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Recently, even the voice of ecology was heard to question the Law of Return. An article in an Israeli nature magazine called upon the Israeli government to restrict immigration in order to protect Israel's ecology. Revision of the Law of Return is necessary to preserve this tiny land's natural resources and beauty.
If this were not enough, there are also voices coming from Israel's Arab minority calling upon the state to cancel the Law of Return because it is biased and discriminatory.
This assault on the Law of Return goes far beyond social welfare issues, nature trails, and minority rights. It raises some very profound questions about the character of Israel as a Zionist and Jewish state. Little wonder that there is such hesitation and resistance to opening up this controversy. There are too many fears involved.
* * *
David Clayman is a Fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Director of the Israel Office of the American Jewish Congress.
The Jerusalem Letter and Jerusalem Letter/Viewpoints are published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 13 Tel-Hai St., Jerusalem, Israel; Tel. 972-2-5619281, Fax. 972-2-5619112, Internet: jcpa@netvision.net.il. In U.S.A.: 1515 Locust St., Suite 703, Philadelphia, PA 19102; Tel. (215) 772-0564, Fax. (215) 772-0566. љ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.jcpa.org/jl/hit01.htm
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ISBN:0 86210 313
AI index:POL 10/001/2002
www.amnesty.org
љCopyright Amnesty International Publications 2002
Amnesty International Report 2002 - This report covers the period January to December 2001
ISRAEL AND
THE OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES
STATE OF ISRAEL
Head of state:Moshe Katzav
Head of government:Ariel Sharon (replaced Ehud Barak in
March)
Official languages:Hebrew,Arabic
Death penalty:abolitionist for ordinary crimes
2001 treaty ratifications/signatures:Optional Protocol to
the UN Children 's Convention on the
involvement of children in armed conflict
More than 460 Palestinians were killed during 2001 by the
Israeli security forces;most were unlawfully killed.Among
the victims were 79 children and 32 individuals targeted
for assassination.More than 2,000 Palestinians were
arrested for security reasons.There were widespread
reports of police brutality.Palestinian detainees frequently
reported that they were tortured or ill-treated during
interrogation.At the end of the year at least 40 people
were under administrative detention.At least 33
conscientious objectors were imprisoned during 2001.
Hundreds of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories
were tried before military courts in trials whose procedures
fell short of international standards.Collective
punishments against Palestinians included closures of
towns and villages,demolition of more than 350
Palestinian homes and prolonged curfews.Palestinian
armed groups killed 187 Israelis,including 154 civilians.
Background
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office in March,leading a
coalition government.Israeli colonies,generally known as
settlements,in the Occupied Territories continued to be
maintained and sometimes expanded.The General Security
Service (GSS),which interrogates most Palestinian detainees,
was renamed the Israeli Security Agency (ISA).
Intifada
The al-Aqsa intifada(uprising)continued throughout 2001.
From January onwards,the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)
went increasingly on the offensive,invading Palestinian
areas,including areas under full Palestinian Authority (PA)
control.The Oslo peace process had defined three areas in the
West Bank:Area A,where the PA held responsibility for civil
affairs and internal security,while Israel was responsible for
external security;Area B,where the PA held responsibility for
civil affairs while Israel had overriding responsibility for
security;and Area C,where Israel has sole responsibility for
civil affairs and security.
Palestinian houses,especially those close to borders or
settlements,were frequently destroyed without warning and
orchards and agricultural or industrial installations were
destroyed.Most of the towns and villages in the Occupied
Territories were closed by physical barriers or by army
checkpoints during 2001.
The IDF used heavy weaponry,including tanks,
F16 fighter aircraft and naval gunships,to shell randomly
Palestinian areas from where Palestinians had opened fire.
Palestinians were killed unlawfully by the Israeli security
forces.Israeli security forces killed some Palestinians during
gun battles.Palestinian armed groups killed Israeli security
force personnel and deliberately targeted Israeli civilians.
In August,the IDF assassinated Mustafa Zibiri (also known
as Abu 'Ali Mustafa),the leader of the People 's Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).In October,in reprisal,
members of the PFLP killed Rehavam Ze 'evi,who had just
resigned as Minister of Tourism.Following the killing the IDF
reoccupied six Palestinian towns.
The Commission of Inquiry set up by the Fifth Special
Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in October
2000 reported in February.In April a fact-finding committee
set up by the Sharm al-Shaykh summit in October 2000
presented its report,known as the Mitchell Report.
Recommendations included calls on the Israeli government
to freeze settlements,lift closures,ensure that the security
forces stopped destroying Palestinian homes and ensure that
any response to Palestinian gunfire minimized danger to the
lives and property of Palestinian civilians.The report called
on the PA to prevent Palestinian gunmen from using
Palestinian populated areas to fire on Israeli populated areas
and to arrest the perpetrators of attacks.A number of
attempted cease-fires failed.
