Amnesty International Report 2002 - Israel and the Occupied Territories

Covering events from January-December 2001

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

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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).

• 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.
• 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".
• 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 Hamas leaders 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.

• 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. Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing.

United Nations

The UNCommittee 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.