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Human Rights Watch Report Condemns Israel
by Ayub Khan
WASHINGTON, April 13 (IslamOnline) - Hebron, Al Khalil in Arabic, located 20 miles south of Jerusalem, is a sacred city to Muslims, Jews and Christians as it holds the distinction of being the final resting place of Prophets Ibrahim (AS), Issac (AS) and Yaqub (AS).
Presently, it is the only major city in West Bank, which, for the most part, is under the direct control of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). The city is populated with 120,000 Palestinians, within which 500 Israeli settlers live in the city center, while another 7,000 live on its outskirts.
Hebron has seen some of the worst violence after the outbreak of al-Aqsa Intifada on September 29th. It is this violence, and the resulting violation of human rights, that are covered in a new report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) this month.
The damning 82-page report, compiled after five weeks of fieldwork and 180 plus interviews, provides a chilling and deep insight into the barbarities committed by the Israelis.
Palestinians, however, do not escape blame and are also accused of human rights violations. These have also been documented in the report, but their deeds do not come close to the atrocities committed by the Israelis.
The report points out that the crisis in Hebron, and in the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has at its core, a gross disregard for human rights and international humanitarian law on the part of the Israelis.
It found extensive human rights abuses in Hebron including excessive use of force by IDF soldiers against unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, unlawful killings by IDF soldiers, unacknowledged assassinations of suspected Palestinian activists, disproportionate IDF gunfire in response to Palestinian attacks in densely populated Arab areas, extensive abuses by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians and the lack of an IDF response to such abuses.
To prove its conclusions, the report cites several examples which illustrate the severe nature of the crimes committed by the Israelis.
The report found that at least in two instances, the IDF killed unarmed stone throwing youths in clashes in which there was no Palestinian gunfire or other apparent danger requiring such an action.
Fifteen-year-old Arafat al-Jabarin was shot to death during one such clash near Beit 'Einun on December 22, and Samir al-Khadr, aged eighteen, was killed by IDF fire during a stone-throwing clash at al-Fawwar refugee camp on November 16th.
Similarly, the report contends that many of the people killed or wounded by the IDF near clash sites were innocent bystanders: twenty-two-year-old Ahmad al-Qawasmi was killed as he watched the clashes from his roof located 200 meters away from the violence; a seventeen-year-old student was hit in her head as she was walking home from school; a passing taxi driver was shot in the right shoulder.
In other HRW listings, the Israeli army launched an "apparently unprovoked attack" on a communal farm operated by an Islamic charity; a 31-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier after the soldier had started an argument by throwing rocks at his car; another youth, aged 18, was killed by a sniper while unloading goods; a 24-year-old man was killed while driving home with his family, and a 14-year-old was killed "apparently in retaliation for hitting a soldier with a rock earlier in the day".
In addition, the IDF remains an idle bystander when settlers attack, beat up, shoot at and stone Palestinians.
Settlers have regularly attacked the Palestinian vegetable market in Hebron, ransacking goods and overturning stands. The IDF has consistently responded to such attacks by re-imposing a curfew on the Palestinian population.
Settlers carry out crimes under the watchful eye of, and at many times, in tandem with, the IDF.
Apart from Palestinians, the settlers also frequently attack relief workers, independent observers and journalists. Israeli authorities rarely investigate these abuses.
The report also documents the impact of closures, curfews and blockades, which have become Israel's weapons of choice when meting out "collective punishment "on the Palestinian populace.
Since the beginning of the latest Intifada, Israel has effectively sealed of all Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank. Around 12,000 Palestinian students living in the H2 area of Hebron cannot go to school because of this blockade.
As a result of the closures, a majority of the residents have lost their sources of income, and businesses no longer operate, the entire economy in shambles.
The HRW report offers a detailed and blunt analysis of the situation which makes painful reading.
Hanny Megally, a senior official with Human Rights Watch, said: "Hebron is a microcosm of the devastating impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on civilians. These widespread human rights abuses cannot be deferred to future negotiations."
But the real question that needs to be answered is what action will be taken in the light of the release of this report. Will this report also gather dust as had many others previously?
Israel, credit should be due to its endurance, has been able to walk away after committing some of the most heinous crimes, and it will not come as a shock if it can pull the same this time over.
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