Israel and Palestine have conflicted the nation of Israel were established in 1948. It has now been half a century since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, and 11 years since the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. Since Israel set the naval blockade on Gaza, the troops have been accused of several human rights violations in the region (Orr and Daphna 65). The West Bank has also been under the control of the Israeli forces. The research paper aims at answering the research question: in what ways and to what extent has the Israeli troops violated human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)? Various sources of information have been integrated into the paper.
Historical Background
Following the holocaust where NAZIs murdered several Jews, the Jews pushed to have their own country. Traditionally, Palestine was considered the ancestral land for the Jews. Therefore, at the end of the Second World War, many Jews were given part of the Palestine territory (Patience para 2). The Arabs that used to live in the area felt that the move was unfair. Therefore, the Arabs never really accepted Jews as their neighbors. Luckily, the Jews had the support of the United States, a dominant world power following the end of the Second World War (Nimer and Kaufman 277). Hence, despite the resistance of the Arabs, the Jews eventually settled in Palestine. Tensions between the two sides remain to this date. The Israeli authorities have in the recent past intensified settlement expansion and land appropriation in the OPT. Conflicts between Israel and the Hamas occur regularly. The Hamas is a political organization and a military group that advocates for the use of violence against Israel. Israeli forces have violated numerous human rights in the OPT.
Freedom of Movement
The fact that Israeli forces have blocked the Gaza Strip and have imposed movement restrictions in the West Bank infringes the freedom of movement for the Palestinians. The troops monitor the land through its heavily equipped land, air, and water forces. The move has restricted the free flow of goods and people into and out of the area. Many individuals with serious illnesses are unable to seek medical services outside Gaza. Palestine’s also suffer as they seek external medical assistance since the West Bank authorities take a long time in processing their referral documents. Further, reports identify that the Israeli forces have been using live bullets on the Palestinians that have been found moving into regions that have been classified as ‘buffer zones.’ Many people, including children and mothers, have been killed in the process. Further, the Israel forces have maintained security checkpoints in the West Bank that have restricted Palestinian families from traveling.
Home Demolitions & Forcible Transfers
The Israeli government has been using demolitions as a form of collective punishment and to create more space for the settlement schemes in the OPT. According to a United Nations report, in 2017, close to 140 structures were marked for demolitions in the ‘'Khan al-Alhamar,'' communities. Another report by the United Nations identifies that close to 46 communities in the occupied West Bank are at the risk of forcible transfer. The demolitions and transfers will affect close to 7,000 residents, rendering them homeless. The displaced families will most probably end up in refugee camps (Cantor, Iris and Haya 196). In a terse response to the United Nations report on demolitions which termed the actions of the Israeli government unacceptable, Israel claimed the demolitions were done per the law. The Israeli government noted that the structures marked for demolitions were constructed without legal permits. Furthermore, demolitions of the family homes appear to be a form of banishment (Canor, Iris and Haya 193). The families are forced to leave the land that has been their home to more than five decades. The Israeli government offers no assistance to the evicted families.
Arbitrary Arrests and Detentions
Human rights watch groups have also documented arbitrary arrests and detention of the Palestinians living or closing into OPT. According to Amnesty International, a large number of Palestinians has been imprisoned in Israel. The move violates the international law. Children, civil society leaders, and NGO workers have been detained without charge or trial. Information on their sentences has also been withheld from the detainees or the lawyers making their acquittal close to impossible. The penalties issued by the courts are often harsh even for the least of the offenses. The detained individuals experience the worst conditions in the cells. For example, there is leakage of raw sewage in the sleeping rooms, excessive cold at night, poor air conditioning during the day, and dusty rooms that pose a huge risk to the respiratory health of prisoners (Halperin and Amichai 276). Further, Allen (55) identifies that drinking and bathing water is usually rationed. Most of the relatives and friends of the detained individuals have been denied visits to prisons by the Israeli forces. The Israeli authorities have dismissed any efforts to improve the prison conditions. According to Amnesty International (Para. 12), approximately “1,500 Palestinian prisoners and detainees launched a 41-day hunger strike to demand better conditions, family visits, an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, and access to education”. The striking prisoners were punished through fines, denial of family visits and solitary confinements.
Torture
Human rights have accused the Israeli police and soldiers of ill-treatment, especially torture of the women and children detainees. The pain is often inflicted on the victims during the arrests and interrogations process. Most Israeli officers pay little regards to the laws restricting the use of force on detainees (Lupu 584). Some of the ill tactics that have been used on the detainees include, the use of stress positions, slapping sensitive organs, sleep deprivation, and painful shackling (Amnesty International para 9). Further, prisoners are usually forced to make confessions about crimes that they never committed by subjecting them to immense pain and suffering. The form of punishment is regularly used by the authorities to obtain information from the prisoners on future assaults or plans for rebellion (Allen 61). Other reports identify that dogs have been used to attack hand-cuffed prisoners causing severe bodily harm. Individuals that have been tortured have also experienced heightened levels of psychological trauma. The government offers no appropriate treatment programs for individuals who have endured bodily harm. The efforts of individuals that have experienced any form of torture in seeking justice have in most instances bore no fruits.
