http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=722&catid=42&pcat=42&lang=ENG
9 Jun 2009
We are honored to present you with PHR-Israel’s 2008 Annual Report. A separate report was released on PHR-Israel’s activity during the attack on Gaza Strip that began during the final days of 2008.
First, we shall open with the outputs of 2008: This year, we received 2,935 new appeals, and treated 13,505 patients at our clinics. PHR-Israel’s volunteer medical staff dedicated 7,480 work hours, providing medical assistance, diagnosis and consultation on individual cases and principle issues. PHR-Israel’s administrative volunteers dedicated 527.5 work hours to assisting staff in their ongoing work.
Indiscriminate Attacks Caused Needless Civilian Suffering
March 25, 2009
"For the needless civilian deaths caused by white phosphorus, senior commanders should be held to account."
Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report
(Jerusalem) - Israel's repeated firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza during its recent military campaign was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 71-page report, "Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," provides witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza. Human Rights Watch researchers in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school. The report also presents ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government.
Militaries use white phosphorus primarily to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It can also be used as an incendiary weapon.
"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."
The report documents a pattern or policy of white phosphorus use that Human Rights Watch says must have required the approval of senior military officers.
"For the needless civilian deaths caused by white phosphorus, senior commanders should be held to account," Abrahams said.
On February 1, Human Rights Watch submitted detailed questions to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about its white phosphorus use in Gaza. The IDF did not provide responses, citing an internal inquiry being conducted by the Southern Command.
In the recent Gaza operations, Israeli forces frequently air-burst white phosphorus in 155mm artillery shells in and near populated areas. Each air-burst shell spreads 116 burning white phosphorus wedges in a radius extending up to 125 meters from the blast point. White phosphorus ignites and burns on contact with oxygen, and continues burning at up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (816 degrees Celsius) until nothing is left or the oxygen supply is cut. When white phosphorus comes into contact with skin it creates intense and persistent burns.
When used properly in open areas, white phosphorus munitions are not illegal, but the Human Rights Watch report concludes that the IDF repeatedly exploded it unlawfully over populated neighborhoods, killing and wounding civilians and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse, and a hospital.
Israel at first denied it was using white phosphorus in Gaza but, facing mounting evidence to the contrary, said that it was using all weapons in compliance with international law. Later it announced an internal investigation into possible improper white phosphorus use.
"Past IDF investigations into allegations of wrongdoing suggest that this inquiry will be neither thorough nor impartial," Abrahams said. "That's why an international investigation is required into serious laws of war violations by all parties."
The IDF knew that white phosphorus poses life-threatening dangers to civilians, Human Rights Watch said. A medical report prepared during the recent hostilities by the Israeli ministry of health said that white phosphorus "can cause serious injury and death when it comes into contact with the skin, is inhaled or is swallowed." Burns on less than 10 percent of the body can be fatal because of damage to the liver, kidneys, and heart, the ministry report says. Infection is common and the body's absorption of the chemical can cause serious damage to internal organs, as well as death.
If the IDF intended to use white phosphorus as a smokescreen for its forces, it had a readily available non-lethal alternative to white phosphorus - smoke shells produced by an Israeli company, Human Rights Watch concluded.
All of the white phosphorus shells that Human Rights Watch found were manufactured in the United States in 1989 by Thiokol Aerospace, which was running the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant at the time. On January 4, Reuters photographed IDF artillery units handling projectiles whose markings indicate that they were produced in the United States at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in September 1991.
To explain the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza, Israeli officials have repeatedly blamed Hamas for using civilians as "human shields" and for fighting from civilian sites. In the cases documented in the report, Human Rights Watch found no evidence of Hamas using human shields in the vicinity at the time of the attacks. In some areas Palestinian fighters appear to have been present, but this does not justify the indiscriminate use of white phosphorus in a populated area.
Human Rights Watch said that for multiple reasons it concluded that the IDF had deliberately or recklessly used white phosphorus munitions in violation of the laws of war. First, the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus in populated areas until the last days of the operation reveals a pattern or policy of conduct rather than incidental or accidental usage. Second, the IDF was well aware of the effects of white phosphorus and the dangers it poses to civilians. Third, the IDF failed to use safer available alternatives for smokescreens.
