Your Excellency Secretary General
Mr, Antonio Guterres,

On the 22nd anniversary of UNSC Resolution 1325 and the annual open discussion at the Security Council for the advancement of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, the Palestinian Women’s Civil Coalition for the Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 would like to bring your attention to the fact that the suffering of Palestinian women living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has unprecedentedly escalated since this resolution was passed, due to the Israeli occupation’s ongoing, hostile policies, systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international humanitarian law that are disproportionally impacting women and girls in the OPT. These violations include extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, restriction on movement, military blockades, house demolitions, land confiscation and illegal de-facto and de-juri annexation, in addition to the ongoing isolation of areas of the OPT from one another. This has had both individual and collective impact on the lives of women, impeding their access to resources, compounded by the deteriorating economic situation due to the occupation’s control and dominance over land and resources. Added to this is the rise in poverty levels due to unemployment, military blockade on the Gaza Strip for over 15 years and the occupation’s exercise of systematic long-term violence against the Palestinian protected population in the OPT, settlement expansion combined with settlers’ violence and vandalism

The Palestinian Women’s Civil Coalition strongly believes that 22 years since the passage of UNSC Resolution 1325 has not resulted in concrete measures for the advancement of the women, peace and security agenda to Palestinian women living under Israeli prolonged military occupation. A lot still need yet to be made by the Security Council to maintain peace and security for Palestinian women living under military occupation. To the contrary, complications and challenges to Palestinian women have increased in terms of implementing the WPS agenda, due to Israeli impediments to its implementation. Israel, the occupying power, has also placed enormous obstacles before Palestinian women who seek to implement this resolution, given its continued occupation of the OPT and the absence of a just and durable solution to end this prolonged belligerent occupation. No concrete measures were taken by the international community to implement UN resolutions related to the question of Palestine, namely UN Resolutions 242, 338, 194 and 2334. Instead, Israel is intent on confiscating and annexing more land to build settlements, which has severed any path to the establishment of an independent and contiguous Palestinian state. Instead, OPT has been transformed into isolated islands more like the Bantustans of apartheid South Africa, as indicated in the most recent evidence based-report by Amnesty International, describing Israel as an apartheid regime, where one racial group is discriminating against other racial groups.

The Palestinian Women’s Civil Coalition, would also like to point out to the remarkable conclusions of a UN independent Commission of Inquiry (CoI) in its recent to the UN General Assembly in New York on 20/10/2022, which considered the Israeli occupation as unlawful according to international law. The report called on the UN General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice for an urgent advisory opinion on the illegality of this prolonged military occupation, and the impacts of the Israeli illegal measures and violations against the Palestinian civilian population in the 1967 OPT.

Your Excellency UN Secretary General,

As the UNSC is meeting to discuss the advancement of the WPS agenda, we would like to draw to their attention the double standards employed by the United Nations in dealing with its own resolutions, especially when it comes to Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the practices of Israel, the occupying power against Palestinian civilian population. Israeli illegal policies in the OPT , has not only curtailed Resolution 1325 from guaranteeing protection for women and involving her in security and peacemaking, it has also thwarted all international tools and mechanisms for the protection of civilians in times of war and under occupation. This is due to the failure of the international human rights and humanitarian law especially the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protections of Civilians at time of War and under occupation. The reason for this is that the UN itself is discriminatory and has double standards in its handling conflicts, and peoples’ causes due to the huge imbalance in justice and the policy of impunity, which Israeli, the occupying power enjoys. These policies have allowed Israel to escape from accountability or any punitive measures in accordance to UN Charter and more specifically Article 11 of UNSC Resolution 1325, which demands that perpetrators of crimes and violations during war are not afforded impunity. The fact that Israel is treated as a country above the law, and the absence of any form of accountability has only encouraged it to commit more crimes and violations. A case in point is the recent murdering of Palestinian Journalist Shirine Abu Akleh, where no one has been held accountable thus far, although the incident was caught on tape and there is hard evidence proving that her death was the result of premeditated and extrajudicial killing by the Israeli army.

During its evaluation and review of its action plan, the Palestinian Women’s Civil Coalition noted that Resolution 1325 and the nine subsequent resolutions, pinpointed the reasons for the outbreak and development of conflicts in various regions of the world to racial, religious and ethnic disputes. However, it excluded women under racist, colonialist occupation, which is the case of Palestinian women under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including occupied East Jerusalem. Thus, it has disregarded all international resolutions pertaining to the rights of the Palestinian people, over and above Israel’s disregard for its responsibilities as an occupying power. This necessitates a special resolution addressing the status of Palestinian women under racist, colonialist occupation, and addressing the root causes of the suffering of Palestinian women and the major obstacle they face in meaningful political participation, and in moving forward in the advancement of the women, peace and security agenda.

Mr. Secretary General,

Finally, we in the Palestinian Women’s Civil Coalition for the implementation of Resolution 1325, thank your Excellency for your understanding, and for conveying our concerns to all nation states during the open debate on WPS in the Security Council this year. We call on you to dedicate ample attention to the status of Palestinian women during the 22nd Security Council meeting on Resolution 1325, with the objective to develop and push forth the WPS agenda and put into action the role of international tools of accountability. We ask you to provide the necessary protection for Palestinian women under occupation, by closely overseeing the implementation of this resolution and the party responsible for impeding its application on the ground, namely, the Israeli occupying power that has exacerbated the suffering of Palestinian women at all levels and increased discriminatory measures against them.

With our sincere thanks and appreciation,
The Palestinian Women’s Civil Coalition for the Implementation of UNSCR1325

Mr. President, Esteemed Members of the Security Council,

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to address you today, especially thankful to H.E. Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary and the Republic of Kenya for the kind invitation.

For over 70 years, the UN and its various bodies have been seized of the Palestine question; repeatedly reviewing conditions, adopting resolutions, and dispatching fact-finding missions, to no avail. Sadly, this Council has been unable to assert authority, allowing this injustice to become a perpetual tragic human, moral, political and legal travesty.

