for the health of infants who suffer from malnutrition as a result of the absence of variety in their diet.
Beginning on March 17, the closure was eased, allowing a certain number of Palestinians to return to their jobs. The recent easing of restrictions concerning the exit of goods from the Gaza Strip, and the entry of raw materials, assist Palestinians working in agriculture, commerce, and manufacture.
B'Tselem maintains that Israel is obligated to provide unemployment benefits to Palestinian workers who paid to Israel's National Insurance Institute (NII) amounts similar to those paid by Israelis. Unlike the latter, Palestinian workers, who paid enormous sums to the NII over the years, are not entitled to any social benefits. The reason for this denial of payment is that the NII Law grants social benefits' rights only to Israeli residents.

Ramifications of the Closure on Education

At many schools in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, studies were disrupted because of the internal closure, since many of the teachers live elsewhere in the West Bank and were prevented from coming to work. The severe problems in education remained in East Jerusalem after the government lifted, in the middle of March, the internal closure.
Walid Zagha, Director General of the PA's Ministry of Education, stated that more than 50 percent of the teachers in the territories did not come to work because of the internal closure, and that 71,000 students suffered as a result.
The severe restrictions on movement also affected higher education in the ter¬ritories, and resulted in the suspension of studies of tens of thousands of students in the West Bank. Bethlehem University, An-Najah University in Nablus, and Bir Zeit University north of Ramallah, announced the cessation of studies for the peri¬od of the internal closure. Hebron University and several colleges in the West Bank closed their doors pursuant to military orders.
All students from the Gaza Strip studying at universities and colleges in the West Bank were ordered to return to their homes.

Curfews

On March 3, the government decided to take especially harsh measures against communities in which perpetrators of attacks and those who directed them live. The next day, a curfew was placed on the AI-Fawwar refugee camp, where the perpetrators of the suicide-bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon on February 25, had lived.
On March 5, a curfew was placed on Burqa village, Nablus District, where Raed Sharnuby, who had perpetrated the attack in Jerusalem two days earlier, had lived.
The curfew on the two villages lasted 10 days, excluding several hours in which it was suspended to enable the residents to obtain food. On March 15, the curfew was lifted, but the villages continue to be under closure.

Conclusions and Recommendations

As a result of the suicide bomb attacks in Israel in February and March, during the past month Israel has taken several measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that grossly violate basic human rights of the Palestinian population. These measures include, inter alia, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, demolition of the homes of families of those who perpetrated the attacks and arrest of family members, closure of educational institutions and adminis¬trative detention.
The prolonged and hermetic closure on the territories causes severe hardship to Palestinians living there. Although the government has imposed numerous clo¬sures in the territories since 1991, no procedures have been established to prevent serious harm to the Palestinian population. Particularly lacking are procedures concerning health matters, whose absence are liable to result in the deaths of per¬sons requiring medical treatment.
Israel contends that these measures are necessary to ensure the security of its citizens and to prevent further attacks, but security considerations cannot justify the stringent punitive measures currently employed.
The measures taken by Israel also reflect a policy of discrimination against Palestinians based on nationality. When Israelis carried out violent acts against
Palestinians, such as the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs [the Ibrahimi Mosque], the government honored the principle that each individual is responsi¬ble for his or her own acts, and refrained from collective punishment against the perpetrators' families.
Israel has not presented a shred of evidence to substantiate its claim that these measures will deter future attacks. Indeed, their efficacy as security measures is liable to be short-lived. Measures like imposing a closure on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, imposition of curfews on whole villages, and demolition of houses of families of Palestinians suspected of killing Israelis, leaving entire families home¬less, are liable to backfire and increase acts of violence.
B'Tselem urges the Israeli government to cease immediately the violations of human rights of Palestinians in the territories. Israel must, inter alia:
Refrain from collectively punishing innocent persons, and relatives, neighbors and communities of perpetrators of attacks;
Ensure sources of income to Palestinian workers who have been deprived of earning a living as a result of the closure, enable freedom of movement to Palestinians living within the various areas in the territories, and permit medical personnel and ill persons to reach medical facilities;
Respect the basic rights of detainees held in its facilities immediately upon detention, details of the individual's detention must be forwarded forthwith to the family, and detainees must not be interrogated with methods that cause suffering or constitute torture;
Restrict, as much as possible, the use of administrative detention. In the event that sufficient evidence to convict the detainee is lacking, the detainee should be released and must not be held for prolonged periods without being indicted; Refrain from deporting Palestinians, such action being a violation of interna¬tional law.

Footnotes

1. The number of persons killed does not include the four suicide-bombers.
2. Those killed were 31 Israeli citizens, 13 members of the security forces, 3 Palestinians, and 11 foreign nationals.
3. Ha'aretz, March 29,1996.
4. The ages of the individuals involved range between 16 and 17 1/2 Under Israeli and international law, these prisoners are defined as minors. The military regula¬tions applying in the territories define minors as persons under the age of 16.

These extracts were chosen, and the text edited, by the editors of the Journal and all their responsibility.