The laws of war obligate states to investigate impartially allegations of war crimes. The evidence available demands that Israel investigate and prosecute as appropriate those who ordered or carried out unlawful attacks using white phosphorus munitions, Human Rights Watch said.
The United States government, which supplied Israel with its white phosphorus munitions, should also conduct an investigation to determine whether Israel used it in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said.
http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=702&catid=55&pcat=-1&lang=ENG
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel in a Report on Medical Ethics during the War on Gaza: "The Military repeatedly violated Codes of Medical Ethics during the Gaza Offensive"
Prevention of medical assistance from the trapped and the wounded, severe difficulties to emergency medical evacuation, attacks on medical personnel and medical facilities, and de facto prevention from the chronically ill and gravely wounded referral to medical care outside Gaza. "We call for an outside independent body to investigate the events" say representatives of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.
The new report, published today by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, gives room for concern that during the operation in Gaza, Israeli soldiers repeatedly acted in violation of the army's code of ethics, the medical code of ethics, and basic human values. These actions suggest repeated violations of the International Law regarding the treatment of the ill and the wounded and the protection of medical personnel.
The report examines six topics: the situation of the Gaza health system on the eve of the military operation, the difficulties in evacuating the wounded to medical centers outside Gaza, attacks on medical personnel, difficulties in internal evacuation of the wounded, attacks on medical facilities and injury to chronic and acute patients.
Based on numerous first hand testimonies that were brought to the attention of PHR-Israel during the attack, the report depicts a grave picture of the realities in Gaza during those 22 days. In some of the cases revealed to PHR-Israel, the army did not allow for the evacuation of wounded and trapped civilians for days on, leaving them in isolated pockets with no access to food, water and medical treatment. The army did not assist these civilians but even more, it prevented the Palestinian emergency vehicles and staff from reaching these civilians. In other cases, the soldiers did not give medical assistance to wounded human beings that were within several feet from the soldiers. This, in serious violation of the army's Ethical Code for the War on Terror of 2004 that states that "soldiers are obliged to provide adequate health services, as conditions allow, equally to themselves and to the enemy."
PHR-Israel received reports of 16 medical personnel that were killed and 25 that were wounded from the Israeli army's fire, all of them while performing their medical duties. Furthermore, 34 medical facilities were hit by the army, eight hospitals and 26 primary care clinics; this in severe violation of directives of international law that forbid attacks on medical personnel and medical facilities in times of fighting.
Prevention of evacuation and assistance for the wounded
On January 3 the house of the al'Aiedi family, situated in the south east of Gaza City, sustained missile fire from which 6 of the twenty members of the family were wounded. Attempts to leave the house were repeatedly met by artillery fire. Upon receiving notification of the event, on the morning of January 4, PHR-Israel contacted the army and tried to coordinate the evacuation of the family but to no avail. For six days, the army prevented the evacuation of the family, prevented ambulances from approaching the area, and did not provide food and water to the family or medical assistance to the wounded. On January 6, two of the wounded were able to leave their house, holding a white flag, and were compelled to walk for 2 kilometers until reaching an emergency vehicle. The other wounded were too weak to follow them. Only on January 10 were the family members able to leave their house walking and carrying their wounded.
On January 16 at approximately 2 in the afternoon three members of the Shurrarb family, the father and two sons were hit by automatic fire on their car as they were trying to gather supplies during the humanitarian ceasefire. One son was almost immediately killed, the second son was wounded in the leg and the father of was lightly injured by shrapnel. Soldiers besieged the area around the car. PHR-Israel's requests to the army to assist or evacuate the wounded were not addressed and the injured son, with no medical assistance, was losing considerable amounts of blood. At midnight the father informed PHR-Israel that his second son had bled to death. Mahmud, the father, told PHR-Israel's representative that his son cried and asked him to call an ambulance and that the soldiers at the location cursed him and threatened that if he did not put down his cell phone, they would shoot him. Mahmud and the bodies of his two children were evacuated on January 17 at 12:00 in the afternoon, 24 hours after the shooting incident
Attacks on Medical Personnel
The report details 12 incidents, including occurrences in which helicopters and tanks fired on ambulances and medical personnel. In other instances medical teams were turned away by soldiers from areas that they reached to treat the wounded
.
