Gilad Shalit, "Rockets", freedom of movement and how the 3 Sides have treated dissents and each other

· What is the nature of the detention of Gilad Shalit?

The detention of Gilad Shalit since 2006 (resulting from a Palestinian incursion into Israel) that continues today has been raised in relation to this conflict. Several Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank have been interrogated and punished in relation to this detention since 2006, Palestinians were questioned in relation to the detention during the conflict and Mr Shalit’s father gave testimony to the mission in Geneva.

Under the 3^rd Geneva Convention, Mr Shalit is a prisoner of war and should be treated humanely, he should be allowed external communication as appropriate under the Convention, the International Committee of the Red Cross should have access to him immediately and his family should immediately be made aware of his current condition.

Israeli officials have suggested that the blockade will not be lifted until Mr Shalit’s detention ends. As discussed in recent posts, the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza invasion considered such collective punishment illegal.

· What is the nature of the targeting of Fateh affiliates by the Gazan security services from 27 December 2008 to 27 February 2009?

Several Fateh affiliates, including some escaped Gazan detainees, have been killed by the security services, and other violence and detentions have been reported. The mission has noted five cases that it believes together indicate an illegal pattern of political persecution.

· What is the nature of the targeting of Hamas affiliates by the Israeli security services in the West Bank?

The mission regretted that Israeli non-cooperation made investigation of these claims, which it considered relevant to its mandate to consider, difficult. A number of protesters were killed during demonstrations and scores were injured, as sharply increased levels of force evidently became more normalised during the hostilities in nearby Gaza. That increased level of force has been sustained since the end of formal hostilities, according to the mission. It has also become evident that rules of engagement that involve the use of live ammunition in cases of civil disturbance in the West Bank now appear to discriminate against Palestinians and the use of sniper fire was reported to the mission. Further, the mission considered a situation of impunity appeared to have developed which amounts to a legal breach by the Israeli authorities in that they appear to be wilfully currently failing to adequately protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

· What is the nature of detention of Palestinians in Israeli prisons?

The mission noted that since the beginning of the occupation of Palestine by Israel in 1967 it has been estimated that 700,000 Palestinians have been detained in Israel. Recently, there has been an estimate that 8,100 Palestinian “political prisoners” (including 60 women and 390 children) were detained as at 1 June 2009. Most are charged or convicted under a military system for Palestinians in the West Bank in which due process rights are severely limited. Many are held under administrative detention and some are held under an Israeli unlawful combatant law. Gazan prisoners are also detained and their system of detention has altered recently (but before the conflict) making it relevant to the mission. Many recent or current West Bank child detainees were being held for protesting the hostilities in Gaza thus sharply increasing the numbers of child detainees when compared to the same time last year.

Affiliation with Hamas has also been a significant factor in likelihood of detention generally since around 2005. The detention of Gilad Shalit also resulted in a series of lengthy detentions of mainly Hamas affiliates in poor conditions. Several were Palestinian parliamentarians and this led to a significant disruption of the legislative and executive oversight process and hence of West Bank governance. The hostilities saw more detentions of Hamas affiliates.

The Israeli government has thus violated the international law against arbitrary detention, violation of the special rights of children, collective punishment (by detaining parliamentarians) and discrimination based on political beliefs and ethnicity in several of these cases.

· What is the nature of restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank?

The long-standing restrictions are imposed by roadblocks, identity cards, permits, assigned residence, checkpoints and the Wall. Also restrictions are imposed on family reunions, re-entry from abroad and return of refugees. Settlements, buffer zones, various military zones, connecting roads and Wall building zones are either wholly or partially off limits. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are not allowed to travel abroad at all thus, for example, making their physical testimony before the mission impossible.

The restrictions evidently increased during the hostilities especially near the borders with Israel including in Jerusalem and included several days of extreme restriction.

Following the hostilities, a more restrictive regime involving both more demolitions and settlement activity is in evidence than before the conflict and also one which further physically divides Gazans from the people of the West Bank. Israel planned a further 73,000 settler homes in the West Bank (which was expected to double the settler population at the location) as the mission was reporting and had recently approved 15,000 of them for building. The mission saw the current restrictions as disproportionate to any military purpose served and viewed the separation moves dividing Gaza from the West Bank as legally alarming (given their united legal position, internationally, as the Occupied Palestinian Territories).

· What is the nature of the treatment of Hamas affiliates by Palestinian Authority security forces?

Allegations were made of unlawful arrest and detention and interruption of freedom of assembly and expression relevant to the mission in the period of hostilities and beyond.

Cases of tortures and deaths in detention possibly caused by torture appear to have occurred. Complaints have also not been properly investigated. Cases of excessive force and suppression of demonstrations have also been alleged.

The forces have also been accused of preventing the media from covering the demonstrations against the Gaza hostilities and generally intimidating the media. Further restrictions upon Hamas’s and its affiliates’ activities have apparently also been applied. The mission considered these restrictions unlawful.

· What is the nature of the rocket and mortar attacks upon Israel from Gaza?

Since 2001, around 8,000 rockets and mortars have been launched into southern Israel from Gaza. The range over the border increased to around 40 kilometres during the hostilities. Since the 18 June 2008 ceasefire, rockets fired from Gaza had killed (as the mission was reporting) three Israeli civilians (and 2 Gazan civilians on 26 December 2008). Over a thousand civilians are alleged to have been injured (over 900 of those were injured during the hostilities). A report based on data from late 2007 has claimed that 72 to 94% of children in Sderot (a major target since 2001) have suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorders while a smaller percentage of adults have suffered from the Disorders. Large numbers have now received treatment, especially during the hostilities. Damage has been done to houses, schools, cars and a synagogue. The cultural life of southern Israel has also been damaged by the exodus from the area made more pronounced by the extension of the rocket and mortar range during the hostilities. Defensive measures have also been costly to Israel (although the mission noted with evident displeasure that Palestinian Israeli towns within range of the attacks had not been as well provided for as Jewish towns). The mission generally felt that the rockets and to a lesser extent mortars could serve no useful military purpose and had both been improperly and indiscriminately (essentially deliberately) directed at civilian areas. Their use, when not reasonably aimed at any military target, may therefore amount to a crime against humanity.

Reprisals proposed by Hamas and other Gazan military forces, whether by rocket attacks or otherwise, against civilians for the civilian casualties of the hostilities would also be illegal.

· What is the nature of human rights issues within Israel?

Allegations of repression of dissent, restriction of freedom of information and mal-treatment of human rights activists within Israel have been made. Hundreds of thousands of mainly Palestinians protested within Israel against the Israeli military operations in Gaza. Protests led to 715 arrests (including in East Jerusalem) and permits to protest were especially difficult to obtain in Palestinian areas of Israel. Around a third of those arrested were under the age of 18. The mission noted the proportionally small number of arrests, given the size of the protest movement, but also called for fair treatment and non-discrimination. Minor and perhaps isolated breaches of the law by security forces occurred that should nevertheless be investigated. Detention before trial was more likely for Palestinian than for Jewish citizens. Interrogations of activists by Shabak concerning their political activities and a degree of compulsion that occurred in relation to this were also concerning for the mission.
Organisations that contributed to information flows that the government sought to suppress or that opposed the government policy in Gaza were occasionally singled out for various forms of pressure or punishment by the government. Media access had been restricted since the month before the outbreak of hostilities and certain restrictions on human rights organisations remained in force as the mission reported. The mission viewed the proper access to information (then being denied) as necessary for the prevention of misconduct by any of the former parties to the hostilities.