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Policies and tracks required to hold accountability on the Israeli occupation and to support Palestinian rights.

Date: 16 Jun 2022


Policies and tracks required to hold accountability on the Israeli occupation and to support Palestinian rights.

By Dr/ Salah  AbdAlati

In light of the serious conditions that passed out and still passing the Palestinian cause, and the continuing successive Israeli  governments in the policy of aggression and the imposition of a fait accompli by continuing the blockade, attacks on the Gaza Strip, targeting civilians, the demolition of homes and facilities, the confiscation of Palestinian land, the expanding constructions  process of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, especially in the Holy City of Jerusalem isolating , blocking and Judaize it along with the city of Bethlehem with settlements, Obliterating  landmarks, religious, historical, cultural features and  the Islamic –Christian Arabian identity, attempting to find a defect in the demographic composition, and the construction of the apartheid wall, torturing war prisoners.

Despite the fact that everything the occupation authorities do considered to be violations of human rights promoted  to the level of war crimes against humanity and contrary to the international humanitarian laws and rules, hitting the wall with the international legitimacy resolutions and the Human Rights and agreements – in light of all this, the United Nations are holding a historical responsibility towards the Palestinian people and their cause, as they  ratified the resolution 181, regarding the private division of the land of Palestine, which confirmed through dozens of resolutions of the various organs of the justice of the Palestinian people’s rights and legitimacy, thus, there is a responsibility lies on the United Nations toward the Palestinian people and their just cause, until finding a solution that ensures ending the Israeli occupation and enable the Palestinian people to get their Freedom and independence and the establishment of their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of refugees according to Resolution 194 , In the time we express a strong condemnation and anger for the continuation of deficit and the paralysis of the international community to fulfill its legal and moral commitments which require the protection of civilians, and stop war crimes committed by the occupation forces during a bias and flagrant plot of international and Arab silence,In spite of the disruption of the power balance, we renew our determination to work to isolate, boycott and account the occupation for his crimes to provide protection for Palestinian civilians, and that requires us to hasten to join all international organizations and conventions, and  adopting a comprehensive national strategy working on the formation of a national body comprising senior official parties and human rights organizations, to mobilize wider Arab and international coalition to ensure the prosecution of the occupation leaders and forcing them to Pay for their crimes, to maintain  justice and rights of victims, and to prevent them of committing new ones.

The restoration of the role of the international organizations and authorities to be active in the Palestinian cause, require restoration of the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization with activating its institutions, and announcing the failure of Oslo, and taking actions to adopt the approach based on rights and law, which will be devoted to a new equation based on not allowing the susceptibility of the national rights to be swapped, It also sends clear messages to all parties; that any negotiations to make peace must be referenced to rights, international law and the values of justice, equality and freedom for all. This track requires the Palestinian leadership adoption to support the conditions for success.

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ICSPR issues a paper entitled: “The Denial of Justice in Palestine”

Num: 113/ 2021

Date: 26/12/2021

 

Press release,

 

ICSPR issues a paper entitled: “The Denial of Justice in Palestine”

Occupied Palestine/Gaza: The legal and human rights department of the International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) issued today, Wednesday, a paper entitled: “The Denial of Justice in Palestine.”

 

The paper aims to clarify the nature of the executive authority’s violation of justice in Palestine, and its denial of implementing the provisions of the Palestinian judiciary, which makes the victims’ last resort unavailable, especially in the absence of official and unofficial oversight bodies, contrary to the text of Article (106) of the Palestinian Basic Law, which stipulates that That: “Judicial rulings shall be implemented. Refraining from or obstructing the implementation of a judicial ruling in any manner whatsoever shall be considered a crime carrying a penalty of imprisonment or dismissal from position if the accused individual is a public official or assigned to public service. The aggrieved party may file a case directly to the competent court and the National Authority shall guarantee a fair remedy for him.

The paper also seeks to open the doors for researchers and activists to contribute to the development of solutions that would overcome the policies of denial of justice, implement judicial rulings in a way that achieves societal stability, and determine the path that must be taken to hold the perpetrators of this crime accountable, in a way that enhances the principles of separation of powers, the rule of law and respect for the rights and freedoms of citizens guaranteed by the texts of national and international laws and charters.

The paper addressed the independence of the Palestinian judiciary, and the most prominent obstacles facing the implementation of the rulings of the Palestinian judiciary, which were represented in the structural reasons related to the political elite, the weakness of official and popular oversight on the principle of legality and the rule of law, and the state of internal division and the division of the judiciary’s reference.

 

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The repercussions of delaying the disbursement of social development allocations.

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights

– ICSPR –

 

 Position Paper on:

 

The repercussions of delaying the disbursement of social development allocations.

 

By/ Rami Mohsen

 

Oct 2021

 

 

 

 Introduction:

The Ministry of Social Affairs was established under the first ministerial formation in July 1994, where its work is regulated by the Jordanian Ministry of Social Affairs Law No. (14) of 1956, which is the ministry responsible for social issues in the State of Palestine, such as addressing poverty, organizing charitable societies, and sponsoring and supporting the poor, weak and marginalized groups, comprehensive development, social security, improvement of the living conditions of the population, relief those affected by disasters and other social issues in Palestine, including managing the social protection sector and coordinating efforts with partners, providing protection and care services for children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities, and enhancing social cohesion by combating poverty, marginalization and social exclusion, and combating negative phenomena such as violence, homelessness, beggary and drug abuse[1].