Unlawful killings
Israeli security forces killed more than 460 Palestinians,
including 79 children.The vast majority were killed
unlawfully,when the lives of others were not in imminent
danger,during demonstrations,during shelling of residential
areas and at checkpoints.At least 32 Palestinians were
deliberately targeted in extrajudicial executions which also
killed 15 bystanders.IDF and other Israeli security forces
using high-velocity ammunition and rubber-coated metal
bullets killed and wounded demonstrators throwing stones or
Molotov cocktails.Ammunition used against Palestinians
included mortars,grenade launchers and artillery shells,
including shells containing flechettes (5cm-long steel darts).
b Fatima Abu Jish was killed in January as she was returning
to her village of Beit Dajan from the hospital in Nablus where
she worked as a receptionist.The IDF fired at her car which
was in a queue of cars slowly travelling along a track through
the fields because an IDF barrier had blocked the road to the
village.The IDF first stated that soldiers had been firing in
response to shots.It then admitted that no shots had been
fired at the checkpoint.The IDF then claimed that a soldier
had fired at the wheels of Fatima Abu Jish 's car and that
disciplinary procedures would be taken against him.No
reason was given why one car in a convoy should have been
targeted.. AI index:POL 10/001/2002
www.amnesty.org
љCopyright Amnesty International Publications 2002
Amnesty International Report 2002 -
This report covers the period January to December 2001
b Two Bedouin women and a child were killed in June in the
Gaza Strip when an Israeli tank shelled their tent with a
120mm shell filled with up to 2,000 flechettes.Three other
artillery shells exploded in the same area,wounding other
Bedouin and killing sheep.The IDF initially said it was
responding to gunfire,but later said that the killings had been
a "mistake ".
b Jamal Mansur and Jamal Salim were assassinated in
Nablus when the IDF fired two missiles from an Apache
helicopter in July.Six other people,including two children
aged six and 11 who were playing outside the building,were
also killed.Jamal Mansur and Jamal Salim were Hamasleaders
who ran the Palestinian Centre for Information.
Arrests
At least 2,000 Palestinians,including about 100 from Israel
and more than 1,900 from the Occupied Territories,were
arrested during 2001.Several of those arrested were prisoners
of conscience.More than 90 Palestinians were arrested
during raids into Area A.Palestinians arrested were
frequently held in prolonged incommunicado detention
without access to lawyers or family.
b In May Israeli security forces arrested Samer Fawzi
Awartani,Administrator of the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus,on
his return from a conference in the United Kingdom where he
had discussed medical problems during the intifada.He was
held in Petah Tikva Detention Centre.The High Court of
Justice twice rejected petitions to allow him access to an
attorney and he only had access to a lawyer after 22 days in
incommunicado detention.He was a prisoner of conscience.
In June an administrative detention order was issued against
him for "endangering state security ".However,he was later
released without charge after 51 days 'detention.
Police brutality
Palestinians frequently suffered verbal or physical abuse
from members of the Israeli security forces.Security force
personnel who carried out attacks on Palestinians benefited
from impunity in all but the most high-profile cases.
Torture and ill-treatment
There were numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment
by the ISA.Victims included Palestinian citizens of Israel and
Palestinians from the Occupied Territories.Many of the latter
were held in prolonged incommunicado detention for 20 days
and sometimes for up to 70 days.
b Muna 'Ubayd,a teacher and a Palestinian citizen of Israel,
was arrested in August.She was held for 27 days in solitary
detention in the Petah Tikva Detention Centre,apparently
suspected of having had contacts with Hizbullah.During her
interrogation she was reportedly manacled or tied to a chair,
her blouse was pulled and she was thrown several times
against the wall.She said she was frequently insulted and was
threatened with the rape of her mother.She was also
subjected to loud noise in a cell which was constantly lit.
During her detention she was transferred three times for
several hours to hospitals and to a psychiatric hospital.She
was only able to meet her lawyer after 10 days '
incommunicado detention.She was charged with "having
relations with a terrorist organization "and released in
September on bail;no trial had taken place by the end of the
year.
Administrative detention
At least 70 administrative detention orders were issued;by
the end of the year the number of those in administrative
detention had risen from 12 to 40.Among them were six
Palestinian citizens of Israel and Lebanese nationals placed in
administrative detention under Israeli law.Administrative
detainees are held without charge or trial or any right to full
appeal.
b Two Lebanese nationals,Shaykh 'Abd al-Karim 'Ubayd
and Mustafa al-Dirani,abducted from Lebanon in 1989 and
1994 respectively,continued to be held in secret detention as
hostages without access to the International Committee of
the Red Cross.
