Violations Bulletin

December 2011
December 2011
Nine-year-old boy dies as a result of injuries from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Two children hospitalised when Israeli settlers throw stones at the car they are travelling in. 11-year-old boy threatened with a knife by an Israeli settler in Hebron City. 17-year-old is hospitalised when a settler sprays tear gas in his eyes. 12-year-old boy shot near Gaza border with Israel. Recent reports
The Sydney Morning Herald Palestinians live in fear for their lives as two-state solution hopes fade The Australian Rudd seeks action on torture allegations involving Palestinian children. Haaretz Jewish rock-throwers are more equal. The Independent Stories from the Old City: We are not living like human beings Haaretz - Female Jewish settlers arrested for 'price tag' attacks in West Bank The Guardian - Israel to forcibly remove Bedouin communities in settlements push Haaretz Israel State Comptroller: Interior Ministry overfunded Hebron Jewish settlement.

Remains of nine-year-old Ramadan Z.s house, killed on 9 December in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. Credit: DCI
emains of nine-year-old Ramadan Z.s house, killed on 9 December in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. Credit: DCI

Army clashes with demonstrators in Beit Ummar September 2010. Picture Credit: Courtesy of Joseph Dana

December 2011 - Overview

During the month of December, DCI documented one fatality, one shooting and three cases of settler violence. On 9 December 2011, nine-year-old Ramadan died as a result of injuries sustained during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. Also in Gaza, on 27

Two weeks later, in the city of Hebron a young settler threatened 11-year-old Mustafa with a knife as he walked home from school. On the same street, two days later, 17-year-old Arafat was hospitalised when an Israeli settler sprayed tear gas into his eyes, in full view of Israeli soldiers. On 15 December DCI re-issued an Urgent Appeal (UA-4/10) relating to the shooting of children near to the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Since March 2010, DCI has documented 30 cases of children who have been shot whilst working close to the border region.

December, 12-year-old Hamzi was shot in his leg near the Israeli border as he travelled to the vegetable market on his donkey cart. In the West Bank, DCI documented three incidents of settler violence during December. On 12 December, settlers stoned a car in which two children, Isra (1) and Dania (9), were travelling, terrifying both.

CONTENTS
Child fatality figures Case summaries In the spotlight
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Number of Palestinian children killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the OPT
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

TOTAL

94

98

192

130

162

52

124

50

112

315

15

1,352

DCI-Palestine Violations Bulletin, Issue 15 December 2011

VOICES FROM THE OCCUPATION Voices Settler violence Voices Injuries Voices Settler Violence Voices Settler Violence Voices Settler Violence Voices Settler Violence Voices Fatality Voices - Fatality Voices Injuries Voices Settler/soldier violence Voices Settler/soldier violence Voices Injuries - Gaza border Voices Settler violence Voices - Injuries Voices - Injuries Voices Fatalities -Gaza Voices - Settler Violence Voices Injuries-Gaza Border Voices Settler Violence Voices - Settler Violence

Case summaries
Children of the Gravel Between 26 March 2010 and 27 December 2011, DCI-Palestine has documented 30 cases of children shot whilst collecting building material or working near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. In the cases documented by DCI-Palestine, the children report being shot whilst working between 30 to 800 metres from the border fence. Please send an urgent appeal demanding that the Israeli army immediately cease the practice of targeting unarmed children in the buffer zone on the Gaza side of the border with Israel, in circumstances where they pose no reasonable security concern.

On 27 December 2011, 12-year-old Hamzi is shot in his leg near the Israeli border with Gaza as he travels to the vegetable market on his donkey cart. Hamzi lives in Central Gaza, with my parents and seven siblings, about 700 metres away from the border. Hamzi explains that as we live near the eastern border, we are used to hearing gunshots and tanks moving across the border. On the morning on 27 December 2011, Hamzi recalls, I heard sporadic gunshots from the observation towers across the border, but I did not give it much thought. At around nine, my father asked me to go to the vegetable market, about one kilometre to the west, to buy some vegetables. Hamzi fetched the donkey cart and set off. I had travelled for about 300 metres when I started hearing gunshots, and I felt bullets whizzing by my head, so I ducked down to avoid them. However, within seconds Hamzi was hit. I felt severe pain in my left thigh. I looked at it and it was bleeding. I threw myself on the ground shouting Help me! Help me! Hamzi explains that there were some people working in their fields nearby, and they rushed towards me. I told them I had been shot in the leg. At this stage the shooting had stopped. They said that one of the neighbours was an ambulance driver, so they called for him to bring me to hospital. He came and brought me to Shuhada Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Balah. The doctors took me to the operating room immediately. I was screaming in pain. They gave me an anesthetic and removed the bullet from my thigh. After that, I was transferred to the orthopedic ward on the first floor. At around six oclock in the afternoon, I was discharged and the doctors told my father to bring me back to the hospital so they could check on my injury. Speaking to DCI the following day, Hamzi reports: I have to stay home from school on sick leave from school until I can walk again. In 2011 alone DCI documented the death of 4 children and the injury of 7 others in border related incidents in Gaza. On 13 December 2011, a 13-yearold boy from Gaza was shot in the shoulder whilst collecting scrap metal, about 400 metres from the border with Israel. 28 December 2011
DCI-Palestine Violations Bulletin, Issue 15 December 2011