According to the ministry’s website, it seeks to create a decent life in a cohesive Palestinian society by achieving sustainable human development through protection, care, prevention, empowerment and awareness programs, which are based on a rights-based approach, and in a manner that guarantees transparency and justice, in order to strengthen the resilience of citizens and maintain cohesion, solidarity and social protection[2].

In the context of achieving its goals, the Ministry of Social Development undertakes many services, including the cash transfer program, which aims to enhance the ability of beneficiary families to meet their basic needs, as it targets families that fall below the extreme poverty line, as well as marginalized families that fall between the national and extreme poverty lines, specifically, families that include people with disabilities, the elderly, orphans, people with chronic diseases, or families headed by females.

The aforementioned program – cash transfers – provides cash assistance to more than (115) thousand families, of which (74) thousand families are in the Gaza Strip and (41) thousand in the West Bank, at the rate of (4) financial payments annually, meaning one payment every (3 months) with a total of (134) million shekels for each payment, (536) million shekels annually. The Palestinian government’s contribution to each payment is estimated at more than (90) million shekels, while the European Union’s contribution to each payment is estimated at about (44) million shekels[3].

The share of the beneficiary families ranges between 750 to 1,800 shekels, according to the number of family members and their conditions, according to the social research process carried out by the Ministry of Social Development once every three months, but in light of facts and data, the disbursement process is often delayed under various pretexts, which increases the suffering of beneficiary families who are already living in tragic conditions.

The data indicate that the beneficiary families received the last cash payment on May 5, 2021, during which a unified amount of (750) shekels was disbursed to all families, while the previous payment was on December 24, 2020, contrary to the program’s philosophy that requires families to receive their cash allocations once every three months.

According to media statements by the Minister of Social Development, Ahmed Majdalani: until this moment, there is nothing new regarding the date of disbursing the allocations, explaining that the reason for the delay in disbursing the second payment is related to the financial crisis that the Palestinian government is suffering from, and that the European Union has not contributed since the beginning of this year[4].

In turn, the analyst and economic expert, “Osama Nofal”, expressed his astonishment at the government’s double-dealing with groups of the society, as when the salaries of employees in the public sector are delayed, it resorts to debt, but when it comes to social affairs allocations, it does nothing[5].

With regard to the administrative body for the defense of the rights of the beneficiaries of social affairs, it confirmed that the suffering of families has begun since 2017, due to the reduction of their entitlements from (4) to (3) payments annually, and in this year “2021”, only one unified payment was delivered of (750) shekels for all beneficiary families, and it called to regulate the disbursement of social affairs allocations on time[6].

Repercussions:

 

Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 25 also states: That: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family.

Article 22 of the Palestinian Basic Law and its amendments stipulate that: Social, health, disability and retirement insurance shall be regulated by law. Maintaining the welfare of families of martyrs, prisoners of war, the injured and the disabled is a duty that shall be regulated by law. The National Authority shall guarantee these persons education, health and social insurance. On the other hand, the accession of the State of Palestine to treaties and conventions gives it an international commitment to safeguarding the rights of its citizens, especially in the field of social and economic rights and protection from risks, in a manner that ensures an adequate standard of living.

The citizens’ enjoyment of the above-mentioned rights on the basis that they are guaranteed rights by the state would enhance the respect and dignity of the human, and develop a feeling of citizenship, especially since the link between the provision of a social security system based on securing an adequate standard of living and human rights in international conventions did not come from a vacuum. Respecting human beings and providing them with adequate aid when needed is a sincere expression of the state’s respect for the rights of its citizens.

The deduction and the delay in the disbursement of social affairs allocations to date, in light of the irrational justification of the concerned authorities, carries no explanation other than their disregard for the lives, dignity and feelings of the poor.

The deduction and the delay in the disbursement process have been accompanied by dangerous and catastrophic developments in the overall human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, which have caused a sharp deterioration in various aspects of life, especially in the Gaza Strip, which suffers from a suffocating and illegal Israeli siege for the fifteenth year in a row, the Israeli military aggression in May 2021 and the tightening of restrictions, and the widespread and systematic destruction of defenseless citizens’ private properties, public properties, vital facilities and the already fragile infrastructure.

The above challenges, in addition to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the precautionary measures accompanying it have left undesirable repercussions on various sectors, foremost of which is the economic sector, which is expressed in the growth of indicators of poverty and unemployment, and the food insecurity that 2/3 of the population of Gaza strip suffer[7], and now depriving the poor and needy of their financial allocations, which exacerbated the severity of the crisis and its consequences for them, and for the society as well.

Providing “financial allocations to beneficiaries on a regular basis, especially in these tragic circumstances, will contribute to improving the living conditions of poor families, and will enhance their ability to meet their basic needs, especially since the irregular payment has limited their ability to provide for their needs, at a time when the costs of daily life doubled, especially after the opening of schools and the decision to go to face-to-face education”[8].

Conclusion:

There is no doubt that the delay under the current circumstances may be indicative of indifference to the fate and life of this segment, which deserves attention and protection as a legal obligation on the shoulders of the concerned authorities in the country, especially since the justification “the lack of enough money in the public treasury” refuted by the realities of the situation in light of the system of management of public money, marred by corruption and a decline in governance, transparency and participation. For example, senior positions continue to be assigned through promotion, appointment and extension, without the slightest respect for the principle of equal opportunities, these senior positions include ambassadors, non-ministerial institutions, assistant agents, assistant attorney generals, judges, governors[9], and general managers, in addition to petty cash and burdensome budgets at the expense of the poor, and without taking into account their minimum rights to a decent life.

