* Testimonies of Israeli Soldiers Refusing to serve in the Occupation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K480j5ozy0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY-rn2UJNFg&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37MFa7ZKQWo* Facts from B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territorries.
www.btselem.org1) Use of Firearms:
http://www.btselem.org/English/Firearms/From the beginning of the second intifada, on 29 September 2000, until 31 December 2010, Israeli security forces killed 4,927 Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including 970 minors (under the age of 18). At least 2,227 of those killed did not participate in hostilities; 239 were objects of targeted killing. Thousands more were injured. These figures do not include the Palestinian casualties in Operation Cast Lead, a major military attack Israel launched on the Gaza Strip from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009.
The harm to the civilian population in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead was immense: 1,389 Palestinians were killed, 758 of whom were not participating in hostilities (including 318 minors). Over 5,300 Palestinians were injured, more than 350 of them seriously.
In 2010, Israeli security forces killed 80 Palestinians: 12 in the West Bank and 68 in the Gaza Strip (nine were minors, 2 in the West Bank and 7 in the Gaza Strip). Twenty-five of those killed were not taking part in hostilities, 49 were taking part in hostilities, and in four cases, B'Tselem does not know if the person killed was taking part in hostilities. Two of the Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip were the object of a targeted killing. In the West Bank, the number was lower than in previous years: 21 Palestinians were killed there by Israeli security forces in 2009, 45 in 2008, and 84 in 2007.
2) Beatings and Abuse:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Beating_and_Abuse/Violence against Palestinians by Israeli security forces is not new; it has accompanied the occupation for many years. With the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada, however, a significant increase in the number of beatings and instances of abuse has occurred, in part because of increased friction between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. According to many testimonies given to B'Tselem and other human rights organizations, the security forces use violence, at times gross violence, against Palestinians unnecessarily and without justification.
3) Restrictions of Movement:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Freedom_of_Movement/Israel uses a number of means to restrict Palestinian movement in the West Bank . These means, which are part of a single, coordinated control mechanism, which Israel adjusts to its needs, include the following: permanent and temporary checkpoints, physical obstructions, the Separation Barrier, forbidden roads or roads with restrictions on Palestinian use, and the movement-permit regime. By implementing these means, Israel has split the area into six geographical areas: North, Center, South, the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea, the enclaves resulting from the Separation Barrier, and East Jerusalem, an integral part of the West Bank. Movement between the sections and within each section has become, in recent years, hard, slow, and complicated. Also, Israel almost completely forbids the movement of Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and impedes Palestinians from entering Israel and from going abroad.
4) Illegal Settlements:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Settlements/Under this regime, hundreds of thousands of dunams of land populated by Palestinians have been stolen. This land has been used to establish dozens of settlements and to populate them with hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens. As a rule, Israel prevents Palestinians from entering these lands and using them. The existence of the settlements brings with it the violation of many human rights of Palestinians, including the right of property, the right to equality, the right to a suitable standard of living, and the right to freedom of movement. The extreme change that Israel has made in the map of the West Bank prevents any real possibility to establish an independent, viable Palestinian state in the framework of exercising the right to self-determination.
The settlers, on the other hand, benefit from all rights given to citizens of Israel who live inside the Green Line, and in some instances, even additional rights. The great effort Israel has expended in the settlement enterprise - financially, legally, and bureaucratically - has turned the settlements into civilian enclaves within an area under military rule and has given the settlers a preferred status. To perpetuate this unlawful situation, Israel has continuously violated the Palestinians' human rights.
5) The Separation Barrier:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/The construction of the barrier has brought new restrictions on movement for Palestinians living near the Barrier's route, in addition to the widespread restrictions that have been in place since the outbreak of the current intifada. Thousands of Palestinians have difficulty going to their fields and marketing their produce in other areas of the West Bank. The areas west of the Barrier are one of the most fertile areas in the West Bank, and the agriculture there generates, according to the World Bank, 8 percent of Palestinian agricultural production. The harm to the farming sector prevents Palestinian farmers from gaining additional income and prevents an increase in the number of Palestinians working in agriculture, which is a major sector of the Palestinian economy.
The restrictions on freedom of movement also impair access of rural Palestinians to hospitals in nearby towns, harm the educational system since many schools, primarily in rural areas, are dependent on teachers who live outside the community, and hamper family and social ties.
