Hamas bombings on hold

December 8, 2003

Today's Contents:

Weekly Roundup, November 25- December 3 (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights), A Palestinian Report of Israeli Occupation Actions

Hamas Bombings Appear To Be On Hold (Sydney Morning Herald), A Report On Mixed Results of Cease-Fire Talks [While Palestinian and Israeli elites are discussing the pros and cons of the Geneva proposals, the situation on the ground for Palestinians is getting increasingly desperate. This report from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights details an acceleration in human rights abuses by the Israeli occupation forces in the 2 weeks prior to last Thursday, including the killing of 12 Palestinians in military attacks by occupation forces on populated areas. A third of the victims were children and a quarter of them were the targets of internationally illegal extra-judicial executions. 4 civilians were killed in the Gaza strip in what the occupation forces were compelled to admit was a completely unprovoked attack. In a grave breach of international law and with the unfortunate connivance of the Israeli High Court, 12 Palestinians were deported from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. 585 donums (585 x 1000 square meters) of prime Palestinian agricultural land, mostly in the Tulkarem area, were razed to continue construction ofthe deeply divisive separation barrier. In addition, Israeli forces demolished a number of houses and maintained severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians amounting in many cases to effective siege. In this same period of time the intensity of Palestinian violence has been rather less severe: one rogue Palestinian tried, unsuccessfully, to stab Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall. In fact, as the second article below, from the New York Times, reports, there have been no fatal attacks at all on Israeli civilians for two months. Israeli security forces think that this is the result of an unannounced cease-fire by Hamas, the group that has launched the most attacks against Israeli civilians during the Intifada. Given the Israeli response to this already dramatic reduction in Palestinian violence, it isn't hard to see why the little-reported full cease-fire negotiations among the Palestinian factions in Egypt at the end of last week ended in failure. Another effect of this one-sided violent repression is that it undermines the legitimacy that Palestinian assent to a peace deal might have had. Who can give their free assent under such conditions? AWJW] Israeli Forces Continue to Perpetrate Crimes in the OPTs: Weekly Report Nov 20 -- Dec 3 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 4 December 2003 http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2003/04-12-2003.htm During the period covered in this report, particularly in the past 10 days, violations of the human rights of Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) carried out by Israeli occupying forces have escalated, including incursions into Palestinian areas, shooting at Palestinian civilians, especially children, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, house demolition and leveling of agricultural land. Israeli occupying forces have also continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPTs. During the last two weeks, 12 Palestinians, including 4 children, were killed and a number of others were injured by Israeli occupying forces. As demonstrated by the ongoing investigations carried out by PCHR, Israeli occupying forces continue to carry out a systematic policy of extrajudicial killing. During the period under consideration this policy was demonstrated by the unlawful killing of 3 Palestinians during an Israeli military incursion into Ramallah. In the West Bank, Israeli occupying forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian controlled areas including Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, al-Bireh, and Hebron. The largest incursion during this period was into Ramallah and al-Bireh on Monday, 1 December 2003, which left dead 4 Palestinians, 3 of whom were killed when Israeli occupying forces demolished a building while they were inside. In total, 8 Palestinians, including 4 children, were killed by Israeli occupying forces during these incursions. Israeli occupying forces carried out operations in these areas using tanks, armored personnel carriers, military jeeps, helicopters, and civilian cars used by undercover units to infiltrate into Palestinian communities. Also during these incursions, dozens of Palestinians were arrested and a number of houses were destroyed as a form of collective punishment against families of alleged Palestinian activists. Israeli occupying forces have continued construction of the "separation wall" inside the West Bank. This week, Israeli occupying forces razed approximately 500 donums[1] of Palestinian agricultural land in the Tulkarem district for the construction of the "separation wall." Occupying forces also confiscated 22 donums of land in Zeita village. According to the planned tract of the wall, Zeita village will be isolated from the rest of the West Bank by the wall, while the neighboring Nazlat 'Eissa and Nazlat Abu Nar villages will be trapped between the wall and an Israeli military fence. In the Gaza Strip, 4 Palestinian civilians, including 3 members of a single family, targeted while they were on their way to visit relatives during the Eid, were killed by Israeli occupying forces. Israeli occupying forces have acknowledged that the three relatives were