[News] International Human Rights Day: hold the occupation accountable for its continuous violations against Palestine

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Statement on International Human Rights Day: Addameer sends its
  condolences to Ziad Abu Ein's family and demands the formation of an
  international investigative committee to hold the Occupation
  accountable for its continuous violations.

10 December 2014 - Ramallah
*http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=738*
With sadness, Addameer sends condolences to the family of martyr Ziad 
Abu Ein, the head of the Palestinian Authority committee regarding the 
settlements, who was killed by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) after 
being beaten and tear gassed in Turmosayya today during a demonstration.
The cold-blooded murder of Ziad Abu Ein on International Human Rights 
Day is representative of the occupation's continuous and rampant 
destruction of Palestinian life and land since the establishment of 
Israel in 1948, which ironically coincides with the signing of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this International Human 
Rights Day, the international community must realize that it is 
complicit with Israeli's continued suppression, murder and displacement 
of the Palestinian people until Israel is held accountable for its crimes.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights serves as an inspiration for 
Palestinian resistance against the Zionist, racist project to ethnically 
cleanse Palestine of its indigenous inhabitants. Simultaneously, 
Palestinians continue to suffer due to the United Nation's failure to 
uphold and respect the rights and principles enshrined by the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights, allowing the Occupying power to continue 
its crimes with impunity.
The Israeli state was established as a result of war crimes implemented 
by Zionist gangs in 1948 by murdering and displacing hundreds of 
thousands of Palestinians and pilfering of the land. Sixty-six years 
later, they continue to commit these war crimes to slowly ethnically 
cleanse the indigenous Palestinian people and deny them the right to 
self determination.
During 2014, Palestinians saw this impunity reinforced in a 51-day 
assault on Gaza, large scale military operations throughout the West 
Bank, mass hunger strikes amongst Palestinian administrative detainees 
met with brutal force, and targeted assassinations of at least 20 
Palestinians. In the war on Gaza, the occupation killed more than 2,000 
civilians, including 450 children, injured over 10,000 Palestinians  and 
displaced 300,000 Gazans. At least 10,000 homes were demolished and 190 
civilians arbitrarily arrested and tortured.
According to Addameer's statistics, the number of arrests has increased 
dramatically this year, pointing to an increased use of arrest and 
detention in an attempt to control and suppress Palestinian resistance. 
At least 1,500 children were arrested since the beginning of 2014, the 
majority of them in Jerusalem, as well as 35 women.  In June alone, over 
3,000 Palestinians were arrested from the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and 
the 1948 territories. Now, there are over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners 
and detainees in the occupation's prisons, the highest number in over 
five years. Over 530 of them are administrative detainees, held without 
charge or trial based on secret evidence that the detainee and their 
lawyer are denied access to. One of the administrative detainees is 
Addameer's Legal Unit Coordinator, Ayman Nasser, who has been repeatedly 
targeted by the IOF. Palestinian Legislative Council members also 
continue to be targeted, with 25 currently in prison, of which 16 are 
under administrative detention.
The treatment of Palestinian detainees has degraded considerably in 
2014. The detainees continue to be denied their right to a fair trial in 
the Israeli military court system, in direct violation of the 4^th 
Geneva Convention. This year, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) imposed 
greater punishments on Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 
denial of family visits, exorbitant fines, solitary confinement and 
denial of educational, cultural, religious and athletic activities. The 
detainees also suffer from beatings, attacks and arbitrary transfers at 
the hand of the Special Units of the IPS. Their demands for basic 
medical treatment and care are systematically ignored, exacerbating the 
number of ill detainees due to medical negligence and inhumane conditions.
Today, on International Human Rights Day, seventy Palestinian prisoners 
and detainees have declared an open hunger strike to demand an end to 
the severe punitive measures imposed on them, especially the policies of 
solitary confinement and denial of proper medical treatment. Having been 
abandoned by the international community, Palestinian detainees must go 
on hunger strike at great cost to their lives and health in order to 
realize basic human rights. This year, the administrative detainees 
engaged in a 63-day hunger strike, the longest in Palestinian history, 
to demand an end to the arbitrary detention policy. They were met with 
severe punitive measures, beatings, isolation and threats of 
force-feeding, all punishments that continue to this day.
On this 66^th commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, Addameer calls on the United Nations to exercise its mandate by 
holding the occupation's leaders and ministers accountable in the 
international courts as war criminals. The continued impunity of the 
occupying power is a threat to security and peace across the world.
Addameer also demands that the Palestinian Authority join the 
International Criminal Court immediately  to hold Israel accountable for 
its crimes. Addameer also demands that the Palestinian Authority respect 
its responsibilities as according to signed international conventions, 
especially regarding public freedom and the end of political detention.
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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