6) East Jerusalem:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Jerusalem/Since East Jerusalem was annexed in 1967, the government of Israel's primary goal in Jerusalem has been to create a demographic and geographic situation that will thwart any future attempt to challenge Israeli sovereignty over the city. To achieve this goal, the government has been taking actions to increase the number of Jews, and reduce the number of Palestinians, living in the city.
At the end of 2008, the population of Jerusalem stood at 763,600: 495,000 Jews and others (64.8 percent) and 268,600 Palestinians (35.2 percent). About 59.6% percent of the residents live on land that was annexed in 1967 (41 percent of whom are Jews, and 59 percent Palestinians). With the Palestinians having a higher growth rate than the Jews, Israel has used various methods to achieve its goal :
• Physically isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, in part by building the separation barrier;
• Discriminating in land expropriation, planning, and building, and demolition of houses;
• Revoking residency and social benefits of Palestinians who stay abroad for at least seven years, or who are unable to prove that their center of life is in Jerusalem;
• Unfairly dividing the budget between the two parts of the city, with harmful effects on infrastructure and services in East Jerusalem.
7) Demolition of Houses:
Demolition of houses 1987-1998: Total=2,276
Demolition of houses and other structures in the West Bank, 1999-2004: Total=1,049
Demolition of houses 2006-2010: Total=275 houses and 743 left homeless
http://www.btselem.org/english/Planning_and_Building/Statistics.aspAccountability:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Accountability/One of the primary sources for the obligation to investigate serious violations of human rights is international criminal law. This body of law defines such infringements as international crimes and imposes criminal liability on the persons responsible for their commission. These infringements generally belong to one of three categories, depending on the circumstances of the case and intention of the person responsible: genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The latter is especially relevant in Israel 's case inasmuch as it includes the serious violation of human rights of persons living in occupied territory - willful killing, torture, unlawful deportation, and extensive destruction of property - as well as intentional attacks against civilian objects or intentionally launching an attack knowing that it will cause disproportionate injury and damage to civilians.
* Some of Israel's Violations of Human Rights:
http://www.israellawresourcecenter.org/internationallaw/studyguides/sgil3.htm1. ILLEGAL ACQUISITION OF LAND BY FORCE
2. FORBIDDING CIVILIANS THE RIGHT TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES FOLLOWING THE END OF ARMED CONFLICT
3. ILLEGAL POPULATION TRANSFER
5. DESTRUCTION OF HOLY PLACES, AND INTERFERING WITH MINISTERS OF RELIGION PERFORMING THEIR RELIGIOUS DUTIES
7. ILLEGAL PRACTICE OF COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT
12. PRACTICE OF RACISM
8. ILLEGAL MILITARY OCCUPATION: The current Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal. Military actions and occupations are considered legal only if they are based on self-defense (as Israel claims) or are designed to benefit the native population of the occupied areas, but it is now clear that Israel's occupation is illegal because Israeli implementation of it clearly is about:
• (1) Acquisition of land into Israel by force, and
• (2) Economic exploitation of the occupied areas via building up de facto Annexation on occupied lands --
o (A) Extensive modification of local laws, and
o (B) Building Israeli settlements on occupied lands (illegal population transfer),
o (C) Building separation barrier not on border but through Palestinian communities displacing over 200,000 Palestinian civilians separating them from their families, work, schools, hospitals, etc.
• (3) Inhumane suppression of rebellion is implemented through --
o (A) Practice of Collective Punishment, and
o (B) Extensive violations of Palestinian Human Rights.
9. VIOLATIONS OF RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION: Israel significantly violates the inalienable rights of self-determination of the Palestinian people (when it expropriated significant amounts of Palestinian land from Palestinians to build Israeli settlements, separation barriers, highways, and other structures which benefit Israeli citizens and businesses, but which also severely interfere with Palestinians' ability to work and do business, go to school, access medical facilities, and visit with members of their own families)
15. GENOCIDE: Although numbers of massacres and other lethal methodologies have been documented throughout the history of the Zionists and the State of Israel, evidence suggests that the overall intention of the Zionists and the government of Israel was to drive the Palestinian Arab people out of the area rather than to destroy them as is required by the definition of Genocide. On the other hand, there is some evidence that Israel intended to destroy the society and culture and economy of those Arabs that refused to leave, which under the modern definition, this would be considered to be Genocide.
* I recommend this documentary. It's one hour and a half,but it's going to help you understand the situation more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWpOqAitZLs
Poll
Topic: Pro Israel or Pro Palestine?