 Recommendations:

  1. Demanding the Palestinian government to expedite the payment of cash allocations to poor families in a retroactive manner, and to ensure that they are paid periodically and regularly in a way that preserves their inherent human dignity.
  2. Calling on the Palestinian government to review and evaluate its existing policies in the field of facing poverty and destitution, including the introduction of productive and effective policies, instead of the current policies to achieve the desired social development.
  3. Work to strengthen social justice, based on providing a decent life for citizens in general, and for the poor and needy in particular, including distributing the burdens of occupation on all citizens of the Palestinian people under occupation.
  4. Reconsidering the structure of the general budget of the Palestinian Authority, and the distribution of allocations to the various sectors, including giving greater attention to the social sector.
  5. The necessity of providing an opportunity for a societal discussion about the public budget before its approval, and the government respecting its commitments to the partnership approach with civil society, especially since the largest resource for the public budget in Palestine is the citizen himself[10].
  6. The need to raise national voices against corruption, nepotism, waste and embezzlement of public money, and to strengthen governance, transparency, equal opportunities, citizenship and equality, which will positively affect the rights of the poor and fragile social classes.

 

[1] State of Palestine, Council of Ministers, https://cutt.us/sbw2y

[2] Ministry’s website, https://cutt.us/Sz7Kh

[3] State of Palestine, Ministry of Social Development, https://cutt.us/px82x

[4] Sabq 24 news, Majdalani speaking to “Sabq24” about disbursing social affairs allocations, August 5, 2021, https://cutt.us/HHLmK

[5] Palestine online,  calling the authority to borrow to disburse social affairs allocations, July 31, 2021, https://cutt.us/CouHS

[6] Amad Media, Gaza: demands for regular social welfare payments to be paid on time, September 4, 2021, https://cutt.us/d3tNC

[7] United Nations website, May 19, 2021, https://cutt.us/cXvAP

[8] Press release: Al Mezan Center calls for expediting the disbursement of cash assistance to poor families, and warns of the repercussions of delaying it on their living conditions, August 24, 2021, https://cutt.us/mkBFf

[9] The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (Aman), Annual Report (13), “The Reality of Integrity and Anti-Corruption, Palestine 2020”, p. 31.

[10] The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (Aman), Citizens Budget, 2017, p. 20.

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 Providing effective legal and judicial guarantees to ensure the success of the Palestinian legislative and presidential elections

Date:  27  Jan 2021

 

 

 Providing effective legal and judicial guarantees to ensure the success of the Palestinian legislative and presidential elections

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) highly appreciates your well-known role in ensuring the promotion of human rights.
With reference to the above subject, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree setting the dates for holding the comprehensive Palestinian elections consecutively, as the legislative elections will be held on 22 May 2021, the presidential elections on 31 July, and the National Council on 31 August.

the International Commission for Supporting Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) sent all the institutions of the international community Among them: Secretary-General of the United Nations , High Commissioner for Human  Rights ,United Nations Peace Process Coordinator, President of the Human Rights Council , UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory , UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development.

In this regard, ICSPR is pleased to share with you its view regarding the necessary political, legal and judicial guarantees to provide a suitable environment for holding elections:

  • Providing the political environment for elections: The holding of elections requires a political environment to provide all the requirements for its integrity and success by adopting practical goodwill steps that include the immediate abolition of the sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip, the release of arbitrary and political detainees, and holding the temporary leadership framework to activate the PLO, respect public freedoms, including freedom of opinion and expression, the cessation of political disputes and exclusion policies, and the cessation of any form of summons for political reasons or matters related to party and political affiliation or activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
  • The Central Elections Commission: The need for the Central Elections Commission to carry out its democratic, professional and independent work in organizing, managing and controlling the electoral process, ensuring unified efforts for the success of the electoral process and playing its role with other parties to ensure broad community participation, and sponsoring an electoral charter of honor between all parties competing in the elections, and providing all the positive climates necessary to activate the role of internal and external oversight bodies over the electoral process.
  • Election law: Elections in all their stages must be governed by a law that organizes them. The law is the determining factor for the standards for conducting elections, which requires the need to review all legal texts regulating the electoral process, on the basis of ensuring the existence of a consensual electoral law that comes in the context of a societal dialogue that preserves democratic life and works to consecrate the principle of pluralism and prevent exclusion. Although there is consensus on the system of comprehensive proportional representation and some claims, no agreement has been reached on which law the elections will be based on, the law by decision on presidential elections and the Legislative Council of the National Authority No. (1) of 2007 and its amendments, or the amendment of the election law approved by the Legislative Council of 2005. It seems that the president decided the matter in the election decree that the Decree Law No. (1) of 2007 is the law on which the elections will take place, despite the presence of amendments by the President in approving the election of a head of state instead of the authority, even if this requires an amendment in the Basic Law and other amendments to the election law. The law emphasized that elections should be conducted according to a comprehensive proportional representation system, considering the Palestinian territories as one electoral district, and whoever wishes to run for elections must be presented on an electoral list with no less than 16 candidates, thus providing a real guarantee for political pluralism and prevents exclusivity as much as possible in managing public affairs. However, this system must add clear texts that prevent further controversy, whether in the nature of the dealings by the Election Commission with candidates’ lists, and does dropping some of the candidates mean dropping the list, the conditions for candidacy, the distribution of votes and seats, the exit of a member from the list to another list after the election and other questions.
  • About the electoral court and appeals: The election law stipulated the formation of an election court consisting of a president and eight judges, upon the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council, and perhaps this text was the subject of discussion in Cairo, where the Cairo Reconciliation Agreement agreed that consensus should be reached on its formation and the selection of judges who enjoy integrity, transparency and independence. Especially in light of the absence of the unity of the judiciary and the lack of guarantees for its independence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and in light of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 11 January 2021, issued four new decisions related to the judicial affairs in Palestine, which are: Law No. (40) of 2020 amending the Authority Law Judicial No. (1) of 2002, the decision by law No. (39) for of 2020 regarding the formation of regular courts, and the decision by law No. (41) of 2020 regarding the administrative courts. In addition to the decision to promote a number of First Instance judges to appeal judges, and a decision to refer six judges to early retirement based on a placement from the Transitional Supreme Judicial Council without any compelling legal reasons, which confirms the exclusionary nature of the decision, and a decision appointing Judge Issa Abu Sharar, former president of the Transitional Judicial Council (86) years, as president of the Supreme Judicial Council, and Judge Farid Aql his deputy. These decisions, which were rejected by all the forces of society, especially the Bar Association, were viewed as a means of further undermining the Palestinian judicial authority and a picture of the continued domination and encroachment of the executive authority over the judiciary. This puts big question marks about the expected role of the judiciary in the upcoming elections.
  • Censorship and freedom of electoral campaign propaganda: Work to provide complete freedom of political campaign, publishing, and holding political and electoral meetings without harassment and without the need for prior permission, while ensuring the impartiality of the security services in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and not interfering with elections or propaganda for any political party and does not affect the course of the electoral process, and prohibiting the use of ministries and official bodies in the interest of any party or list participating in the elections, providing equal opportunities for all the forces and lists participating in the official media without discrimination, and organizing government financial funding for electoral campaigns in a way that guarantees justice and equality, equal opportunities for all the lists and participating forces and providing equal support to them, in addition to their full compliance with the law and international standards for conducting elections and not agreeing to exclude any of the candidates or electoral lists as long as they meet the legal conditions and in a manner that guarantees the integrity of their role and the independence of their decision. With the importance of working existing an international and internal supervision of the elections, to ensure that the occupation does not interfere in favor of an electoral team or list, or to ensure that it is not locally rigged, which protects the will of the electorate and protects the elected representatives.