So it would be disingenuous of me to come before you assuming I could inform you of something you do not already know. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the opportunity to communicate in a candid manner, not to recite endless statistics, nor to reiterate the ongoing pain of a people, deprived of their basic rights, including even the right to speak out, admonished not to “whine” or “complain,” as a means of silencing the victim.

The tragedy is that you know all of this; yet, it has had a minimal impact, if any, on the horrific conditions in Occupied Palestine.

I imagine it must be disheartening and frustrating for this distinguished organization and its members to find themselves trapped in this cycle of deliberate disdain and futility.

It is therefore imperative that this Council consider where it has gone wrong and what it can do to correct course and serve the cause of justice and peace.

Undoubtedly, the absence of accountability for Israel and of protection for the Palestinian people has enabled Israeli impunity to ride roughshod over the rights of an entire nation, allowing for perpetuation of a permanent settler-colonial occupation.

Mr. President,

Much of the prevailing political discourse overlooks reality and is diverted and subsumed by chimeras and distractions proffered by Israel and its allies under such banners as “economic peace,” “improving the quality of life,” “normalization,” “managing the conflict,” “containing the conflict,” or “shrinking the conflict.”

These fallacies must be dismantled. Volatile situations of injustice and oppression do not shrink. They expand and explode, with disastrous consequences. Similarly, the delusion of “imposing calm” under siege and systemic aggression, particularly as in Gaza, is an oxymoron, for calm or security on the one hand and occupation or captivity on the other are antithetical and irreconcilable.

Likewise, the fallacy of “confidence-building measures” is misguided since occupation breeds only contempt, distrust, resentment, and resistance. The oppressed cannot be brought to trust or accept handouts from their oppressor as an alternative to their right to freedom and justice.

The misleading and flawed “both sides” argument calling for “balance” in a flagrantly unbalanced situation is another attempt at obfuscation and generating misconceptions.

Israel’s impunity is further enhanced using such excuses as being the so-called “only democracy in the Middle East” or a “strategic ally,” or having “shared values,” or even for the sake of protecting its “fragile coalition.”

There has also been tacit and, at times overt, acceptance of Israel’s ideological, absolutist arguments, including the invocation of religious texts as a means to dismiss and supplant contemporary political and legal discourse and action. Hence, the so-called “Jewish State Law,” which allocates the right to self-determination exclusively to Jews in all of historic Palestine, is endorsed and normalized.

In the meantime, a massive disinformation machine persists in its racist maligning and demonizing of the Palestinian people, going so far as to label them “terrorists,” or a “demographic threat,” a dehumanizing formula exploited as a way to deny the right of millions of Palestine refugees to return.

Such slander has warped political focus and discourse globally. Some states have gone off on a tangent pursuing Palestinian textbooks for so-called “incitement,” or adopting the IHRA definition that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, or criminalizing BDS, or intimidating and censoring academics and solidarity activists who stand up for Palestinian rights.

These distortions ignore the unequal and unjust laws designed to persecute Palestinians, individually and collectively. It is evidenced in the defamation of our political prisoners and the targeting of their families’ livelihoods, as though Israeli military courts or prison systems have anything to do with justice or legality.

The mindless refrain that Israel has the “right to defend itself,” while the Palestinian people are denied such a right, is perverse in that the occupier’s violence is justified as “self-defense” while the occupied are stigmatized as “terrorists.”

We cannot afford to disregard the context of occupation and its systemic aggression as the framing device for all critical assessments and action.

Excellencies,

Occupied Palestine, including Jerusalem, is the target of a comprehensive and pervasive policy of colonization and erasure, of displacement and replacement, in which Israel is appropriating everything Palestinian; our land and resources; our cultural and human heritage; our archeological sites, which we have safeguarded for centuries; our history; our cuisine; the names of our streets; and most egregiously the identity of Jerusalem, as we witness in the ethnic cleansing of the Old City, Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan among others. Even our cemeteries have been desecrated such as the building of a so-called “museum of tolerance” on top of human remains in Maman’ Allah cemetery. And, Israel continues to stoke the flames of a “holy war,” with repeated assaults on our holy sites, particularly Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jerusalem is being targeted in a deliberate campaign of annexation and distortion. Israel now brazenly declares its intent to complete the settlement siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the territorial contiguity of the West Bank, with its outrageous plans for E-1, Qalandiya airport (Atarot), “Pisgat Ze’ev” and “Giv’at HaMatos.”

We cannot be distracted by symbolic gestures that create a false impression of progress. Claims that the “time is not right,” or that it is “difficult now” to work for a peaceful solution, give license to Israel to persist in its perilous policies. Likewise, repeating a verbal commitment to the two-State solution, while one state is allowed to deliberately destroy the other, rings hollow.

Mr. President,

All of this does not preclude our recognition of our own shortcomings. We do not shirk our responsibility to speak out against internal violence, human rights abuses, corruption, or other such practices that are rejected and resented by our own people. It is our responsibility to carry out democratic reform and revitalize our body politic while ending our internal divisions. This is a Palestinian imperative.

But we must caution others against exploiting our shortcomings to justify Israeli crimes or international inaction, or to condition any positive engagement on the creation of an ideal system of governance in Palestine while we languish under a lawless system of Israeli control.

We ask that you, trustees of the rules-based order, uphold your responsibilities: provide us with protection from aggression and empower our people to amplify their voice, both in governance and liberation.

Esteemed Members of the Council,

Peace is not achieved by “normalizing the occupation,” sidelining the Palestine Question, or rewarding Israel by repositioning it as a regional superpower. Such an approach maintains the causes of regional instability and insecurity, while enabling Israel as a colonial apartheid State to superimpose “Greater Israel” on all of historic Palestine.

Generation after generation, the people of Palestine have remained committed to the justice of their cause, the integrity of their narrative, the authenticity of their history and culture, and their inviolable right to live in freedom, and dignity, as an equal among nations and in the fullness of our humanity.

