Background:

The Israeli-imposed siege and the frequent aggressions targeting medical facilities in Gaza have debilitated the health sector and its capacity to provide proper medical services. This is exacerbated in cases of chronic diseases, which gives rise to a need to leave the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, or elsewhere. However, Israel imposes a strict and discriminatory permit regime, which has a disproportionate impact on medical patients given their conditions, and it is not unusual for these permits to be significantly delayed or ultimately refused by Israel.

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) collected questionnaires from 102 women diagnosed with cancer in the Gaza Strip to assess the quality of the treatment, availability of equipment, accessibility, and referral process.

The full report is accessible here.

Conclusion and recommendations:

The 16-year-long Israeli-imposed blockade and closure on Gaza have had detrimental impacts on the health sector in the besieged Strip. Specifically, the siege has compromised the ability of the healthcare sector to deliver proper medical services due to the absence of crucial medication, equipment, and supplies under flimsy security pretexts. Ultimately, frequent aggressions and targeting of health facilities and the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza compromise the availability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare services available to Palestinians in Gaza.

MIFTAH urges the international community to:

• Put an end to Israel’s impunity and hold it accountable for its persistent crimes, including the crime against humanity of apartheid, through the adoption of effective and concrete measures;

• Exert pressure to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and allow for the free movement of people and goods;

• Ensure the urgent implementation of UNSCR 1325 to provide immediate protection for Palestinian women and to put an end to Israel’s impunity;

• Support the UN Special Rapporteur in the oPt, the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion, the ICC investigation and the UN Commission of Inquiry.

The summary factsheet is accessible here.

The legislation of the family protection bill is aimed at the protection of the family itself as an institution, and to guarantee its preservation. Palestinian legislators are aware of the importance of this bill, which is why all ministries and official institutions committed to developing its relevant programs, policies and plans, each according to their field of expertise. Their goal is to contribute to the promotion of a culture that combats domestic violence and encourages the response of public policies to this objective, through education, health, legislation and the media. Another objective is to track the bill’s impact and periodically assess it in cooperation with other civil societies. This paper focuses on some of the financial indicators pertaining to this bill.

All family members in Palestine are subjected to violence, including children, minors, women and men. However, married women remain the sector most vulnerable to domestic violence according to a 2019 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics survey. It said 29.4% of married women had been subjected to at least one type of violence by their husbands as opposed to 13% of men who had been subjected to violence by their wives, by their own confession. A total of 44.7% of individuals who have never been married have been subjected toviolence;7.6% of the elderly and 44.2% of children(12-17yearsold) were the victims of violence at the hands of one of their parents. Although a high percentage of women have been victims of violence from their spouse, a considerable percentage of these women, around 60.3% preferred to stay silent about the assault. Only a small percentage of women asked for help through official avenues; 2.9% went to a defence lawyer to file a lawsuit against their husbands, 1.3% went to the police or a family protection unit and 1.4% went to the centres for mental, social and legal aid.

Financial indicators for the Family Protection Bill

The table above shows that the estimated and main additional cost of the Ministry of Social Development to be around ILS4 million a year, considering that the other parties (police, prosecution and courts) are currently carrying out their roles without fully allocating specialized departments for protection from violence. However, if these parties do allot specialized departments for protection from violence, overall costs will reach approximately ILS16.2 million. Nonetheless, even if this cost is incurred, it still only comprises a small part of public expenditures, approximately 0.1%. Overall public expenditures for 2022 amount to approximately ILS16.2 billion, which means the cost of passing this bill and implementing its provisions will not constitute financial burden on the general budget and will not be an obstacle to ratifying the law by decree.

Furthermore, it should be noted that while it is imperative to calculate some of the costs resulting from violence against women, the reaerate the high costs as well. The secret social costs, which impact society as a whole. Data from the Ministry of Social Development showed (see graph), that violence exercised against women has prompted around 60% of them to flee their homes. Also, 18% of them attempted suicide in addition to suffering from mental and physical illnesses, unwanted pregnancies or others. Calculating expenses incurred from violence is not an easy process and there are no national data or figures that can measure the impact violence has on the state’s general budget due to the prevalent mentality towards violence as an issue associated only with women. This is especially true when the conversation is about the indirect and intangible effects of violence, including:

Violations of human rights; negative social, economic and political impacts; working women who get sick and need to take sick leave; lack of focus and productivity; impact of violence on children and academic failure; the rise in the percentage of school dropouts among children; the rise in long-term unemployment rates; the percentage of homeless children who become a burden on society; government expenditures for medical treatment; safehouses; therapy; monitoring cases of violence against women; individual expenses for following up on legal cases and lawyer fees; loss of income because of repeated absence from work or inefficacy; social expenses resulting from the breakup of the family; expenses of training individuals on how to deal with cases of violence; expenses for issuing laws and legislation on the protection of women from violence.

Confirmation of the above is that the UN believes the economic, social and health costs of violence against women are, to a large extent, undocumented and unrecognized. However, these remain colossal, according to researchers, specialists and defenders of women’s rights.

To view the full factsheet as PDF

Background:

The illegal Israeli settlement project, including settler-only bypass roads, military checkpoints, and the annexation wall, continues to expand and steal more Palestinian land and resources. As of today, the number of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, is close to 300, with around 750,000 Jewish settlers residing in them.