In light of the foregoing, we look forward to your role in monitoring the upcoming Palestinian elections, hoping that you will work seriously with and alongside all concerned parties to:

  • Pressuring the Israeli military occupation forces to ensure conducting the elections in the Palestinian capital (Jerusalem) and not to create obstacles for citizens to exercise their right to run and vote, and the immediate release of Palestinian representatives detained in Israeli prisons.
  • Pressing all parties to ensure that Palestinian elections take place on the date specified in the presidential decree, in a way that renews national legitimacy and strengthens the process of democratic transformation in the country, and to ensure that no Palestinian is excluded from participating in these elections.
  • Pressuring the Palestinian presidency to immediately reverse the package of decisions by laws relating to the judiciary and work to strengthen its role as an independent authority, and the serious pursuit of forming an election court away from the current transformation of the executive authority.
  • Pressuring the Palestinian authorities in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to take serious action to create a suitable environment for holding the elections. Respect for the system of human rights and public freedoms, and avoid the approach of excluding any Palestinian who wishes to run under flimsy and illegal justifications.
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The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) during 2020

date : 10 Jun 2021

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) during 2020

The International Commission (ICSPR) was able to continue its march despite the difficult challenges, especially in light of the Corona pandemic, the continuing crimes of the occupation and the state of division, and the impact they left on the human rights situation, where the Commission and its staff were determined to continue working at the same pace as the first three years, preserving the human rights discourse that has exceeded the threshold of traditional human rights work, by employing the universal language of human rights in a template that preserves the privacy of the rights of the Palestinian people, which made it a reliable source of information for others.

In addition, ICSPR continued, in a professional manner, to provide a new language and style, through which it contributed to the revival of part of the international solidarity movement with the rights of the Palestinian people. Within this framework, ICSPR continued adopting the suffering of the victims, to be their voice, fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people in a way that does not contradict the human rights system and national law.

ICSPR has supported the contributions of others, and worked creatively to promote national ideas dedicated to confronting American decisions regarding the plan of the deal of the century; It contributed to exposing the crimes of the occupation by conveying letters to the concerned special rapporteurs, and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who accepted and recorded a detailed report sent by ICSPR regarding the Israeli crimes against peaceful demonstrators. ICSPR was also involved in the work of the National Commission committees, so it took its prominent place in the Legal and International Advocacy Committee, providing qualitative contributions, as well as field action by implementing dozens of youth initiatives in the Great Return Marches spread on the borders of the Gaza Strip.

The commission was also keen to employ the tools of international law and judiciary to urge the international community to reject Israeli violence and terrorism, and to seek to hold its officials accountable for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people in general and the protesters in particular. ICSPR also played a pioneering role in the Legal and International Advocacy Committee of the Great Return Marches by sending hundreds of letters to the international community, which contributed to forming an international public opinion opposing the Israeli measures, launching dozens of international appeals, monitoring Israeli violations, addressing the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and implemented legal activities such as the People’s Court and other activities in the field, published dozens of pictures of martyrs, and provided media coverage, and contributed to the formation of a significant work cell of a strong team that supports the marches in all languages ​​and refutes the false Israeli narrations.

During 2020, ICSPR has worked diligently in order to reach its planned outputs, as it has mastered the following:

  • Continued working with local and international partners and our network of ambassadors on international and local lobbying and advocacy campaigns, namely:
  • An international campaign to expose the results of the ongoing Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.
  • A campaign on collective punishments imposed on the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Authority, including issues of cutting salaries, and illegal deductions.
  • A campaign of solidarity with the prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons
  • A campaign for the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, a campaign on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a campaign to oppose the recent US decision and measures related to Jerusalem.

