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.