On December 31 a helicopter hit a medical team that had set out to offer help to a bleeding injured person in the northeast Gaza Strip. The doctor, the paramedic, and the wounded person they had gone to help were killed.
On January 10th five Red Crescent ambulances and a Red Cross car entered the Al-Atatra neighborhood and tank fire erupted in their direction. An ambulance driver and paramedic were injured and the medical team left without evacuating the wounded.
The report further shows that though the Israeli health system was prepared and able to receive the wounded from the Gaza Strip only few were actually referred to Israel for treatment. The closing of the crossings, bureaucratic obstacles put forward by Israel, the collapse of the coordination system, and later, the refusal of the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas to refer the wounded to Israel resulted in the fact that during the 22 days of the offensive, 6 out of 5380 wounded people received medical treatment in Israel.
The report calls the army to reiterate to its soldiers the protection granted under international law to medical personnel performing their duties and must prosecute those who violate these provisions.
Furthermore, because the testimonies indicated that the violations were neither individual nor isolated incidents, PHR-Israel convened an independent committee of international experts on forensic medicine and public health, who worked in the Gaza Strip collecting additional testimonies, examining the extent of the incidents and investigating suspicions of violations of medical ethics, the army's ethical code and international law. This report is expected to be published by the committee on April 6. 2009.
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel argues that the attack on Gaza revealed a stark decline in IDF morals concerning the Palestinian population of Gaza, which in reality amounts to a contempt for Palestinian lives The army's repeated promises to the High Court to look into attacks on medical teams and medical centers have gone unfulfilled, and there are suspicions concerning its seriousness and readiness to carry out the matter. . PHR-Israel therefore believes it is critical that the investigation of the attack on Gaza is completed by a neutral, external investigator without ties to the Israeli army.
In the absence of a proper Israeli investigation, PHR-Israel demands that a neutral, independent international body carry out a thorough investigation. Should this investigation find Israel had violated the International Law, the Customary Law and the Israeli Law, those responsible for these violations should be brought to justice and Israel should be held responsible for the rehabilitation of the victims of these violations.
For additional details contact Ran Yaron,: 972547577696 ranyaron@phr.org.il.
http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=621&catid=58&pcat=-1&lang=ENG
"The Sounds of Silence: Isolation and Solitary Confinement of Palestinians Prisoners in Israeli Detention" A report by Physicians for Humans Rights-Israel and A-Damir, August 2008
12 Oct 2008
Tens of prisoners are held in isolation in Israeli prisons each year on grounds of state, prison or prisoners' security. Isolated prisoners are held alone in a separate cell or with another prisoner who also requires isolation. Some of the Palestinian prisoners are isolated on grounds related to state security, whereas others suffer from mental or social difficulties that complicate their being with other prisoners.
Much research has been conducted on the effects of isolation on mental health, all of which indicate the severe long term mental damage and sometimes irreversible damages it inflicts upon the isolated person, whether on those suffering from prior mental problems or not. The grave consequences of isolation have also been recognized by the Israel Prison Service (IPS), which stated: "there is no doubt that there exists a limited time limit, after which most people will find that solitary confinement is intolerable and will suffer from long term effects as a result".
The condition of the Palestinian prisoners held in isolation is much worse. The report shows that isolated Palestinians are held in isolation for long periods of time, sometimes for more than twenty years, in harsher conditions in comparison to isolated Jewish prisoners. They are held alone in their cells for 23 hours a day with minimal means of passing the time, and like non-isolated Palestinian prisoners, they are not entitled hold telephone conversations and are sometimes denied visits for long periods of time due to "security" reasons.
