Updates

A Routine Founded on Violence

Soldiers arrest two Palestinian children (11) for about 15 hours and hold them handcuffed and blindfolded at military base during most of the detention

On 24 Oct. 2021, soldiers entered two homes in the village of a-Zawiya and arrested two 11-year-olds. They ordered the older brother of one and the father of the other to go with them. The four Palestinians were shuttled from place to place and held in a cold trailer, handcuffed and blindfolded, until 2:30 P.M. the next day. The children, who are under the age of criminal liability, and the adults, who were not suspected of anything, were held for 15 hours without anyone speaking to them or explaining what lay ahead, before being sent home.

28 November 2021

Hebron City Center

Soldiers attack Palestinians complaining of settler violence and arrest one for allegedly assaulting them

On 25 Sep. 2020, settler teens attacked members of the Tamimi family on the family’s land in Hebron. Relatives notified soldiers at a nearby military post, only to be attacked by them. One was arrested, taken to a military base, beaten again, questioned by the police – only after the soldiers – accused of assaulting soldiers and throwing stones, and released on bail. Yet another day under occupation: leisure time ending in fleeing violent teens, and complaining to soldiers ending in severe violence, false arrest and paying hundreds of dollars.

25 November 2021

Planning Policy in the West Bank

A day of destruction in the West Bank: 22 people, including 15 children, lost their home in a single day

Yesterday (Tuesday, 23 November 2021), Israel embarked on a large-scale demolition campaign throughout the West Bank, in which it destroyed and confiscated dwellings, tents, livestock enclosures, buildings under construction, a road, and even a structure intended for burial. Twenty-two people, including 15 children, lost their homes in one day.

24 November 2021

Administrative Detention

Israel holds even Palestinian minors in administrative detention

In early November 2021, Israel was holding 482 Palestinians in administrative detention, which is incarceration without trial alleging that a person intends to commit a offense. The detainees are not given the grounds for the detention, the evidence against them or their date of release. The parents of three Palestinian minors currently being held describe living in constant anxiety over their sons' wellbeing, exacerbated by Israel’s harsh limitations on family visits and prohibition of phone calls.

18 November 2021

A Routine Founded on Violence

Two Palestinian minors playing in olive grove detained for 24 hours and severely abused

On Monday afternoon, 13 Sep. 2021, Mustafa (13) and Muhammad (15) ‘Amira were playing on family land in the village of Ni’lin, blowing up plastic bottles with detergent and foil. Soldiers attacked and arrested them and took them to a military facility. The abuse continued until the next day, with police, interrogators, doctors and court officials taking part. Every year, soldiers arrest hundreds of Palestinian minors in the West Bank and are free to treat them as they please, with the occasional complaint closed at an early stage of the “inquiry”.

16 November 2021

Hebron City Center

Settlers attack homes, one with live fire; soldiers shoot at Palestinians trying to defend their property

On 10 Sep. 2021, settlers escorted by soldiers threw stones at ‘Abd al-Jawad and Maha al-Ja’bari’s home in Hebron. When Palestinians threw stones to fend them off, a soldier opened fire at the Palestinians, who fled. The soldiers entered the house and another one to search for the Palestinians, while doing nothing to stop the settlers’ ongoing assault. When the settlers returned to Kiryat Arba, one of them passed by the Abu S’eifan family’s home and fired several live shots at it.

16 November 2021

Settler Violence = State Violence

New B'Tselem report: State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence

Settler violence against Palestinians is a daily matter in the West Bank. Instead of taking preventive action, the Israeli authorities aid and abet the settlers in harming Palestinians and using their land. The report shows how settler violence is an unofficial arm of the state violence Israel uses to drive Palestinians off their land. By downplaying it as a fringe phenomenon while keeping up a pretense of law enforcement, Israel enjoys the best of both worlds: maintaining room for “plausible deniability” while taking over more West Bank land.

14 November 2021

Administrative Detention

Six Palestinians on hunger strike protesting their administrative detention. B’Tselem: Release all administrative detainees

At any given time, Israel is holding hundreds of Palestinians without trial, indefinitely, for allegedly intending to commit an offense. The courts regularly approve these administrative detention orders, in a mere semblance of judicial review. The government, senior military commanders, the ISA, the MAG Corps, the State Attorney’s Office, the military judges and the Supreme Court justices – are all complicit in upholding this Kafkaesque policy.

