UNITED
NATIONS
A
Distr.
GENERAL
A/71/364
30 August 2016
Original: English
Seventy-first session
Item 50 of the provisional agenda*
Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices
Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other
Arabs of the Occupied Territories
Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem**
23. In the occupied West Bank, a commonly used form of
collective punishment is the punitive demolition of homes, generally belonging to the families of attackers who killed Israelis, resulting in forced evictions and the risk of forcible transfer. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the practice of punitive demolitions, suspended until 2014, increased significantly during the reporting period, with 40 residential structures demolished or sealed off, displacing 237 persons, including 106 children.
24. In May 2016, the Committee against Torture observed that punitive demolitions constitute a violation of article 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and called upon Israeli authorities to end the practice (see
CAT/C/ISR/CO/5, para. 41).
25. During the reporting period, there was also an increase in the practice of Israeli authorities delaying the return of bodies of actual or alleged Palestinian attackers or suspects killed by Israeli security forces. At the time of writing, at least 12 bodies were still being held, several since October 2015. Although security considerations have been put forth at various times as the rationale for such delays, the Secretary-General is concerned that the extensive delay in returning bodies is being carried out with punitive intent against the families of the deceased. A commitment to release bodies for the purpose of burial “within a short space of time” was made by the Government of Israel to the nation’s High Court of Justice in the case of
Ewisat v. The Israel Police et al. (HCJ 2882/16) on 5 May 2016.13 However, after a gun attack in Tel Aviv in early June 2016, the new Minister of Defence issued an order not to return bodies as a measure “to deter potential attackers and their families”.14
In addition to amounting to collective punishment, the withholding of bodies is inconsistent with Israel’s obligations as an occupying Power pursuant to the Fourth Geneva Convention (articles 27 and 30) and violates the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment.
26. The closure of towns where actual or alleged Palestinian attackers resided is among the broadest forms of punishment employed by Israeli authorities. For example, on 3 February 2016, three residents of Qabatiya carried out an attack in East Jerusalem in which they injured a policeman prior to being killed. Immediately after, Qabatiya was raided by Israeli security forces and its seven entrances were closed off for over three days. Passage for the town’s 20,000 Palestinian residents was restricted, severing family and business links. Fourteen schools were reportedly closed in that period, and approximately 700 university students from Qabatiya were barred from attending classes on 6 February. The main vegetable market in town, the largest in the northern occupied West Bank, was also forced to close as trucks and vendors were not permitted to enter or exit.
27. Israeli authorities do not give detailed reasons for their specific actions, but instead usually make generic security claims. During a media interview, however, an Israel Defense Forces colonel highlighted the importance of economic levers having a massive influence and being an extremely efficient way of sending a message.
Another colonel explained the tactical use of collective punishment and intimidation measures towards “dangerous groups”, comprising lists of 100 to 150 persons from various villages whom Israeli authorities considered to be potential attackers, stating that those who could be arrested, were arrested; that those for whom there was no reason to arrest were warned; and that the homes of others were mapped and then searched every night. He added that pressure was also exerted on their families and that it was made clear to them that if their children involved themselves in terror, the equipment the families used to provide for themselves, whether it was farming equipment or engineering tools, would be confiscated.15
28. In Gaza, the blockade and restrictions on movement continued to undermine the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of Palestinians. Socioeconomic indicators remain bleak, with acute crises in the public utility sectors. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate was 41.2 per cent. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the rate of aid dependency was 80 per cent, and as of May 2016, an estimated 75,000 people remained displaced from the escalation of hostilities in 2014. The rate of reconstruction and recovery remains well below the level needed, owing both to continued restrictions on the entry of goods and unfulfilled pledges of assistance by the international community. The impact of the blockade is further exacerbated by the almost continuous closure by the Egyptian authorities of the Rafah passenger crossing and by Jordan’s increasing refusal to grant passage to Palestinians from Gaza through the Allenby crossing.
29. Following the escalation of hostilities in 2014, Israel introduced measures that considerably eased the movement of people and goods into and out of Gaza. Since the end of 2015, however, the gains started to be reversed. Worrisome measures instituted during the reporting period include the addition of crucial raw materials to the dual-use list, temporary restrictions on the entry of cement and other materials needed for reconstruction and recurring interrogations and confiscations or withdrawals of permits for traders and merchants.
30. Of particular concern was the significant drop in early 2016 of the approval rate for medical exit permits, which reached its lowest level since October 2009 (with the exception of the 2014 hostilities period).16 There has also been a worrisome five-fold increase in the demand by the Israeli General Security Services for security interviews before medical exit applications are considered. In November 2015, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announced that only a first-degree relative would be allowed to accompany patients across the Erez checkpoint, and that security interviews would be required for all patient companions up to 55 years of age (an estimated 94 per cent of the population of Gaza).
31. Those practices raise alarm as some individuals called in for interrogations, including patients and would-be companions, have indicated to OHCHR that they had to resist pressure to collaborate with intelligence services. If substantiated, such practices can be construed as a form of coercion to extract information, which is forbidden under international law.17
32. The Secretary-General is particularly alarmed at the restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities on the movement and work of the staff of international and national human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza. Such measures have significantly impacted the work of those organizations. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, by April 2016, the monthly approval rate of permits for travel from Gaza of national staff of the United Nations and international NGOs dropped significantly, to 24 per cent, while averages in the previous five years ranged from 70 to 80 per cent.18
A/71/364 of 30 August 2016