[News] Palestine - PCHR Weekly Report: Carnage of 3-week assault continues

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Fri Jan 30 18:07:57 EST 2009 


PCHR Weekly Report: Carnage of 3-week assault continues; 3 dead, 17 
injured this week

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  Friday January 30, 2009 09:49
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 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News 
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According to the weekly report, published by the Palestinian Center 
for Human Rights in Gaza (PCHR), during the week of 22-28th of 
January, 2009, a Palestinian farmer was killed by Israeli forces, and 
two civilians, including a child, died of previous 
injuries.   Hospitals in Gaza continue to be overwhelmed by the over 
4,000 people injured in the 3-week long Israeli assault that ended on 
the 17th of January.

17 Palestinian civilians, including four children and two 
international journalists, were wounded by Israeli forces in the West 
Bank and the Gaza Strip.  Also during the last week, Israeli forces 
conducted 32 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West 
Bank, and abducted 64 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, 
including 15 children.

Situation in the Gaza Strip:

Israeli forces violated their declared truce with the ruling Hamas 
party in Gaza at least seven times this week.  On 27 January, Israeli 
forces opened fire at a number of Palestinian farmers east of Khan 
Yunis, killing one of them.

On the 22nd and 23rd of January, medical sources confirmed that two 
Palestinian civilians, including a child, had died of injuries 
sustained during the Israeli forces' offensive in the Gaza Strip.

During the reporting period, seven Palestinians were injured by 
Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have continued to impose a total siege on the Gaza 
Strip, completely isolating the 1.5 million Palestinians who live 
there from the outside world.  1.5 million people are being denied 
their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights 
to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip are facing power 
cuts for 8-12 hours per day, which is severely affecting their 
quality of life and access to basic facilities incuding light and 
heat, and also impacts on their access to drinking water, as electric 
pumps are frequently not working.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been repeatedly forced to 
suspend it humanitarian aid program for at least 750,000 Palestinian 
refugees in the Gaza Strip, due to consistent obstructions in aid 
delivery and the risks facing its staff.

Israeli attacks in the West Bank:

In the West Bank, ten Palestinian civilians, including two children, 
and two international journalists, were injured by Israeli gunfire.

Two Palestinian civilians were injured by Israeli forces during an 
Israeli forces incursion into al-Fara'a refugee camp, south of Tubas.

During the reporting period, eight Palestinian civilians, including 
two children, and two international journalists, were injured when 
Israeli forces used force against peaceful demonstrations organized 
in protest at the construction of the Annexation Wall.

During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 32 
military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. 
Israeli forces abducted 64 Palestinian civilians, including 15 
children. Israeli forces also transformed a house in Battir village 
near Bethlehem into a military site.

Israeli forces demolished two houses in Jerusalem, making 53 people 
homeless.  Israeli forces have established checkpoints in and around 
Jerusalem, severely restricting Palestinian access to the city. 
Civilians are frequently prevented from praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque 
in Jerusalem.

There are approximately permanent 630 roadblocks, manned and unmanned 
checkpoints across the West Bank. In addition, there are some 60-80 
'flying' or temporary checkpoints erected across the West Bank by 
Israeli forces every week.

Israeli Annexation Wall:

Israeli forces have continued to construct the Annexation Wall inside 
West Bank territory. During the reporting period, Israeli forces used 
force against peaceful demonstrations organized by Palestinian 
civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders in 
protest of the construction of the Wall.

Following the Friday Prayer on 23 January, scores of Palestinian 
civilians organized a peaceful demonstration in Bil'in village, west 
of Ramallah, in protest to the Israeli forces offensive on the Gaza 
Strip. The demonstrators moved towards the Wall and threw stones at 
Israeli forces positioned in the area. Israeli forces immediately 
fired gunshots, rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas 
canisters at the demonstrators. As a result, a Palestinian civilian 
and two international journalists were wounded.

Also following the Friday Prayer on 23 January, dozens of Palestinian 
civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders 
organized a peaceful demonstration in protest to the construction of 
the Wall in Ne'lin village, west of Ramallah. They moved towards 
areas of land which are threatened to be confiscated for the purpose 
of the construction of the Wall. Israeli forces fired rubber-coated 
metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the 
demonstrators. As a result, 6 demonstrators, including two children, 
were wounded:

Also on 23 January, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international 
human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in protest 
to the construction of the Wall in Jayous village, northeast of 
Qalqilya. They moved towards the Wall and attempted to pass through 
towards their lands, which are isolated by the Wall. Israeli forces 
fired rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas canisters and sound bombs 
at the demonstrators. As a result, Laith 'Abdul Qader Saleem, 19, was 
wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the leg.



Recommendations to the international community:

Due to the number and severity of the Israeli violations of 
Palestinian human rights this week, the Palestinian Center for Human 
Rights made a number of recommendations to the international 
community.  Among these were a recommendation that the High 
Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention comply with their 
legal obligations detailed in Article 146 of the Convention to search 
for and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches, namely war crimes.

The PCHR also calls for the immediate implementation of the Advisory 
Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considers 
the construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank illegal.

For the full text of the report, click on the link below:
category
  <http://www.imemc.org/news_articles/palestine>palestine | 
<http://www.imemc.org/news_articles/humanrights>human rights | 
<http://www.imemc.org/news_articles/newsreport>news report
author email
 <mailto:saed%20at%20imemc%20dot%20org>saed at imemc dot org
Related Link(s): 
<http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/29-01-2009.htm>http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/29-...9.htm




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