10 November 2021

A Routine Founded on Violence

Israeli plain-clothes police attack Hebron resident traveling with his mother, damage his car and beat him

On 12 Oct. 2021, Marwan a-Zir and his mother Ra’eesah were on their way back from a family visit in al-’Eizariyah when they slowed to a halt before a checkpoint. B’Tselem’s research and video footage show they were then attacked by plain-clothes police officers, who smashed the windows and forcibly removed them. Officers beat and handcuffed Marwan, took the two to a police station and held them there for hours without food or drink, ignoring Marwan’s pleas for medical care. They were released without questioning or terms of release.

7 November 2021

Open-Fire Policy

Soldiers fatally shoot ‘Imad al-Hashash (15), who was filming from his rooftop

On 24 Aug. 2021, before dawn, soldiers entered Balata R.C. and arrested a resident. As they were withdrawing from the camp, one fired a fatal shot at the head of ‘Imad al-Hashash (15), who was standing on his roof filming them. Contrary to the military’s claim, B’Tselem’s investigation found that there was no disturbance of the peace at the time and that the killing of al-Hashash cannot be justified. This is another outcome of the unlawful policy that permits soldiers to shoot at Palestinians endangering no one.

4 November 2021

Open-Fire Policy

Raed Jadallah wanted to get home after work; soldiers lying in ambush shot him to death

On 31 Aug. 2021, Raed Jadallah (39) was on his way home from work as a gardener in Israel. When he reached the military roadblock at the turn-off from Route 443 to his village, Beit ‘Ur a-Tahta, he called a friend to pick him up in his car and started walking along the blocked road. At that point, soldiers lying in ambush shot him in the waist. His friend later found him dead. Years of experience indicate that the MPIU investigation launched will serve to whitewash yet another unjustified shooting.

2 November 2021

The Gaza Strip

Israeli security forces fatally shoot ‘Omar Abu a-Nil (13) standing dozens of meters from Gaza perimeter fence during protest

On Saturday, 21 Aug. 2021, Palestinians protested near the perimeter fence east of Gaza City. Some burned tires and hurled stones and explosives at Israeli security forces standing on the other side of the fence, who responded by firing crowd control weapons and live fire. In the afternoon, ‘Omar Abu a-Nil (13) was shot in the neck while standing about 100 meters from the fence. He died of his wounds on 28 Aug. 2021. Another Palestinian and an Israeli Border Police officer shot during the protest died of their wounds two days later.

28 October 2021

Apartheid

Joint statement: Draconian measure against human rights

The Minister of Defense's designation of prominent Palestinian civil society organizations, among them our colleagues in the Palestinian human rights community, as terrorist organizations, is a draconian measure that criminalizes critical human rights work. Documentation, advocacy, and legal aid are fundamental activities for the protection of human rights worldwide. Criminalizing such work is an act of cowardice, characteristic of repressive authoritarian regimes.

25 October 2021

The Gaza Strip

Words Fail Us.

The horror in the Gaza Strip has been going on for so many years. We have reported on the blockade, the poverty, the wars, shared stories of life without water, without electricity, without hope. We have explained what international law requires and what conscience dictates. Now, words fail us. Eleven days of incessant airstrikes on or near civilian homes. With nowhere to run and no safe place. Almost 230 people killed, thousands injured, thousands more bereft of their homes. This is not a mistake, these are no “exceptional cases”. It is the policy. B’Tselem’s field researchers in the Gaza Strip spoke with people who lost their loved ones. These are their words.

21 October 2021

Settler Violence = State Violence

Another expulsion attempt: Settlers raid Kh. al-Mufaqarah, attack villagers, crack toddler’s skull, and cause heavy property damage

On 29 Aug. 2021, dozens of settlers raided the community of al-Mufaqarah, stoned residents and homes, and damaged property. The attack, one of the most severe recalled by residents, injured several villagers, including a toddler whose skull was fractured. Soldiers fired tear gas canisters at residents. After an hour the settlers moved to the nearby village, where they attacked a house. In the past year, settler attacks in Safar Yatta have intensified, as part of Israel's policy of expelling Palestinians and taking over their lands.

18 October 2021

Hebron City Center

Jaber neighborhood, central Hebron: Soldiers fire live ammunition to protect settlers vandalizing nine cars in Hebron

On 29 Aug. 2021, settlers stoned homes in the Jaber neighborhood of Hebron in front of soldiers, injuring a Palestinian in the head and vandalizing nine cars. When the residents tried to fend off the settlers by throwing stones, soldiers opened live fire. Police arrived at the scene only after the settlers left, and despite the presence of military security cameras, demanded proof that settlers had caused the damage. This incident reflects Israeli policy, which utilizes settler violence as a tool for expelling Palestinians from their homes.