It is time to reclaim the narrative of justice and invoke our collective will to activate the UN Charter and affirm the relevance of international law.

The time has come for courageous and determined action, not just to undo the injustice of the past but to chart a clear and binding course for a peaceful future of hope and redemption.

I thank you.

To view the full Speech as PDF

We, the undersigned global coalition of leaders –from civil society to academia, art, media, business, politics, indigenous and faith communities, and people of conscience around the world– call upon the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to act decisively to put an end to Israel’s notorious use of arms and military equipment for the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Palestinian civilians by immediately imposing a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel.

In the spring of 2021, the world once again watched in horror as Israeli occupying forces attacked defenceless Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and inside Israel. Palestinian civilians peacefully protesting against colonisation of their land were assaulted with live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs, tear gas and skunk water. Israel’s deadly military aggression against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip was the fourth in a decade. Over 11 days, 248 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children. Thousands were wounded, and the reverberating effects of the use of explosive weapons on hospitals, schools, food security, water, electricity and shelter continue to affect millions.

This systematic brutality, perpetrated throughout the past seven decades of Israel’s colonialism, apartheid, pro-longed illegal belligerent occupation, persecution, and closure, is only possible because of the complicity of some governments and corporations around the world.

Symbolic statements of condemnation alone will not put an end to this suffering. In accordance with the relevant rules of the ATT, States Parties have legal obligations to put an end to irresponsible and often complicit trade of conventional arms that undermines international peace and security, facilitates commission of egregious crimes, and threatens the international legal order.

Under Article 6(3) of the ATT, States Parties undertook not to authorise any transfer of conventional arms if they have knowledge at the time of authorisation that arms or items would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions of 1949, attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other war crimes as defined by international agreements to which they are a Party.

Under Articles 7 and 11, they undertook not to authorise any export of conventional arms, munitions, parts and components that would, inter alia, undermine peace and security or be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.

It is clear that arms exports to Israel are inconsistent with these obligations. Invariably, Israel has shown that it uses arms to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, as documented by countless United Nations bodies and civil society organisations worldwide. Military exports to Israel also clearly enabled, facilitated and maintained Israel’s decades-long settler-colonial and apartheid regime imposed over the Palestinian people as a whole.

Similarly, arms imports from Israel are wholly inconsistent with obligations under the ATT. Israeli military and industry sources openly boast that their weapons and technologies are “combat proven” – in other words, field-tested on Palestinian civilians “human test subjects”. When States import Israeli arms, they are encouraging it to keep bombing Palestinian civilians and persist in its unlawful practices. No one –neither Israel, nor arms manufacturers in ATT States parties– should be allowed to profit from the killing or maiming of Palestinian civilians.

It is thus abundantly clear that imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel is both a legal and a moral obligation. ATT States Parties must immediately terminate any current, and prohibit any future transfers of conventional arms, munitions, parts and components referred to in Article 2(1), Article 3 or Article 4 of the ATT to Israel, until it ends its illegal belligerent occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory and complies fully with its obligations under international law. Pending such an embargo, all States must immediately suspend all transfers of military equipment, assistance and munitions to Israel.

A failure to take these actions entails a heavy responsibility for the grave suffering of civilians – more deaths, more suffering, as thousands of Palestinian men, women and children continue to bear the brutality of a colonial belligerent occupying force– which would result in discrediting the ATT itself. It also renders States parties complicit in internationally wrongful acts through the aiding or abetting of international crimes.  A failure in taking action could also result in invoking the individual criminal responsibility of individuals of these States for aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in accordance with Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Justice will remain elusive so long as Israel’s unlawful occupation, settler-colonialism, apartheid regime, and persecution and institutionalised oppression of the Palestinian people are allowed to continue, and so long as States continue to be complicit in the occupying Power’s crimes by trading weapons with it.

In conclusion, we believe that the ATT can make a difference in the Palestinian civilians’ lives. It has the potential, if implemented in good faith, to spare countless protected persons from suffering. If our call to stop leaving the Palestinian people behind when it comes to implementation of the ATT is ignored, the raison d'être of the ATT will be shattered.

Joining organisations:

1. Action Sécurité Ethique Républicaines
2. Adalah Justice Project
3. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
4. AFPS 63
5. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
6. Aldameer Association for Human Rights
7. Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
8. Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society
9. American Muslims for Palestine
10. Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
11. Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ)
12. Arab Canadian Lawyers Association
13. Arab Organization for Human Rights
14. Argenteuil Solidarité Palestine
15. Asociación Americana de Juristas
16. Association Belgo-Palestinienne WB
17. Association femmes plurielles
18. Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)
19. AssoPacePalestina
20. Australia Palestine Advocacy Network
21. Australian Centre for International Justice
22. Australians For Palestine
23. Badayl
24. BDS Australia
25. Begian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
26. Campagne BDS France
27. Canadian BDS Coalition
28. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
29. Center for Constitutional Rights
30. Center for International Policy
31. Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios Estratégicos para la Seguridad y el Desarrollo Social CIESED A.C.
32. CNAPD - Coordination Nationale d'Action pour la Paix et la Démocratie
33. Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine
34. Collectif 69 de Soutien au Peuple Palestinien
35. Collectif BDS 57
36. Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
37. Colombian Campaign to Ban Landmines
38. Columban missionaries Britain
39. Columbia Law Students for Palestine
40. Combatants for Peace
41. Comitato BDS Campania
42. Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe
43. Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient asbl
44. Community Action Center - Al-Quds University
45. Confederación Intersindical Gallega (CIG)
46. Cultura è Libertà, una campagna per la Palestina
47. Dagropass
48. De Palestijnse gemeenschap in Nederland
49. Defense for Children -Palestine (DCI-Palestine)
50. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
51. docP - BDS Netherlands
52. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
53. European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
54. European Legal Support Center
55. Femmes Unies pour la Paix dans la région des Grands Lacs
56. FILEF Sydney Federation of Italian Migrant Workers
57. Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
58. Friends of Palestine Tasmania Inc
59. Gaza Action Ireland
60. Gesellschaft Schweiz Palästina GSP/ASP
61. Global Kairos Asia Pacific Solidarity For Palestine (GKAPS)
62. Good Shepherd Collective
63. Housing and Land Rights Network
64. Human Rights and Democratic Participation Center “SHAMS”
65. Human Rights Network Nigeria
66. ICAHD Finland
67. ICAHD UK
68. Independent Jewish Voices Canada
69. Indian Writers Forum
70. Indo Palestine Solidarity Forum
71. International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)
72. International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific
73. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
74. Jewish Voice For Peace
75. Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
76. Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
77. Karapatan
78. Kenya Human Rights Commission
79. Labor for Palestine
80. Manushya Foundation
81. National Association of Democratic Lawyers (South Africa)
82. National Justice & Peace Network (NJPN)
83. National Lawyers Guild, Palestine Subcommittee
84. Nederlands Palestina Komitee
85. Newweapons research group
86. Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI)
87. North Notts Unite Community
88. NOVACT
89. Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
90. Palestine Solidarity Network - Edmonton
91. Palestinian and Jewish Unity
92. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
93. Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall)
94. Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO)
95. Pax Christi International
96. Pax Christi, England and Wales
97. Paz con Dignidad
98. Platform of French NGOs for Palestine
99. Salaam ragazzi dell'Olivo, comitato di Trieste
100. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
101. SODePAZ
102. Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative
103. The Civic Coalition for Palestinians Right in Jérusalem
104. The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
105. The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)
106. The National Association of Human Rights Defenders
107. The Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
108. The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC)
109. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy-MIFTAH
110. UJFP French Jewish union for peace
111. Union syndicale Solidaires
112. US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
113. US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
114. Visualizing Palestine
115. Vrede vzw
116. Vredesactie
117. War on Want
118. Women for Palestine
119. Women in Black Vienna
120. Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling

Joining individuals:

121. Ahmed Ben
122. Ahmed Reda Tolba
123. Alaa Shalaby
124. Alaaeddine Tatak
125. Aline Shaban
126. Amin Abbas
127. Andrea Balduzzi
128. Angie Mindel
129. Ann McNicholas
130. Anne Peacey
131. Ashley Tellis
132. Atamjit Singh
133. Audrey J Bomse
134. Badee M.T. Aldwaik
135. Baruti Likoyi
136. Bernadette McPhe
137. Chirag Shah
138. Claudia Karas
139. Claudia Schiavelli
140. Denise Peillon
141. Denotter JJ
142. Devaki Khanna
143. Dr. Ibrahim Lada’a
144. Dr. Nerina Cecchin
145. Egbert Harmsen
146. Marc Fayard
147. Firoz Ahmad
148. Flavia Lepre
149. Françoise Abadie
150. Frstot Marie-Paule
151. Gabriel Mondragón Toledo
152. Geeta Kapur
153. Geeta Kapur
154. Georges Franco
155. Gillard Francois
156. Gina Cardosi
157. Githa Hariharan
158. Gregory Kotoy
159. Gyan Prakash
160. Haidi Ali Muhammad Eltayeb
161. Hélène Le Cacheux
162. Herman De Ley
163. Huwaida Arraf
164. Ian Ampleford
165. Ian Mc Cabe
166. Indu Chandrasekhar
167. Jake Javanshir
168. James Dickins
169. James Lafferty
170. John King
171. Joop Hoekstra
172. Julia Auf Dem Brinke
173. Julie Hart
174. Kalyani Chaudhuri
175. Karel Arnaut
176. Karin Brothers
177. Karin Verelst
178. Kathryn Kelly
179. Kellie Tranter
180. Lauren Speiser
181. Laurent De Wangen
182. Lee Rhiannon
183. Luisa Morgantini
184. M.N. Harakeh
185. Madeline Lutjeharms
186. Maha Abdallah
187. Maha Alami
188. Malini Bhattacharya
189. Mani Shankar Aiyar
190. Marcy Newman
191. Maria Bartolacci
192. Marjorie Cohn
193. Martin Mavenjina
194. Massimiliano Masini
195. Maxime Florentin
196. Maya Devi
197. Michael Letwin
198. Michel Gevers
199. Mohamad Arouki
200. Mohamed Aboelazm
201. Mohammad Al Nabulsi
202. Mohan Rao
203. Monique Vincent
204. Muralidharan K
205. Nalini Nayak
206. Nandini Sundar
207. Naresh Dadhich
208. Nasir Tyabji
209. Navdeep Mathur
210. Nick Deane
211. Nozomi Takahashi
212. Oishik Sircar
213. P A Azeez
214. Pamela Blakelock
215. Pamela Philipose
216. Paola Manduca
217. Patrick Lechopier
218. Persis Ginwalla
219. Pierre Bordone
220. Pushpa Achanta
221. Pushpamala N
222. Raffaele Spiga
223. Rajni Palriwala
224. Rev Joseph Ryan
225. Rey Asis
226. Rudolf Knutti
227. S. Raghunandana
228. Salim Yusufji
229. Sellin Jean-Christophe
230. Shafey Kidwai
231. Sharib Aqleem Ali
232. Sigour Brigitte
233. Sonia Fayman
234. Stephen Flaherty
235. Sue Ingham
236. Sumanta Banerjee
237. Terri Ginsberg
238. Valter Mutt
239. Vinay Bharadwaj
240. Vincent Basabé
241. Winfried Belz
242. Yousuf Saeed
243. YVes Goaer
244. Yves Jardin

To View the Letter as PDF

Introduction

The Israeli Operation Defensive Shield began on 29 March 2002 with the reoccupation of the city of Ramallah followed soon after by the rest of the Palestinian cities. The reoccupation lasted variable lengths of time, with the longest in Bethlehem for 45 consecutive days.