Isolated prisoners, whether suffering from prior mental problems or not, are not properly attended. Mental health services in the Israel Prison Service are deficient: they are limited to administering medication only and do not include accompanying supportive therapy sessions. The condition of isolated Palestinians prisoners is worse in this respect as well: prison psychiatrists do not speak Arabic and interact with the patients through a translator belonging to prison staff. This mediation enhances the lack of trust between the prisoner and the physician. Furthermore, the mental healths personnel's unfamiliarity with the social codes of the Palestinian population creates an additional obstacle to providing optimal mental health treatment. Lastly, the Palestinian prisoners are not eligible for the services of social workers which are given to criminal prisoners. And so, rather than working towards a less damaging therapeutic and security alternatives, prison and security authorities use isolation as a default mechanism.
The report reveals the ethical problems derived from the involvement of IPS physicians in the isolation process: IPS physicians gave their opinions regarding the prisoners' fitness to be held in isolation, and today take part in a system that was proven to be harmful to the mental and physical health of their patients. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel views this as yet another example for the situation of dual loyalty on part of the medical staff: their loyalty to the IPS subordinated their loyalty the patient. The psychiatrists who examine the isolated prisoners, though not employed by the do not protest against the harms of the isolation nor act against.
In order to maintain the rights and health of the isolated Palestinian prisoners, as well as the rules of medical ethics, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is recommending that the Ministry of Health, The Israel Medical Association and its member, the Israeli Psychiatric Association, combat the mechanism of isolation in Israeli prisons and prevent physicians' involvement in it. We recommend that a physician examining an isolated prisoner will recommend his or her removal from isolation, as it is certain to be extremely harmful to the prisoner.
http://www.yesh-din.org/site/images/BackyardProceedingsEng.pdf
Following a lengthy study of the implementation of Due Process rights in the IDF Military Courts in the West Bank, Yesh Din published its 158-page report entitled “Backyard Proceedings".
The military justice system in the Occupied Territories tries thousands of Palestinian civilians prosecuted by the Israel Defense Forces every year. The Military Courts, which have existed for four decades, operate virtually under complete darkness. The report, “Backyard Proceedings,” provides the Israeli and international public, for the first time in more than 15 years, with information about a system that serves as a cornerstone of Israeli rule in the West Bank. The report examines the degree to which this system upholds and implements the due process rights of Palestinian detainees and defendants brought before the Military Courts. The report evaluates, among other things, the realization of a defendant’s right to know the charges against him, to prepare an effective defense, and to enjoy the presumption of innocence. The report further assesses how the principle of a public trial is applied in the Military Courts, how minors are adjudicated in the system and other related subjects. Additionally, the report examines whether the Security Legislation applying to the Occupied Territories meets the requirements of international law regarding due process rights. Through hundreds of observations, the report provides findings about the proceedings in the courtrooms.
The findings of the research described in the report reveal a series of grave defects and lapses in the implementation of due process rights in the Military Courts. On the basis of those findings Yesh Din offers recommendations for reforming legislation and policies.
Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights was founded in March 2005, and since then its volunteers have been working for structural and long-term improvement of the human rights situation in the OPT. The organization collects and disseminates credible and current information on systematic human rights abuses in the OPT; applies public and legal pressure on the state authorities to stop them; and raises public awareness of human rights abuses in the OPT. In order to realize its goals effectively, Yesh Din operates according to a unique model among human rights organizations in Israel: The organization is run and staffed by volunteers and is assisted on a daily basis by a professional staff of lawyers, human rights experts and strategic and communications consultants.
www.yesh-din.org/eng/ | info@yesh-din.org | 11 Rothschild Blvd., 6681 Tel Aviv, Israel | Tel./Fax: +972-3-5168563
Arab Association for Human Rights
December 6, 2006
Arab Association of Human Rights and the Centre against Racism hosted a joint press conference to launch their report dealing with the discriminatory policy of racial profiling against Arab Passengers by Israeli Airports and Airlines
On December 4, 2006, the Arab Association of Human Rights and Centre for Racism held a press conference for the release of their joint report titled 'Suspected Citizens: Racial Profiling against Arab Passengers by Israeli Airports and Airlines'. The press conference was held in Mary Wells Hotel, which was attended by members of the press from both the Arabic and Jewish newspapers and TV that included Al Jazeera, Channel 1 and 10. The press conference was held at 11 am to inform the Israeli public about the publication of their report, which deals with the human rights violations that is occurring to majority of Arab citizens in airports and by airlines. At the press conference, time was allocated for the press and the public to ask question to the researcher, authors and to those that had given testimony. The report shows that Palestinians Arabs are classified by the nature of the discriminatory policy by racial profiling that defines them as a security threat by the fact of being Arab.
