Israel's Ongoing Violation of the Human Rights of Palestinians
In January 1999, SEARCH released a petition signed by 1,100 religious leaders calling for an end to US governmental aid to Israel and the Palestinian Authority until they cease violating human rights of Palestinians.
The religious leaders cited many clauses of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the Fourth Geneva Convention which are violated by Israel. In addition, they noted that actions of the Palestinian Authority violate numerous rights guaranteed by the Declaration.
In June 1999, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak replaced the Likud Party's Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister of Israel. The Clinton Administration, most of the US media, moderate American Jews and many Palestinians hailed the election as indicating that the "peace process" was again on track. However, Barak's government continues to deny human rights to Palestinians. Peace Now, the Israeli peace group, noted that Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands are increasing under Barak at a faster pace than during Netanyahu's tenure.
Since the release of the petition, reports by human rights groups make clear that Israel and the Palestinian Authority continue to massively violate the rights of Palestinians:
B'Tselem, Israel's leading human rights organization, issued reports documenting: 1) Israeli war crimes in southern Lebanon; 2) Israel's use of discriminatory laws and polices intended to reduce the Palestinian population in Jerusalem; 3) Israel's refusal to recognize the right of Palestinian residents of the occupied territories to family unification and 4) denial of water resources to Palestinians. In a 1998 report, B'Tselem documented Israel's violation of "arguably all but one of the 29 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." www.btselem.org
B'Tselem's Executive Director stated that Israeli occupation discriminatory laws and policies create "a system of segregation with discrimination by law . . . it is doubtful that any comparable system has existed since the end of apartheid in South Africa."
Amnesty International's Report of December 1999 (Demolition and Dispossession: The Destruction of Palestinian Homes) found that since1987 Israel demolished at least 2,650 homes in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. In addition, perhaps 12,000 homes, housing over a third of the Arab population of East Jerusalem, have been issued demolition orders and thus are under threat of demolition. www.amnestyusa.org
Human Rights
Watch, in its World Report 2000 (covering 1999), found the Palestinian Authority responsible for "arbitrary detention without charge or trial, torture and ill-treatment during interrogation, grossly unfair trials" and restrictions on freedom of association and of the press. Human Rights Watch cited numerous Israeli violations of international law and human rights, among them, continuing Israeli policies of land confiscation, home demolition, torture, and erecting Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. Israeli imposed curfews and closures on Palestinian towns and villages "obstructed Palestinian economic activity and access to health care, schools and universities, places of worship and family members in other parts of the territories or in Israeli prisons." www.hrw.org/wr2k/Mena-07.htm
The Missing Human Right.
Living in
one's homeland is a basic right. Unfortunately, none of the above reports
mentions the "right of return" for over three million Palestinian refugees
living in exile. (For more information about the right
of return please go to
www.Al-Awda.org.)