For Palestinian children, this meant the interruption of normal life including education, social interactions, accessibility to health care, and loss of income for their families. In addition, there was psychological trauma from exposure to shelling, shootings and beatings that led injuries, disabilities and loss of life.

Objectives

This report summarizes some specific violations of children’s rights that occurred between 29 March and 31 May 2002 as the result of Operation Defensive Shield—the rights to life, physical and psychological well being, healthcare, education, and protection from torture.

Methodology

This report focuses on children under the age of 18. Information was obtained from local and international organizations that deal with children—Defense of Children International (DCI) – Palestinian Sector, National Plan of Action (NPA), UNICEF, the Red Crescent Society (RCS), and Human Development and Information project (HDIP). In addition, the local papers and the Internet were screened for reports on events affecting Palestinian children during that period.

Results

Deaths

During the reported time period, 55 children were killed. Thirty-eight percent (21) were under 12 years of age and 85 percent (47) were males. Forty-four percent (24) died from live bullets including rubber-coated metal bullets, 13 percent (7) from shelling, bombing or explosions; 9 percent (5) from delays in receiving healthcare, 19 percent (10) from acts of violence such as beatings or being struck by army vehicles, and 11 percent (6) were buried under the rubble by a bulldozer. Of those who died, 34.5 percent were from Nablus and 25.5 percent from Jenin. 14.5 percent and 12.7 percent were from Bethlehem and Hebron respectively.

• During the third day of the incursion into Nablus, the Shu’bi family home was demolished by an Israeli bulldozer; the mother, seven-months pregnant, and, three brothers, Abdullah, 8, Azzam, 6, and Anas, 4, were buried under the rubble, along with their grandfather and two aunts.[i][i]
• Another family, from Qabatia near Jenin, was similarly devastated when an Israeli tank fired at the family as they were cultivating their land, killing the mother and her two children, Abeer, 3, and Basil, 4. The father was detained for a couple of hours and ambulances were prevented from transporting the children and the mother for several hours, by which time they were all dead.[ii][ii]
• On 23 April,[iii][iii] Ameen Ziad Thawabte, 14, from the village of Beit Fajjar near Hebron, was returning from school with a small group of children his age at approximately 1:00 p.m. An Israeli jeep passed nearby and fired a single shot that killed Ameen. There were no clashes or confrontations with soldiers in the area at the time and there was no curfew on the village. The Israeli army claimed that the children were close to a settlement. However, the nearest settlement, Mijdal Oz, is located three kilometers from the place where Ameen was shot.
• Five deaths were due to delay in receiving health care, three of which were babies delivered at checkpoints who died soon after birth. The other two were sick children who either died at checkpoints or later due to delays in getting healthcare. Dr Ali Sha’ar’s newborn from Nablus, became unwell soon after home delivery. The Israeli occupation force prevented his transport to a hospital and he died a couple of hours later.
• Haleema al-Atrash, a woman in labor from Walajeh village near Bethlehem, was prevented from reaching an ambulance located only 10 meters away from her. As a result, she delivered at the checkpoint, but the baby died soon after.
• The Israeli occupation force regularly left mines in commonly used Palestinian areas before their withdrawal and 11 children were affected, seven of whom have died. On 23 April, Asad Orsan lost four limbs, Saed al-Wahshi, 12, suffered severe burns and shrapnel over his entire body, and on 17 May, Ameer Nashrati, 12, was injured while playing in the rubble.

The data on injury is by no mean complete as there were less precise records kept for injury data as death was common and not all the injuries were reported. Overall, 342 injuries were reported. Forty percent were from Nablus, 33.6 percent from Hebron, and 13 percent were from Tulkarim, the rest were from the other cities. Of these injuries, live bullets, including rubber-coated metal bullets caused 24 percent, and beatings, collisions with an army vehicle, and shock injury caused 51 percent, the rest were due to other causes. Forty-seven percent of the children were from the city while the rest were split equally between villages and refugee camps. Again, as in death, 37 percent were under 12 years of age and most of the injured were males (82.5 percent).

The DCI – Palestine Sector, documented some stories of the injured children.[iv][iv]

• On 3 April, during a three-hour break in the curfew in Ramallah, Israeli troops fired randomly at Palestinian civilians who were attempting to buy food, water, and essential goods. A 14-year old boy, Kindi Qutteineh, who lives in the center of the city, was shot in his leg by live ammunition fired from an Israeli tank. An eyewitness to the shooting told DCI, "I was walking up the street to buy some food when Israeli soldiers shot randomly at people. Kindi was near his house. It took around one hour before an ambulance could reach him and take him to hospital.”
• On 5 April, 9-year old, Mohammed Amin Abdul Rahman al-Zougheir of Hebron was seriously injured during an assassination attempt on the life of a Palestinian activist. Mohammed and his father were next to their car when an air-to-surface missile slammed into the vehicle. The attack caused third-degree burns to 80 percent of Mohammed's body.
• On 10 April, 16-year old Abdul Rahman Ismail Mohammed Abu Hadwan from Harat al-Sheikh neighborhood in Hebron sustained injuries to his lower leg and ankle when Israeli soldiers shot him with a fragmenting bullet.
• On 16 April, 16-year old Shadi Issa Mohammed Yunis Jaradat of Hebron sustained injuries after being shot in the chest with live ammunition during an Israeli army invasion into Hebron.

Defense of Children International revealed that as of 22 May around 40–50 children are being detained in Ofrah prison near the city of Ramallah. When the DCI lawyer attempted to visit the children, he was allowed to see seven of them, but only after much difficulty. The prison is composed of nine compartments separated by metal wire, with four tents in each section, housing 25 to 35 prisoners. The tents are erected on a concrete floor and prisoners sleep on wooden benches with only a thin mattress and dirty, smelly blankets. There is no electricity in the tents and the prisoners are completely cut off from the outside world. There are no cleaning facilities and two of the compartments have flooded sewage. Food is prepared and eaten from large containers, shared by eight prisoners.