Israeli state-sanctioned settler terrorism against Palestinian civilians and property is prevalent and has been on the rise in recent years. Violence takes the form of psychological, physical, and verbal violence, including beating, throwing stones or sharp tools, intimidation, shooting, verbal assaults, and assaults on agricultural lands, cars, and homes. Such attacks are committed in the presence of Israeli occupation forces who often join them.

The high frequency of these forms of violence and their persistence give rise to psychological, physical, and material harm. Palestinian survivors of settler terrorism seldom press charges and file complaints against Israeli settlers given the complicity of the Israeli law enforcement system.

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) and the Women’s Center for Legal and Counseling (WCLAC) collected questionnaires from 229 Palestinian women covering settler violence in the occupied West Bank governorates of Al-Khalil/Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem.

MIFTAH calls on the international community to:

Put an end to Israel’s impunity and hold it accountable for its persistent crimes, including the crime against humanity of apartheid, through the adoption of effective and concrete measures;

Stop all relations and trade with illegal Israeli settlements including international companies that profit from them;

Criminalize and blacklist Israeli settler groups that engage in terrorist activities and hold those with dual citizenship accountable in their respective states;

Ensure the urgent implementation of UNSCR 1325 to provide immediate protection for Palestinian women and to put an end to Israel’s impunity;

Support the UN Special Rapporteur in the oPt, the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion, the ICC investigation and the UN Commission of Inquiry.

• The summary factsheet is accessible here.

• The full report is accessible here.

Israel boasts a history decorated with defiance of international law and regulations, a tradition that remains today. Violations continue daily with the construction of the Separation Wall, amid hushed criticism from the international community. The most evident exploitation of Israel’s breach of convention is the implementation of new borders within the West Bank, an occupied territory. This effective annexation of land, alongside combined violations of basic human freedoms including freedom of movement, destruction of private property, and collective punishment of the civilian population have highlighted Israel’s selfish and destructive policies. The current construction of the first phase of the wall will take with it 2% of the West Bank as it curls around the Green Line, effectively cutting off 200,000 civilians form their lands and workplaces. Over 100,000 trees have been uprooted and over 6,000 jobs are expected to fall victim in the first phase alone. The following fact sheet outlines the present neglect Israel is exhibiting with respect to International Humanitarian Law. For detailed reference to the effects of the construction refer to The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign: The Wall’s First Phase fact sheet, as well as weekly updates.

Hague Regulations 1907 Section III Article 46:

• Section II Article 23(g): “[it is especially forbidden] to destroy or seize the enemy’s property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war…”

• Section III Article 46: “Family honour and rights, the lives of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated.”

• Section III Article 50: “No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which they cannot be regarded as jointly or severally responsible.”

• Section III Article 52: “Requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from municipalities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of occupation.”

• Section III Article 55: “The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct.” (Namely, the occupier is forbidden from destruction or alteration of the property in question)

FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION

• Article 52: [prohibits] “All measures aimed at creating unemployment or at restricting the opportunities offered to workers in an occupied territory”

• Article 53: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is deemed absolutely necessary by military operations.”

Legal Issues Regarding the Applicability of the Occupied Territories: Israel’s Stance

• As a signatory, Israel recognizes the Hague Regulations as customary international law, and enforceable in Israeli courts.

• Israel claims exemption from the Regulations as they (Regulations) have not been domestically ratified by the Knesset.

• Israel claims the principles of the Fourth Geneva convention are not applicable on the supposed grounds that no “legitimate ousted sovereign” existed. (The West Bank and Gaza Strip were never internationally recognized as belonging to Jordan and Syria)

• Although a signatory of the 1966 International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights (ICCPR) and 1966 International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which outline universally accepted notions of fundamental human rights, Israel argues that there is no application in the Occupied Territories, on the consideration that Palestinians are considered aliens and not within national borders.

Legal Issues Regarding the Applicability of the Occupied Territories: International Stance>

• The Hague Regulations and Fourth Geneva Convention prohibit collective punishment, and acts of aggression against the resident population. Additionally, Occupying Force is obligated to ensure the safety and dignity of the resident population is sustained while protecting their private property.

• The principles set forth are accepted as customary international law. Therefore, Israel is obliged to act in accordance with the procedures set forth, regardless of domestic ratification. Only in the case of a treaty based law would Israel’s stance be applicable.

• As reported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the sovereignty of parties in a conflict is not the underlying concern of the Geneva Convention. Rather, it applies “to all cases in which territory is occupied in the course of an armed conflict, irrespective of the status of that territory.”

• Israel has employed a double standard with regards to the Hague Regulations. Employing defective arguments (outlined above), Israel has claimed exemption from the Regulations in the interest of continuing construction of the Apartheid Wall. Subsequently, those same provisions are used to justify the seizure of private property (upon which the wall is being constructed) in times of war

• The UN Security Council Resolution 681 (1990), UN General Assembly Resolution 56/60 (2001), and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions (2001) have confirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention is applicable to the Occupied Territories and thus made Israel’s compliance mandatory.

• The ICCPR holds that both nationals and aliens are subject to the conditions of human rights observation. Furthermore, it applies to “all individuals” within a states “territory and subject to its jurisdiction”

• The UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have disregarded sovereignty issues as a prerequisite for compliance with the ICCPR and ICESPR.