Extrajudicial Killings
Israeli forces have caused the death of innocent Palestinians. The killings have been launched as a strategy to eliminate resistance, to intimidate Palestine’s and ease control and dominance by the Israeli forces. Surveys conducted on the murders identify that more than 50% of the Israelis believe that the actions of soldiers are justifiable and only less than 7% of the respondents considered the actions of the soldiers as illegal (Canor, Iris and Haya 215). A large number of individuals supporting the act motivates the soldiers into causing even more deaths. The forces have killed defenseless mothers and children. There have been no appropriate actions taken on the Israeli soldiers by legal bodies.
Use of Excessive Force on Protestors
During the protests in Bethlehem, Israel forces were accused of applying excessive force and lethal methods of controlling crowds. The results of the methods are increased risks of harm on the victims (Halperin and Amichai 270). Allen (71) identifies that Israeli forces have been using live bullets in dispersing crowds protesting their inhumane acts. At one point, the Israeli commander in the West Bank has ordered his soldiers to observe restraint while controlling the groups of protestors who often include, women, small children and the aged (Halperin and Amichai 271). The military leader noted that while the youths joining the protests were often violent and threw projectiles at the officers, it was incumbent upon the Israeli forces to ensure they applied force with restraint. Further, according to Amnesty International (Para. 8), the Israeli authorities have been using collective punishment on the Palestinians in controlling demonstrations. In the incidences where the Israeli troops have been attacked by Palestine’s, they have resulted into torturing the Palestinians in various forms such as revoking work permits for families members and closing off villages and regions inhabited by Palestine’s.
Settlement Scheme and Loss of Property
Since the occupation of the West Bank, Israel has undertaken a massive resettlement program in the area. A United Nations resolution declared the expansion of the settlement scheme by Israel as unlawful and called for a halt in its implementation (Halperin and Amichai 274). However, in the recent past, the government has accelerated the settlement system by adding hundreds of new houses in the area. It is estimated that close to 600,000 Israelis live in settlement schemes in the Occupied West Bank (Allen 75). The individuals have better living conditions as compared to Palestine’s. Furthermore, Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank experience regular military raids in their neighborhoods often ending with unlawful detention of innocent civilians (Halperin and Amichai 276). The raids violate the rights of the Palestinians to live in an environment that is free from fear and intimidation.
In conclusion, Israel has been accused of constant violations of the Palestinians rights. Palestinians are arrested and held arbitrarily, have been denied representation in courts and often suffer mistreatment and torture in the prisons. Further, Palestinians have been subjected to torture, killings, and forceful evictions from their homes. Any attempts to resist the excessive force applied by the Israeli troops have been met with numerous obstacles such as collective punishments for the protestors and the use of live bullets. Palestinian’s in the OPT now live in the world’s most dangerous zone. It is necessary that the right measures are put in place to ensure that the conflicts between Israel and Palestine are eradicated. The strategy will improve the living conditions of Palestine’s in the area as well as foster reconstruction and development of West Bank and Gaza Strip. International legal bodies, as well as human right activists, need to develop the right strategies that will ensure that all individuals that perpetrate human rights violations are brought to justice.
Works Cited
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Amnesty International. Israel and occupied Palestinian territories 2016/2017. Annual Reports (2017)
Canor, Iris, Tamar Gidron, and Haya Zandberg. "Litigating Human Rights Violations through Tort Law: Israeli Law Perspective." Damages for Violations of Human Rights. Springer International Publishing, 2016. 193-215.
Halperin-Kaddari, Ruth, and Amichai Danino. "International Human Rights and Israel as Seen in the Work of the Treaty Bodies: Do They Walk the Talk?." Israel Law Review 49.2 (2016): 267-276.
London, Leslie, et al. "Israel–Gaza conflict." The Lancet384.9945 (2014): e34.
Lupu, Yonatan. "Legislative veto players and the effects of international human rights agreements." American Journal of Political Science 59.3 (2015): 578-594.
Mansour, Ramadhan. 30 March 2016-Israeli extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations (2016)
Nimer, Mohammed Abu, and Edward Kaufman. "Bridging conflict transformation and human rights: lessons from the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process." (2017): 277-308.
Orr, Zvika, and Daphna Golan. "Human rights NGOs in Israel: collective memory and denial." The International Journal of Human Rights 18.1 (2014): 68-93.
Patience, Martin. Why are Israel and the Palestinians fighting over Gaza? BBC News (2015)