• One of the children said he was arrested on 23 April, interrogated and the next day he was taken to Ofrah and beaten on the way. On arrival, he was interrogated again for an entire day and one of the soldiers kept banging his head against a table.[v][v]

Family visits have been made difficult and if allowed, the mothers are humiliated through requests such as removing their clothes in order to be searched.

Psychological trauma

Since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, Palestinian children have been exposed to harassment, displacement, shooting, and destruction of their homes and schools, harassment. These measures were drastically increased during the recent occupation, accentuating the psychological effects on children.

Prior to the incursion, and 7 to 8 months after the intifada began (April–May 2001), the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) began to document the shooting, bombing and harassment of children.[vii][vii] The results showed that even at that time, 27331 (1.3 percent) of the Palestinians in the West Bank had changed their residence due to the situation—22.3 percent permanently and 54 percent temporarily. Of 483,460 school children interviewed at that time, 3 percent had been stopped at checkpoints, 1.2 percent shot at, 1.4 percent humiliated, 0.8 percent beaten, and equal number harassed.

At least half of the school children showed psychological symptoms such as crying and fear from loneliness, the dark, and loud noises. About a third showed symptoms of sleep disorder, nervousness, decrease in eating and weight, feelings of hopelessness and frustration, and abnormal thoughts of death. About half of the children showed deterioration in their schoolwork and one-third were unable to concentrate. In the same report, around 7 percent of families had experienced shooting at their houses, 3.5 percent raids into their homes by Israeli soldiers or settlers, and 6 percent were exposed to tear gas. Five percent of families reported damage to their land, 3 percent to their homes, and 4 percent to their cars.

Recently, towards the end of the recent incursion, May 2002, a brief statistical report on the daily life, health and environmental conditions of families living under curfew has been prepared by the Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University.[viii][viii] The report sampled five cities and showed that 23 to 37 percent of families housed other families because of life-threatening danger, houses being demolished or taken over by the army, or being stranded and not able to reach their homes. A range of 31 to 87 percent of witnesses reported considerable destruction to their neighborhoods and 28 to 59 percent reported exposure to shooting and /or destruction of their own home.

The Israeli occupying forces searched between 30 and 50 percent of homes; 12 to 36 percent of households reported the arrest of at least one family member. As a result, between 70 and 93 percent of interviewees reported mental health problems in at least one family member. Symptoms included great fear among children— shivering, crying, loss of appetite, and lack of sleep. Methods for coping included prayer, sleeping with the children, intensification of normal activities, explaining to the children what is happening, and sometimes seeking help from a counselor by telephone.

Now, after the third incursion, June 2002, psychologists expect that all the children to have been traumatized, as shooting, damage to properties, bombing and house demolition has become a regular event in all areas of Palestinian.

Examples of events causing psychological trauma to children include the main incursion of the Jenin refugee camp with 600 houses completely destroyed by bombs and bulldozers and 200 houses unfit for habitation, leaving 1,250 families homeless. One personal tale began on 5 April. The Abu Ramaileh family had hidden in the kitchen for a couple of days to avoid shelling and shooting at the camp. At a quiet moment, the father decided to check damage in the sitting room. A shot was heard and when the mother went to check on her husband, she found that he had been shot. The ambulance could not reach the house for seven days and she convinced her children, Muhammed, 7, Hazar, 6, and Rami, 4, that their father was tired and asleep.[ix][ix]

In Nablus, 250 houses were destroyed, the families housed in schools, mosques, and temporary apartments before their houses were repaired or a permanent residence was available.[x][x]

Health

Child health in general is dependent on preventive and curative services. In the Palestinian territories, these services are provided free of charge during the first three years of life. After this age, curative services are covered by private or government insurance policies or direct payment for the service.

The PCBS studied health-seeking behavior for curative services on the West Bank during April and May 2001. Results showed that 28.6 percent of families who needed curative services did not obtain medical advice because medication was not available, 32.9 percent said they had no money, 26.6 percent could not reach a health center, and 16.8 percent reported that the doctor could not reach the health center.[xi][xi] A month prior to the study, March 2001, PCBS found 10.7 percent of households in the Palestinian territories[xii][xii] had lost their income and 64.2 percent were living below the poverty line. Since then, poverty and inaccessibility of drugs and healthcare has become increasingly worse, especially after the 29 March 2002 reoccupation that led to tighter curfews imposed on Palestinian cities.

Although health-seeking behavior during the siege has not yet been evaluated, it must have been completely dependent on physical barriers and cash availability. Although drug donations and foreign doctors provided free services in some cities, there is no information on the percentage they covered and the quality of the service they offered. Looking at income and cash availability, PCBS in January–February 2002[xiii][xiii] found 57.8 percent of households in the West Bank lived below the poverty line, while 58 percent lost half their income during the intifada, from 2,500 NIS to 1200 NIS per month and a further 20.3 percent lost their income altogether. Another report, Life and Health during the Israeli Invasion of the West Bank, prepared by the Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University,[xiv][xiv] reported on the daily life, health and environmental conditions of families living under curfew. In Bethlehem, 65 percent reported problems with cash availability, compared to 54 percent in Ramallah, 39 percent in Tulkarem, 34 percent in Jenin, and 33 percent in Nablus. Also 23 to 29 percent of respondents were no longer working after the reoccupation. This tight situation must have forced families to use alternative methods to protect their health, possibly using indigenous medical practices, traditional healers, over-the-counter drugs, and free services offered by physicians.

Preventive services were also interrupted. Some services were remedied when the curfew was lifted, but two could not be remedied: Hepatitis B vaccination, which can lead to chronic Hepatitis and liver cancer; and phenylketonuria (PKU) test, which screens for two diseases, where timing of diagnosis and treatment is crucial to prevent mental retardation in children.