Conscientious objectors
At least 33 Jewish and Druze citizens of Israel who refused to
perform military service or to serve in the Occupied
Territories were sentenced to terms of imprisonment of up to
four and a half months.They were prisoners of conscience.
Unfair trials
Hundreds of Palestinians were tried by military courts in trials
which did not meet international standards for fair trial.
b Sana 'Amer,aged 14,was arrested in February in Hebron,
accused of planning to stab a settler.She alleged that she was
punched during her arrest.She was held in the Moscobiyyeh
Detention Centre in Jerusalem for 19 days and was only
allowed one visit from her father.She was tried before the
Military Court in July.Her legs were bound throughout the
trial and she was handcuffed when the judge left the room.
She appeared not to have a clear understanding of the judges '
questions,but was sentenced to one year 's imprisonment
with an additional four-year sentence suspended for five
years.She was released in November,a month after she
became eligible for parole.
Political prisoners
At the end of the year,2,200 Palestinians were held on
political charges;some were allegedly ill-treated.
Palestinian children held at Abu Kabir Detention Centre
alleged that they were beaten,sexually abused and insulted
by fellow prisoners;for several months families were not
allowed to visit them in prison.More than 1,000 political
detainees in Megiddo Prison were held in tents in
overcrowded conditions.All prisoners suffered from a lack
of family visits because of Israeli government restrictions on
Palestinian movement.
House demolitions
The Israeli authorities destroyed Palestinian houses for
alleged security reasons,as punishment,and as part of a
discriminatory planning policy which prohibits the building of. AI index:POL 10/001/2002
www.amnesty.org
љCopyright Amnesty International Publications 2002
Amnesty International Report 2002 -
This report covers the period January to December 2001
Palestinian houses while freely allowing Israelis to construct
settlements.At least 350 Palestinian houses were destroyed
in the Gaza Strip,East Jerusalem and the West Bank during
2001.
Closures and curfews
The Israeli authorities maintained strict closures on most of
the Palestinian areas of the Occupied Territories.The Gaza
Strip was surrounded by a high wire fence and throughout the
year most Gazans were forbidden from entering Israel,the
West Bank and Jerusalem.Some Palestinian areas of the Gaza
Strip were barred to non-residents.In the West Bank roads to
Palestinian towns and villages were repeatedly closed by
earth barriers,concrete blocks and deep trenches.
Palestinians from the West Bank were barred from entry into
East Jerusalem except with special permission.Palestinians
were barred from travelling along certain roads in the
Occupied Territories.Although regulations required IDF
soldiers to allow medical emergencies through,these were
often ignored and at least 29 people died after delays
impeded their access to hospitals.
b Fatima 'Abed Rabbo,a woman in labour,was turned back
twice in October as she tried to cross checkpoints to go from
al-Walaja to hospital in Bethlehem,3km away.Soldiers only
allowed her through as the baby was being born;attempts to
save the baby in hospital failed.
Killings by armed groups
A total of 187 Israelis,including 154 civilians,were deliberately
killed by Palestinian armed groups. At least 36 of those killed
were children. The main armed groups involved in attacks
were Fatah, the dominant political force in the PA, Hamas,
Islamic Jihad and the PFLP .Others were killed by new groups
whose organization and affiliation remained vague. Hamas
and Islamic Jihad frequently carried out attacks in crowded
places, apparently to target the maximum number of Israeli
civilians.
b A total of 21 people were killed, including 12 children, and
84 injured when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up
among a group of young people waiting outside a disco near
the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv in June.Hamasclaimed
responsibility for the bombing.
United Nations
The UN Committee against Torture considered Israel 's third
periodic report in November. The Committee 's conclusions
raised concerns about continuing torture and administrative
detention, and stated that Israel 's policy of closures and
demolitions of Palestinian homes may amount to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment.
Geneva Conventions
In December a meeting of High Contracting Parties to the
Geneva Conventions reaffirmed the applicability of the
Fourth Geneva Convention to Occupied Palestinian Territory
and called on Israel, the Occupying Power, to refrain from
carrying out grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions such
as wilful killings and extensive destruction and appropriation
of property not justified by military necessity.
AI country reports/visits
Reports
•Israel/Occupied Territories: State assassinations and other
unlawful killings (AI Index:MDE 15/005/01)
•Israel/Occupied Territories:Broken lives -a year of intifada
(AI Index:MDE 15/083/2001)
Visits
AI delegates visited Israel and the Occupied Territories in
January,February,March,July and September. In March AI 's
Secretary General visited the area in order to launch a human
rights agenda for peace.