killed by mistake. The fourth victim was killed by Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli occupying forces also indiscriminately shelled Palestinian residential areas, especially in the southern Gaza Strip. As a result, more than 10 Palestinian civilians, including several children, were injured. Israeli occupying forces conducted 7 incursions into Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip. They razed 63 donums of Palestinian agricultural land in Khan Yunis and the central Gaza Strip, and destroyed 4 houses in Rafah. In violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, Israeli forces took retaliatory measures against the families of Palestinians Israel alleges have ordered, facilitated, or carried out attacks against Israeli targets. In this context, Israeli occupying forces destroyed 8 Palestinian houses in Ramallah, Hebron and Jenin. In a punitive measure against Palestinian detainees, on Sunday, 23 November 2003, Israeli occupying forces transferred 3 Palestinian detainees from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. They left the three at three different locations in the Gaza Strip. On Thursday, 20 November 2003, the Israeli High Court held a session to consider appeals submitted by the three detainees concerning the transfer orders issued by the head of the Israeli military central command to transfer 18 Palestinian detained by Israeli occupying forces from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. Israeli occupying forces implemented the original transfer orders against the three detainees before the Israeli High Court had issued a ruling in their cases. The number of Palestinian detainees transferred by Israeli occupying forces from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip in November 2003 increased to 5. These measures constitute unlawful transfers within the meaning of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The unlawful transfer of a protected person also constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law, as detailed in article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime, as further clarified in article 85 of the First Additional Protocol. PCHR is gravely concerned about the role played by the Israeli judicial system in providing legal approval for those Israeli military practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that contradict international humanitarian law. Israeli occupying forces have continued to impose severe restrictions on movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupying forces have continued to impose a strict siege on Palestinian communities and restrict movement of Palestinian civilians. They have also continued to impose a closure on a number of main and branch roads in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian civilians also continue to be subject to humiliating and degrading treatment at Israeli military checkpoints and border crossings. The restrictions on movement and the fragmentation of the OPTs, through the use of checkpoints and barriers, carried out by Israeli forces systematically violate Palestinian economic, social and cultural rights. Recently, Israeli occupying forces have imposed more restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians between the north and south of the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, despite claims by Israel that they eased the siege imposed on Palestinian communities in the West Bank, Israeli occupying forces have continued to restrict movement of Palestinian civilians. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hamas bombings appear to be on hold By Greg Myre in Tel Aviv December 6, 2003 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/05/1070351787920.html Israeli officials have concluded that the Islamic movement Hamas has suspended its suicide bombing campaign, a senior Israeli military officer said, citing that as one reason Israel had not suffered any deadly bombings in the past two months. Hamas has not announced a suspension of bombings, although a Hamas official restated on Thursday what other group leaders have said in recent weeks - that Hamas will stop attacking civilians when Israel does. Israel's security forces have foiled 20 attempted suicide bombings by other Palestinian factions over the past two months, including an attack that was already in motion when two suspects were arrested on Wednesday in the West Bank, the Israeli officer told journalists. The last suicide bombing that killed Israelis was on October 4, an Islamic Jihad attack in Haifa that left 21 dead. Since then, no Israeli civilian has been killed in violence, the longest stretch since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000. The Israeli security forces have killed dozens of Palestinians, militants and civilians, during frequent raids into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the period, while Palestinians have killed 10 Israeli soldiers and security guards. Palestinian factions have carried out more than 100 suicide bombings in the past three years, and Hamas has been responsible for more Israeli deaths than any other group. The Israeli officer said Hamas suspended suicide bombings after Israel launched a series of strikes on the group's top leaders from June to September, killing one and wounding three, including the spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Jewish Peace News Editors: Adam Gutride Ami Kronfeld Rela Mazali Sarah Anne Minkin Judith Norman Mitchell Plitnick Lincoln Shlensky Alistair Welchman

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