All campaigns included sending letters to international and regional organizations, to a number of special rapporteurs, the Council of Europe, and the Human Rights Council, ICSPR also organized, through its ambassadors, 4 protests, 90% of them in European countries, and the rest in Arab countries, and each campaign included a set of planned activities, among them were issuing press releases, sending letters to international bodies, issuing reports and papers, and publishing videos.

The International Commission (ICSPR) maintained its membership with the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and the membership of the National Consultative Body. It has also built strong relationships with a number of local and international networks and organizations. Moreover, it has invested its relationship and the relations of its Chairman and Board members to build participatory relations with international human rights bodies.

ICSPR was able to continue managing its branches and offices in both the West Bank and Lebanon, and working on opening a new office in Brussels.

During the reporting period, ICSPR published 268 statements, positions, news and press releases, among them are 137 press releases, 112 press lines, and 12 press statements. In addition to organizing 7 central press conferences, included declaring the positions of ICSPR on urgent issues. ICSPR’s conferences received wide media coverage by local and international media.

ICSPR published 2586 posts on its Facebook page, during 2020, the content of 902 of them were designed in either video or infographic format.

ICSPR continued to work on its media platforms, especially its page on Facebook, in a stable manner and contributed to exposing Israeli-Palestinian human rights violations, as the rate of interaction on the page reached 102 thousand (102 K) interactions with our page during 2020.

ICSPR’s staff was hosted nearly 145 times during 2020, 102 times via different satellite channels, and 43 times over the various local radio stations.

In 2020, it developed 20 international documents, 13 human rights and legal briefing notes, and 7 international letters; It also sent to about 158 ​​international and regional organizations and published on a large scale.

In 2020, ICSPR continued to share information with international and regional bodies regarding human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, to the extent that it gained the confidence of many of these international and regional bodies, where ICSPR sent 20 international documents; 11 appeals and 9 reports; These documents were sent to 756 international and local organizations and individuals.

During the reporting period, ICSPR worked on developing and sending 9 letters and a special memorandum to local government authorities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

During the reporting period, ICSPR published 14 reports and research studies; 6 special reports and 8 Research studies, which gained widespread through the media, and also gained the attention of readers, where they were downloaded from ICSPR’s website about 3145 times.

Over the course of 2020, the ICSPR implemented 11 training programs;  one long-term program (the fourth and fifth versions of the legal researcher program); 9 short-term programs, which aimed at improving and building the capacities of 326 young men and women.

In 2020, ICSPR carried out 26 meetings, workshops and specialized training in which about 1,120 interested persons participated, of whom 52% were youth and 38% of public figures; 10% of the responsible and international personalities.

During the reporting period, ICSPR’s programs published 62 position papers, facts and policies; 31 factsheets; 29 policy analysis papers; and 3 position papers, some of which attracted the attention of local and international news agencies, and provided sufficient and comprehensive information on urgent and important issues, as well as expressing the legal opinion and position of ICSPR towards some current issues.

In 2020, ICSPR has been actively involved in managing or attending dozens of participatory activities with the local community; including organizing meetings with local government bodies (executive – legislative – judicial) and international bodies; with the aim of addressing complaints it received; and informing these bodies of the most common patterns of violations.

For the third year in a row, ICSPR has maintained the implementation of the Palestinian Child Parliament program, as it has implemented 5 main activities with the participation of 150 children and 22 teachers and trainees.

ICSPR received 42 complaints in 2020, 75% of them were from employees of the National Authority in Ramallah for cutting their monthly salaries without legal justification. The remaining 25% were related to violations committed by law enforcement in the Gaza Strip. 31 complaints were handled through addressing the violating authority (the government in Ramallah – the governing body in Gaza). ICSPR has received responses to 12 complaints from special rapporteurs and contractual committee, Inter-Parliamentary Union, which addressed ICSPR, confirming that the information obtained from the complaints that ICSPR submitted, constitutes a very important tributary, contributed to the issuance of a number of international decisions, declarations and follow-ups.

 

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A briefing on shooting a Palestinian youth in the neck with a live bullet by an Israeli soldier.

Date: 5 Jan 2021

 

A briefing on shooting a Palestinian youth in the neck with a live bullet by an Israeli soldier.

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) highly appreciates your constant desire to intervene for the sake of human beings and their rights. We are addressing you today to urge you to refer this letter to the international community, and/or issuing an announced press position regarding the intention of the Israeli occupation forces to inflict bodily harm on a Palestinian civilian through a live bullet from zero distance that penetrated his neck and exited from the other side.

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) sent this briefing to : Mr. Michael Lynk ,The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.

According to the information available to the International Commission, on Friday, 1 January 2021, while an Israeli army force was accompanying the local civilian authorities, which were handing out demolition notices and confiscating an electrical generator used in construction, and as a result of the peaceful objection of a Palestinian citizen: Harun Rasmi Abu Aram (24 years old) from the Litwana area east of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the West Bank, the occupation forces fired approximately 19 bullets from zero distance, one of them injured Abu Arar in a sensitive and dangerous area, where it entered and exited his neck.

He was transferred to Yatta Governmental Hospital, then to Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, and now he is in the intensive care and suffers from swelling.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that the young man, Abu Aram, was injured in the neck by a gunshot from the occupation forces, which resulted in a direct injury to the nerves and spine, causing quadriplegia.