14 October 2021

Settler Violence = State Violence

Running over, tying to moving car, hanging on tree, pepper-spraying, kicking, burning feet: Settlers abduct 15-year-old and abuse him until he loses consciousness

On 17 August 2021, teens from Silat a-Daher in Jenin District set out to picnic on village land. Settlers who came to the scene grabbed one of them, knocked him down with their car and tied him to it with an iron chain, and then drove to the former site of the settlement of Homesh, where they abused him until he lost consciousness. They beat and kicked him, hung him in the air, cut his feet and burned them, and pepper-sprayed him in the eyes. After he lost consciousness, he was handed over to soldiers, who passed him on to family members.

7 October 2021

Human Shields

Border Police raid home of Beit Ummar resident, order her to stand by them on roof while stones were thrown at them, and force her to carry military equipment

On 30 July 2021, security forces attacked the participants the funeral of a man fatally shot by troops in Beit Ummar. During the clashes, in which the participants threw stones, Border Police commandeered the roof of Manal 'Awad’s home, and ordered her to serve as a human shield and carry objects upstairs for them, with her children locked up in her apartment. In 2005, the HCJ barred the military from using Palestinians as human shields, but soldiers continue to do so occasionally.

14 September 2021

Open-Fire Policy

Muhammad Hassan attempted to defend his brother's house from an invasion of settlers and soldiers – and paid for it with his life

On 3 July 2021, settlers escorted by soldiers stoned homes in Qusrah, southeast of Nablus. The soldiers did not lift a finger to stop the attack, and the villagers tried to defend themselves by throwing stones. At one point, a soldier shot Muhammad Hassan in the shoulder, who was trying to defend his brother's home by throwing stones from its roof. After the shooting, soldiers initially prevented the residents from tending to Hassan until he was evacuated by military ambulance about half an hour later and died of his wounds.

12 September 2021

Open-Fire Policy

Israeli soldiers enter a-Nabi Saleh and fatally shoot Muhammad Tamimi (17) in ensuing confrontation

On 23 July 2021, soldiers and a military jeep entered a-Nabi Saleh and advanced towards its center in an operation that appears to have been intended for provocation only. Upon reaching the village center, young men began throwing stones at them. At one point, the soldiers began retreating while firing and sheltering behind the jeep. They encountered a blockade set up by the young men, as the stone-throwing continued intensively. One of the soldiers shot Muhammad Tamimi (17) in the back, who died of his wounds at the hospital.

1 September 2021

A Routine Founded on Violence

Occupation routine: Soldiers invade three homes in Kafr Qadum, beat inhabitants and arrest one

On 1 June 2021, before dawn, Israeli troops raided two homes of the extended Shteiwi family in Kafr Qadum. They woke the inhabitants, separated them, conducted violent searches and severely beat two family members, one of them 17. They arrested Bashar Shteiwi, who was released two weeks later. In late June, soldiers again arrested Bashar – who has since been released – and his brother, who is still in custody. Military incursions into Palestinian homes at night have become integral to the occupation routine in the West Bank.

25 August 2021

Settler Violence = State Violence

May 2021: Two Palestinians were fatally shot in two joint attacks by settlers and soldiers in the villages of Iskaka and Urif - Awad Harb and Nidal Safadi

On 14 May 2021, settlers and soldiers invaded two villages, ‘Urif and Iskaka, in two incidents. The settlers, some armed, threw stones at homes and residents, who came out to defend themselves by throwing stones. In both villages, settlers and soldiers fired live rounds, injuring of 12 residents and killing two. Collusion between soldiers and settlers in the attacks on Palestinians has long been part of the routine in the West Bank that endangers the villagers.

24 August 2021

Open-Fire Policy

Israeli soldiers shot and killed Fadi Washahah, although he posed no risk, during a demonstration near al-Birah

On 15 May 2021, violent clashes took place between soldiers and dozens of Palestinians at the northern entrance to al-Birah. Fadi Washahah (34) came to join a protest march that was about to reach the area, and headed with two other people towards a group of protesters hurling stones at soldiers. Before he reached them, soldiers unlawfully shot him, although he posed no risk, injuring him in the head from 70-100 meters away. He died two weeks later. Based on experience, the MPIU investigation launched will likely serve to whitewash the killing.

12 August 2021