URGENT APPEALS UA 5/11 Release child prisoners UA 4/11 Children of Azzun UA 3/11 Settler Violence UA 2/11 Children of Silwan UA 4/10 Gravel collectors MEDIA ARCHIVE 2010-2011
The Sydney Morning Herald- Settler Violence The Australian Detention Haaretz Settler violence The Huffington Post Detention AlertNet Children of the Gravel UN increase in settler violence The Guardian Videos on East Jerusalem The Independent - Jewish settlers are terrorising Palestinians, says Israeli general IRIN - Growing number of children with anxiety disorders Haaretz West Bank settlers suspected of attacking Palestinian child Haaretz In occupied West Bank, Jews and Arabs see different sides of justice The Independent - whistleblower tells of 'indiscriminate' Israeli attacks The Independent - Israeli agency urges funding to be cut from extremist settler college ICAHD - New report on House demolitions in East Jerusalem: No Home, No Homeland Haaretz Netanyahu's ongoing acquisition of lands by force

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For information on settler violence against Palestinian children read DCI-Palestines report: Under Attack: Settler Violence against Palestinian Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

In the spotlight
Settler Violence in 2011 2011 was a record year for West Bank settlement construction, with a 20% rise in construction starts, according to Israeli rights group, Peace Now. Following the US veto of a Security Council resolution condemning settlements in February, and as the Palestinian Authority came under constant pressure to return to the negotiation table, without preconditions, announcements about further settlement construction continued unabated. Peace Now report: Israel started construction work on 1,850 new housing units in the West Bank in 2011. There are now approximately 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank, in settlements which control 42 percent of the land area of the West Bank, on the site of a future Palestinian state. The presence of settlers in occupied territory is a source of continuing tensions. Throughout 2011 settler violence intensified, with settlers targeting Palestinians, left wing Israelis and Israeli forces stationed in the West Bank. In November, the UN reported that the weekly average of settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage has increased by 40% in 2011 compared to 2010 and by over 165% compared to 2009. DCI-Palestine documented the cases of 31 children affected by settler violence in 2011, including one case involving a fatality. According to the Israeli organisation, Yesh Din, over 90 percent of police investigations into cases of settler violence end in failure. In February 2011, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, stated that there are extremists among the Israeli settlers, who commit abuses against their Palestinian neighbors, noting that they tend to escape unpunished. These attacks continued to escalate through 2011, prompting the UN Secretary General to comment in September on the lack of accountability for Israeli settlers, noting that on occasion the Israeli army participates in these attacks. He recommended that: The Government of Israel should take all necessary measures to prevent attacks by Israeli settlers. These sentiments have been echoed from within Israel itself. In September, the Israeli Security Service, the Shin Bet, warned that extreme rightists in the West Bank were organising into terror groups, and that planned attacks against Arabs and left-wing Israelis constitute terrorist activity. Two months later the situation had not improved, and Navi Pillay again expressed concern about the increase in the frequency and severity of violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers, and repeated her call for the Israeli government to take effective action to stop these attacks.

*** For information on Palestinian Child Prisoners read DCIs latest Detention Bulletin, or the report: Palestinian Child Prisoners, The systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities

***
For information on the situation of children in East Jerusalem read DCIs latest report: Voices from East Jerusalem: The Situation facing Palestinian Children.

Lawyers and fieldworkers for DCIPalestine collect sworn affidavits from victims and/or eye witnesses of human rights violations against Palestinian children. These affidavits are collected in Arabic and further reviewed by trained staff to determine appropriate follow up action. Additional case summaries are available on request. For further information contact an advocacy officer at info@dci-pal.org

Rather than heeding the call, the Israeli authorities responded to the settlers price-tag campaign by expressing its intention to recognise 11 settler outposts, rather than dismantle them. Peace Now has referred to this as a dangerous trend which sends an unmistakable message to the settlers: not only won't you pay a price for terrorism, but you'll be rewarded. Peace Now concludes that: the Netanyahu government isn't serious about stopping settler violence.

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DCI-Palestine Violations Bulletin, Issue 15 December 2011