Hepatitis B is normally given to infants in three doses at birth, 1 and 6 months to protect children from Hepatitis B, which is moderately endemic (3.4%) according to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health policy is to vaccinate newborns immediately after birth if the mother is a carrier, to reduce the risk of acquiring the disease. This policy, in optimal circumstances, is 93 percent effective. However, 7 percent of infants of infected mothers will acquire Hepatitis B even if vaccinated immediately after birth. Vaccination for Hepatitis B is normally done in the hospital or delivery unit where 93 percent of Palestinian mothers deliver, while the home-delivery births attend the Mother and Child Health (MCH) Clinic. During the incursion, home deliveries increased to 40 percent[xv][xv] and the MCH clinics became inaccessible for variable lengths of time. As a result, it is predicted that there will be a rise in Hepatitis B among newborns of infected mothers. Since routine testing is not practiced, these children will be discovered when they become chronic carriers as adults.

For PKU, the screening test is done within seven days of birth, when breast-feeding is established, to detect two diseases, phenylketonuria, and hypothyroidism. Both are congenital diseases that cause mental retardation, and treatment success depends in the introduction of special milk or hormone replacement as early as possible. Due to the increase in home deliveries and inaccessibility of the MCH clinics to mothers and inaccessibility of the central government lab to the MCH clinics, infants were either not tested, tested but the test was not sent to the laboratory, or tested at the lab but not reported back to the parents. A private physician, who opened his clinic when the curfew was lifted temporarily, reported one baby girl who reported at 40 days showed symptoms of developmental delay. Her blood had been tested before the incursion, but the test never reached the laboratory.

Education

The November 2001 PCBS report,[xvi][xvi] which covered only the first year of the uprising and siege, reported that of those children attending schools, 14 percent said their schools were closed, bombed, became a military base or had been entered by Israeli occupation forces; 36 percent said their time at school had been reduced due to the Israeli measures; 60 percent had been absent for at least one day due to these measures, with an average of 10 absent days; and 2.4 percent had had to change their schools.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education,[xvii][xvii] the initial assessment of damage to schools during the main incursion (29 March through 11 April) indicated that (??) schools were completely destroyed, 9 were vandalized, 15 were used as military installations, and 15 were used as detention/ holding facilities. The systematic destruction and abuse of Palestinian educational facilities resulted not only in material damage and financial loss, but seriously affected the education of hundred of thousands of Palestinian children. The Ministry estimates that 54,730 teaching sessions were lost in three weeks as a result of the Israeli siege and the ensuing complete cessation of classes in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarim, Bethlehem, Qalqilia, Salfit, and Qabatia district schools. Moreover, the widespread destruction or confiscation of vital Ministry files, such as documents necessary for certifying students’ transcripts, will make rebuilding the education sector extremely difficult.

Another problem was the secondary school matriculation exam (tawjihi). Every district has been affected to a certain extent by Israeli curfews and closures. For example, villages to the west of Ramallah have not been able to hold classes for more than two months due to the complete closure placed on that area. Education officials are concerned how to conduct the nationwide tawjihi exams when each school has reached a different stage in the curriculum. The exam, taken during the month of June, has been completely disrupted. All Palestinian cities have been reoccupied and are under curfew: Jenin, Beitunia, Tulkarim, and Bethlehem since 19 June; Nablus since 21 June; Qalqilia since 22 June; Ramallah since 24 June; and Hebron, Tubas, and Arrabeh village since 25 June. This has drastic results on the students as they are expected to apply for universities very soon with their tawjihi grades, otherwise the will miss the deadline for application. It seems most likely that many will lose this year completely as some are injured, in detention, prison or under curfew, or unable to reach the examination site because of closure.

UNICEF estimates that more than 600,000 (61 percent) of 986,000 children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were unable to attend school on a regular bases.[xviii][xviii] The percentage in the West Bank where most of the closures took place will be much higher, probably approaching 90 percent.

Reports show that a number of children are leaving private schools to attend government or UNRWA schools where education is not of the same high standards. It is also known that child labor is influenced by the adult unemployment rate, so one expects more children to leave school in the next academic year, to find regular or irregular paid employment to supplement family income. The rate for 10 to 14 year olds employed prior to the incursion was 0.6 percent for the West Bank.[xix][xix] It will be tragic if this rate increases in the coming years.

Poverty

A 16 June 2002 report in the al-Quds newspaper, estimates poverty in the West Band and Gaza Strip has reached 75 percent.[xx][xx] The PCBS reported that the 2002 first-quarter status of the labor force,[xxi][xxi] just before the 29 March Israeli incursion, showed that 59.6 percent of those on the West Bank aged 15 years and older are outside the labor force by International Labour Organization (ILO) standards. Of those who are employed, 84.4 percent are working in the Palestinian territories. The percentage of employees whose monthly wages are below the poverty line (1,642 NIS for a family of two adults and four children), increased form 43.5 percent in the third quarter of 2000 to 54.2 percent in the first quarter of 2002. The economic dependency ratio (number of population divided by number of employed person), increased from 4.3 in the third quarter of 2000 to 5.6 in the first quarter of 2002 in the West Bank.

Since the incursion, the ICPH report, Life and Health during the Israeli Invasion of the West Bank,[xxii][xxii] reported that of those who were working prior to the incursion, between 23 and 29 percent are no longer working. The main reasons given were the siege and collapse of the market.

As a result of Israeli Operation Determined Path, which began on 26 June 2002, Palestinians living in the West Bank have entered a semi-continuous occupation that is expected to last for a an unlimited period of time, poverty affecting families and children is expected to rise to drastic levels as the self-employed and wage employed, making up 87.6 percent of total employment,[xxiii][xxiii] is not expected to be sustainable in the absence of aid money and implementation of persistent curfews.