The report details the manner in which discriminatory inspection is imposed on Arab citizens as a national group all of whose members are spuriously perceived as a “security threat” to the state, and exposes the true purpose of this inspection: To monitor Arab citizens under the guise of security needs as part of a systemic and deliberate policy on the part of the state authorities.
HRA acknowledges the fact that all states have a right to protect the security of passengers using air transport and the security of airplanes. Nevertheless, the effect of the State’s policies on the lives of the Palestinian Arabs cannot be seen other than in a negative light. Such a policy should be applied uniformly irrespective of his or her ethnic background. To target one individual or collective group and implement a policy, which has the affect of humiliating them and labeling them as a threat, is a complete disregard for the human rights of the individual and the collective group right without having an objective reason. For the state agencies, to target a segment of their population which are citizens of the state which they should protect, without justification and then claiming itself to be democratic is reprehensible in the modern age.
With the publication of this report, HRA calls on Israel and the various states to refrain from such actions in which such acts are clearly discriminatory by targeting the Palestinians Arabs. If such action is required for public security reason, such treatment should be applied individually without penalizing a group as a whole with no regard for individual responsibility. HRA calls on the Israel to review and examines the policy that it has undertaken and to modify it when it violates the human rights that are customary in nature and in the international and regional measures that they have agreed to abide by. It calls on the foreign airport and airlines to review their arrangement that these entities have with Israel, which allow human rights violations to be carried out under their name. If such action is required the report concludes, it should be based on a personal and specific suspicion, based on objective information. It should not be based on national ground and on a subjective suspicious, which the individual is targeted for what is he is, rather than anything than what s/he has done or will do. HRA calls for an end to this racist action and it hopes by this report to stimulate public debate about the existence of this discriminatory action and so that a positive change will occur which will align with the basic human rights that are inalienable and inherent all individual and groups.
Please find the report at:
http://www.arabhra.org/publications/reports/index.htm
For further information, please contact us directly:
Muhammad Zeidan Tarek Ibrahim, Adv.
Director Programme Director,
Email: mzeidan@arabhra.org Research and Reporting
Email: tarek@arabhra.org
ص . ب: 215 الناصرة 16101, تلفون : 6561923-04 , فاكس: 6564934-04
P.O.BOX 215, Nazareth 16101, Israel, Tel: 972-4-6561923, Fax: 972-4-6564934
E-mail: hra1@arabhra.org http://www.arabhra.org
Adalah Submits “The Accused” and Demands Investigation into “Mahash” for Breach of Trust and Damaging Public Confidence
"The Accused" Full Report (Hebrew)
http://www.adalah.org/features/october2000/accused-f.pdf
Summary of the Report (English)
http://www.adalah.org/features/october2000/accused-s-en.pdf
This month, Adalah published its report “The Accused,” which addresses the failures of the law enforcement authorities – first and foremost the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) – in investigating the killings of 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel and the injury of hundreds of others during the October 2000 protest demonstrations. In response, the Attorney General (AG) argued that Adalah's submission of an independent report instead of an official appeal to him is inappropriate. As is well-known, however, the body nominated by the AG to re-examine Mahash's report of September 2005 is under the authority of the State Attorney, Eran Shendar, who was the Director of Mahash in October 2000 and after. Immediately after the publication of Mahash's report, the AG and Shendar held a press conference at which they expressed their full support for Mahash. In our correspond- ence with the AG on behalf of the families of the October 2000 victims, Adalah argued that the establishment of a re-examination body subordinate to the State Attorney not only violates the principle that 'justice must be seen to be done' but also constitutes an extreme conflict of interest. It also violates the families' right to due process and to a neutral and independent instance of appeal. Despite all Adalah's correspondence, the AG has to date taken no measure to grant the families an appropriate and fair appeal process.