The young man Abu Aram was peacefully trying to prevent the Israeli forces from confiscating construction equipment in front of his house, and the video recordings attached to this letter show the attempt of Palestinian citizens to prevent the occupation soldiers from confiscating an electrical generator, then they shot him.

The Israeli occupation forces’ commission of this crime is considered an additional episode to the series of Israeli occupation’s policies and its disregard for the lives of Palestinian citizens and the ease of shooting directly towards the citizens, which is a crime against humanity according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

We hope that you will take action now, Palestinian citizens deserve to work with them and for them. All of them are looking for an international role that guarantees their internationally recognized rights, including the public transmission of this information to member states of the Human Rights Council, which may constitute a factor of positive pressure on the Israeli occupation to withdraw from these policies, legislations and procedures that target the Palestinians and their presence.

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A briefing note on women’s sector in the Palestinian Territories during 2020

Ref: 38 /2020

Date:  20 Dec 2020

 

A briefing note on women’s sector in the Palestinian Territories during 2020

 

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) highly appreciates your positive and attested role.
As we are leaving 2020, and as part of our follow-up of the situation of the women sector in the occupied Palestinian territories, we found it important to inform you about the dangerous regressions and the rise of violence against women in the Palestinian territories. With reference to the above subject, we look forward to your role in ensuring that women enjoy their right to live in safety and dignity, due to the importance and value involved in enjoying other rights related.

The rules of international law affirmed the necessity for women to enjoy all rights and to fulfill all forms of discrimination against them, such as CEDAW, to ensure their ability to live a free and dignified life, especially for women in the Gaza Strip, who suffer a real and imminent threat to their economic and humanitarian conditions alike, as a result of the tightening of the illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip for the 14th year in a row, the repercussions have prolonged the economic, health and social conditions of the Gaza Strip, in light of the lack of pressure from the international community to oblige the occupation authorities to shoulder their responsibilities towards the residents of the occupied territory.

Beside that; the Corona pandemic has greatly increased the burden of women and increased the rate of violations against them in light of the closure of courts and reporting centers and the difficulty of accessing them, with the continuation of the previous conditions, as well as the internal Palestinian division that hindered the possibility of adopting unified laws that are more just and equitable towards women.

The Corona pandemic affected the situation of women in the Palestinian territories, according to a survey conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Women’s Affairs on 6 thousand families in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, regarding violence, the survey showed that psychological violence is the most prevalent, reaching (55%), followed by economic violence (53%), then social violence (27%) and verbal violence (24%). In addition to that, physical violence increased during the Corona pandemic, and there are (47%) women who sought protection during the pandemic, in light of the man’s exploitation of the closure of courts and the difficulty of accessing the specialized centers.

According to the results of a sample of peasant women (farmers and rural women) in the Gaza Strip in a survey conducted by the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, 62.5% of the surveyed sample confirmed that they had been subjected to domestic violence, which varied between physical and verbal violence, neglect and abandonment, and threats.

Civil society organizations also stated that they had provided more than (5000) legal and social counseling during the crisis. The pandemic has also affected working women, especially the breadwinners for their families, as there are 11% of families headed by women, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics survey in 2019.

According to the documentation of ICSPR during the year 2020, about (28) women were killed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while about (14) women were killed during the previous year, among them (8) women in the West Bank and (6) women in the Gaza Strip, among them (3) were killed in connection with so-called honor killings.

Whereas, the Israeli occupation commits numerous violations against Palestinian women, and they have paid a heavy price as a result of these violations, which are direct or indirect through the exposure of their sons and husbands to injury or death, in addition to various violations such as house raids and demolitions, according to ICSPR, there are (39) female prisoners inside the permanent Israeli occupation prison suffering from difficult health, psychological and physical conditions as a result of the daily Israeli violations that women prisoners are subjected to. In addition to the daily arrests of women, the number of female detainees during the year 2020 has reached (53).

We consider your intervention as a banner in order to ensure that members of the international community fulfill their obligations towards the universal values of human rights that are indivisible. Therefore, we ask you to make more efforts, by taking specific measures that will protect women and reduce violence rates towards them, through:

  • Pressuring the Israeli military occupation authorities as the occupying power, in order to oblige them to respect the rules of international law and international agreements towards civilians in the occupied territory, including ending the siege and supplying the Gaza Strip with all necessary basic necessities of life, to spare the citizens the scourge of the collapse of the humanitarian situation in the Strip.
  • Calling on the Human Rights Council to work to conduct investigations into cases of serious or systematic Israeli violations of the rights of Palestinian women.
  • Working with the Palestinian government and official bodies to take the necessary measures to put an end to domestic violence and crimes against women. Including making possible efforts to end the division to enact unified legal legislations that protect women from all forms of discrimination against them, in order to be in line with the CEDAW agreement, to which the State of Palestine is a party.

We hope that you will intervene now, as Palestinian women deserve to work for them, in order to ensure that they enjoy a safe and decent standard of living linked to the foundations and standards of human rights, and in a manner that guarantees them a decent future.

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 A call to pressure to stop the Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

Date: October 14, 2020

 

 A call to pressure to stop the Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

 

 The International Commission to Support Palestinians; Rights (ICSPR)  looks forward to your positive role in pressuring to oblige the Israeli occupation authorities to stop confiscating lands and property of Palestinians in the West Bank and the occupied city of Jerusalem, in a blatant, arbitrary and unlawful manner, in a step that constitutes a crime of Judaization, confiscation and a truly new apartheid.