This is expected to affect children by compromising their food intake, as confirmed by the findings of the PCBS,[xxiv][xxiv] January–February 2002 report on changes to nutrition during the intifada. It reported that 51 percent of households reduced the quantity of their food and 63.2 percent reduced the quality. Monthly-consumed meat was reduced by 73.9 percent, fruits by 71.3 percent, and milk and milk products by 54.6 percent. Sixty-seven percent of families said price was a very important determinant for purchasing food. This decreased food intake will lead to increased numbers of children failing to thrive and with nutritional inadequacies leading to such diseases as iron deficiency anemia.

Rehabilitation

The Palestinian juvenile rehabilitation home in Ramallah,[xxv][xxv] Dar al-Amal, founded in 1958, used as a prison for juveniles during the Israeli occupation, and a rehabilitation home for troubled juveniles since the arrival of the Palestinian Authority, was completely destroyed during the Israeli invasion. Dar al-Amal served as a support center, providing classes and counseling for youths, and training for teachers. Just prior to the invasion of Ramallah, ten of the 15 youths who were housed in the building moved to stay with relatives. The five other children, aged between 12 and 15 years, were not able to find people to stay with and remained in the building along with five teachers. The building was attacked three times during the invasion. The director, Anwar Hamam, told DCI – Palestine Sector, who were reporting this case, that Israeli soldiers raided the building on 18 April at 5:00 p.m. and placed the teachers and juveniles in one room on the first floor. On the ground floor they placed a large number of explosive devices that they detonated from afar. All of the rooms on the ground floor were completely destroyed. On the first floor, the bedrooms and bathrooms were destroyed and looted. Every window and door in the building was smashed or destroyed with explosive devices while the ten residents remained imprisoned in one room. The electricity, water, and sewage networks were completely destroyed during the attacks. Dar al-Amal was the only institution of its kind operating in Ramallah and one of only three such centers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

One of the most serious psychological consequences of these attacks is that the children who had remained in the building were forced to return to relatives who were not willing to take them prior to the 29 March incursion.

Conclusion

The outlook for Palestinian children under Israeli occupation is grim as children’s rights continue to be violated and there is no hope in the near future for a political solution. For children who are old enough to remember the time when they were able to travel from one city to another without hassle, attend to school without fear of shelling, and travel without facing a checkpoint, they understand that their life has changed.

Now, all Palestinians are confined to their homes for variable lengths of time and the sounds of bullets, bombs, tanks, and bulldozers are regular background noise. The children sense the adults’ desperation and anxiety and become anxious themselves. The ones who are old enough to dream of something else, are also old enough to realize that their dreams are a far-fetched fantasy and their reality is poverty, poor education, inadequate healthcare, and fear for their loved ones. The occupation, the tanks, the checkpoints and the Israeli soldiers have incarcerated their dreams. Beyond, there is no future.

[i][i] Al-Quds newspaper, 17 May 2002

[ii][ii] Al-Quds newspaper, 6 May 2002

[iii][iii] DCI - Palestine Sector. Situation of Palestinian Children Remains Dire: Killings, Injury, and Arrests of Children Continue. 24 April 2002. ref: 0013/02.

[iv][iv] DCI - Palestine Sector. Violations of Palestinian Children's Rights: 29 March – 19 April 2002. Submitted on 19 April 2002 to Mrs. Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

[v][v] Al-Quds newspaper, 22 May 2002

[vi][vi] Al-Quds newspaper, 7 June 2002

[vii][vii] PCBS 2001, Impact of the Israeli Measures: Survey on the Well Being of the Palestinian Children, Women and Palestinian Households, 2001, Main Findings. Ramallah, Palestine.

[viii][viii] Giacaman R and A. Husseini. Life and Health during the Israeli Invasion of the West Bank. May 2002.

[ix][ix] Al-Quds newspaper, 24 April 2002

[x][x]Al-Quds newspaper, 20 May 2002

[xi][xi] PCBS 2002, Impact of the Israeli Measures: Survey on the Well Being of the Palestinian Children, Women and Palestinian Households, 2001, Main Findings. Ramallah, Palestine.

[xii][xii] PCBS 2001. Impact of the Israeli Measures on the Economic Conditions of Palestinian Households on the Eve of the Israeli Incursion (4th round January-February 2002).

[xiii][xiii] PCBS 2002. Impact of the Israeli Measures on the Economic Conditions of Palestinian Households on the Eve of the Israeli Incursion (4th round: January-February 2002).

[xiv][xiv] Giacaman R and A. Husseini. Life and Health during the Israeli Invasion of the West Bank. May 2002.

[xv][xv] Interview with Dr. As‘ad Ramlawi, Deputy of General Director of Primary Health Care. May 2002.

[xvi][xvi] PCBS 2001. Impact of the Israeli Measures: Survey on the Well Being of the Palestinian Children, Women and Palestinian Households, 2001, Main Findings. Ramallah, Palestine.

[xvii][xvii] DCI - Palestine Sector.htm, Situation of Palestinian Children Remains Dire: Killings, Injury, and Arrests of Children Continue. 24 April 2002. ref: 0013/02.

[xviii][xviii] UNICEF Status Report 2002.

[xix][xix] PCBS 2002. Palestinian Labor Force Status on the Eve of the Israeli Incursion: January–March, 2002.

[xx][xx] Al-Quds newspaper, 16 June 2002

[xxi][xxi] PCBS 2002. Palestinian Labor Force Status on the Eve of the Israeli Incursion: January–March, 2002.

[xxii][xxii] Giacaman R and A. Husseini. Life and Health during the Israeli Invasion of the West Bank. May 2002.

[xxiii][xxiii] PCBS 2002. Palestinian Labor Force Status on the Eve of the Israeli Incursion: January–March, 2002.

[xxiv][xxiv] PCBS 2002. Impact of the Israeli Measures on the Economic Conditions of Palestinian Households on the Eve of the Israeli Incursion (4th round: January–February 2002)

[xxv][xxv] DCI - Palestine Sector. htm, Situation of Palestinian Children Remains Dire: Killings, Injury, and Arrests of Children Continue. 24 April 2002. ref: 0013/02.