According to recent data, the occupation authorities have recently escalated the pace of confiscation of Palestinian lands and properties in various areas of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. On October 14, 2020, the occupation government approved the construction of about (2166) new settlement units in separate areas. From the occupied West Bank. The data also indicates that the “Supreme Council for Planning and Building of the Israeli Civil Administration” intends to approve the construction of thousands of other units, including the construction of (5) thousand units at its session that will be held during the coming period, according to the Israeli media.

The patterns of violations above constitute international crimes for their stable violation of the provisions of international human rights and international humanitarian laws, which emphasized the impermissibility of settlement, confiscation and targeting civilian property and the impermissibility of forced displacement, and also entails a fundamental violation of the 1993 Oslo Agreement signed between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, in addition to its violation For international legitimacy decisions related to the occupied city.

Finally: We consider your urgent interventions as a lever in order to ensure that members of the international community fulfill their obligations towards their citizens, and at the same time we ask you to make more efforts, by taking practical measures to pressure the Israeli authorities, in order to respect their international obligations, regarding respecting the rights of Palestinians, from While obliging it to stop annexation and settlement plans and confiscate the lands of citizens inside the occupied territories, including holding accountable the perpetrators of these serious and catastrophic abuses.

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A briefing note urging you to immediately intervene to release arbitrary detainees from the Palestinian Authority against the background of political opinion and activity.

Date:21 Sep 2020

Number: 108/2020

A briefing note urging you to immediately intervene to release arbitrary detainees from the Palestinian Authority against the background of political opinion and activity.

 

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR)is highly appreciate your keenness to intervene in order to defend human rights values, and the citizens’ enjoyment of these universally guaranteed rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, political pluralism, freedom of peaceful assembly and the prevention of arrest Arbitrary, torture and degrading treatment of human dignity, and accordingly, we are addressing you today and urgently to call for immediate and urgent intervention now, by doing more efforts individually and / or collectively with people of international law, by taking practical and immediate measures aimed at putting an end to violations The Palestinian Authority and its security apparatus against Palestinian citizens in the West Bank, which has accelerated its pace recently as a result of the suppression, arrest, and summoning of the security and police agencies of the citizens of the political leaders and supporters of the democratic reform movement in the Fatah movement, which is headed by the leader and deputy in the Legislative Council Muhammad Dahlan.

the International Commission for Supporting Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) sent all the institutions of the international community Among them: António Guterres / Secretary-General of the United Nations , Michel Forst / Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders , Maina Kiai / Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion , Seung Phil Kong / Special Rapporteur on the issue of arbitrary detention , Fatou Bensouda / Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Nikolai Miladinov / United Nations Coordinator for the Peace Process, Michael Link / United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory , European Union Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, League of Arab States and Organization of the Islamic Conference.

According to the field and human rights follow-up of the ICSPR, we have monitored and documented a large number of continuous violations that have been and are still being committed by the security services in the West Bank, against citizens, opinion activists and opposition political forces, especially with regard to the political leaders of the Democratic Reform Movement in the Fatah movement and their supporters, which have long been violated Their rights to fair legal procedures and their arbitrary detention against the background of freedom of opinion and expression and in opposition to the policies of the authority, in addition to storming and searching their homes, terrorizing their families and assaulting them, without following the procedures stipulated by law in the arrest and search operations.

Based on the follow-up of the ICSPR ,we found it important to inform you about the most prominent of these violations and after exhausting all the national legal and human rights methods that did not succeed in dissuading the authority from its violations, and releasing those arbitrarily detained and against the background of opinion and political activity, in order to urge you to intervene to stop these unjustified violations, as next one:

  • The security services arrested, on Monday at dawn on: 21 September 2020, a number of Fatah leaders affiliated with the Democratic Reform Movement, as they arrested the leader Haitham al-Halabi, a member of the former Fatah Revolutionary Council and Ameed al-Halabi, his nephew, “from their homes in Nablus governorate, and they also arrested the Major General “Salim Abu Safeya” from his home in the city of Jericho. He was accompanied by the arrests of citizens who broke into homes, searched them, and tampered with their contents without following the legal procedures.
  • On 6/9/2020, the security services in the West Bank arrested Dr. “Firas Halabi,” one of the leaders of the Democratic Reform Movement in the West Bank, from the Karama crossing and prevented him from traveling to Cairo to complete his academic papers, where he is still detained despite a judicial decision to release him
  • . The security services continue to detain citizens Thaer Al-Shalabi and Moataz Abu Tayoun, in addition to summoning and detaining a number of citizens who support the reform movement in the governorates of Qalqila and Jerusalem, among them Muhammad Saadi Abu Mughalah, Akrama Ali, Rizq Nazal and Zahran Al-Hilu were known.
  • The arrest by the Preventive Security Service in Nablus of the 34-year-old journalist Kanaan Sabri Kanaan, after he was summoned for an interview on September 09, 2020; Against the background of his posts on his Facebook page, this brings the number of detained journalists working in Al-Najah TV to the Preventive Agency to two; As the agency continues to arrest Abd al-Rahman Zahir on charges of defaming the public authorities since the seventeenth of last month.
  • Since the declaration of the state of emergency in the West Bank, the security services in the West Bank have arrested and summoned dozens of citizens, including journalists and political activists, who were arrested on the grounds of opinion and belonging to opposition parties. Abu Ghurab, Majd Kamil, and Musa Mualla; These arrests and summons were also accompanied by attacks on detainees, bringing the number of arbitrary detainees in the prisons of the Authority to nearly 400 detainees on the grounds of opinion and political activity.
  • These violations were accompanied by forceful raids of homes and terrorizing their residents, including women, children, and the elderly, breaking down some of the home’s furniture and tampering with them, and confiscating cell phones and computers. The Authority’s security services in the West Bank also prevented human rights defenders and lawyers who are supposed to enjoy With special legal protection guaranteed by international human rights covenants, to enable them to carry out their work by preventing them from visiting their clients, to check on their safety and to guarantee their legal rights.

Evidence confirms that the violations committed by the authorities and the police forces in the West Bank are in clear and grave breach of the standards of detention and arrest stipulated in the Criminal Procedures Law No. 3 of 2001, and the standards that must be met during detention and arrest, as well as a violation of the provisions of the Basic Law The Public Meetings Law of 1998, and the Press and Publications Law of 1995, especially the legal articles that prohibit arbitrary detention and guarantee personal freedoms and freedom of opinion and expression for citizens, and it has violated the obligations of the State of Palestine in the field of respecting the rights of its citizens as per its accession to many international human rights treaties. Among them is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the freedom to form and belong to political parties, and the freedom of peaceful assembly.

The ICSPR  expresses its concern about the security and police services in the West Bank continuing to apply the method of arbitrary arrests, fear that the detainees will be subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and reiterates its absolute rejection of any attempts that would beautify political and arbitrary arrests, and affirming that the arrest of citizens is Haitham, Firas and Amid Al-Halabi Major General Salim Abu Safiya, Wathair al-Shalabi, Mu’taz Abu Tayyun and others are driven by the desire of the Palestinian government and its security apparatus to take political revenge against its opponents, and to seek to silence and exclusivity and restrict freedom of opinion, expression, association, and the practice of legitimate political activity, which is a serious violation of all international human rights agreements and treaties signed by the State of Palestine Recently, and flagrantly violating the Palestinian Basic Law and the body of relevant national laws, and with fear of employing the state of emergency to impose unjustified restrictions on public rights and freedoms.

 

Based on the above, we in ICSPR call on you to fulfill your moral and legal responsibilities and to make more efforts to provide legal protection for citizens, in a manner that ensures interference and pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Dr. Muhammad Shtayyeh, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior and the rest of the Palestinian authorities, to stop the summons, arbitrary detention, and political retaliation against opinion activists and political opponents, which constitutes a flagrant violation and violation of Palestinian law and international human rights standards, court decisions and national consensus, and work for the immediate release of political detainees on the background of the opinion, out of respect For the rule of law, and to guarantee the rights and freedoms guaranteed in international covenants and Palestinian legislation and until that time work to guarantee the rights of detainees and those who are arbitrarily attached to ensure that lawyers and families of detainees are able to visit them, know their place of detention, verify their conditions of detention, ensure that they are not subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and guarantee their legal rights, foremost among which is the right to procedures Fair legal.

In conclusion, we hope that you will quickly intervene now, because the threat is present and continuing, and there is a fear of a widening campaign of arbitrary arrests, in addition to our fear of abuse by the authority against detainees on the background of political opinion and activity, and tomorrow it will be too late, because Palestinian citizens are victims of violations of the authority, they deserve to work with them and for them. They look forward to your positive role in ensuring that they enjoy their package of rights that are guaranteed nationally and internationally, as they are well-established, legitimate and non-derogable rights, in line with your international legal mandate in particular.

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An urgent notification regarding the suspension of the only power station in Gaza due to the Israeli restrictions, the electricity deficit reaches 75%

Ref: 24/2020

Date: 18 Aug 2020

 

 

An urgent notification regarding the suspension of the only power station in Gaza due to the Israeli restrictions, the electricity deficit reaches 75%

 

The International Commission  to Support Palestinians’ Rights ICSPR highly appreciates your constant keenness to intervene in order to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, and we are address you today to put you in the picture of the unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian conditions in Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority declared in the Gaza Strip; Yesterday, Sunday, August 16, 2020, the Gaza power station (the only one in Gaza) will stop at full production capacity at 10 am tomorrow, next Tuesday, August 18, 2020, due to the fuel run out as a result of the Israeli occupation forces ’decision to stop the supply of The fuel needed to operate the station since Wednesday, August 12, 2020, from the Kerem Shalom crossing point.

The power outage crisis in the Gaza Strip; Has been going on for years; The crisis takes on a profound dimension when the sole power plant stops operating; What will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation; As the expected reduction in the hours of supplying electricity to all vital, health, educational, environmental and citizen facilities will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis, especially at this time of the year.

The exacerbation of the electricity crisis will have dire impacts on the realization of human rights in the Gaza Strip, as nearly 20 million Palestinians will be deprived of the services provided by vital sectors, especially the water sector; It will also leave disastrous consequences for poor wastewater treatment.

It is expected with the beginning of the crisis that the only power plant stopped working, the electric deficit will reach 75%, which will cause the vital economic sectors, especially the owners of workshops and shops, to suffer great economic losses, in light of the continuing deterioration of their humanitarian conditions due to the Israeli blockade and the harsh measures designed to limit the spread Corona virus in Gaza Strip.

The ICSPR bears the responsibility in the first place; Holding the Israeli military occupation authorities directly legal responsibility for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions of the residents of the Gaza Strip, as it is the occupying power under the rules of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and because of the continued imposition of the illegal blockade on the Strip as a form of collective punishment, as well as The international community bears responsibility for the continued deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip due to failure to fulfill its legal and moral duties and its failure to pressure the occupying power to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.

  We hope that you will work to protect and respect the inherent human dignity of the Palestinian human being as a value that cannot justify its waste, or be linked to a financial or political bargain, and cannot justify causing this human suffering that could lead to the loss of human lives