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Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories Off the Map Land and Housing Rights Violations in Israel’s Unrecognized Bedouin Villages
HRW Index No.: E2005 March 31, 2008 Also available in 
Download PDF, 2200 KB, 128 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Flooding South Lebanon Israel’s Use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in July and August 2006
HRW Index No.: E2002 February 17, 2008 Download PDF, 4400 KB, 137 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Why They Died Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War
HRW Index No.: E1905 September 6, 2007 Also available in
Download PDF, 2400 KB, 249 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Civilians under Assault Hezbollah’s Rocket Attacks on Israel in the 2006 War
HRW Index No.: E1903 August 29, 2007 Also available in
Purchase online Download E-Book Printer friendly version Indiscriminate Fire Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel and Israeli Artillery Shelling in the Gaza Strip This 146-page report finds that both Palestinian armed groups and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have shown insufficient regard for civilian life. Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades, and the Popular Resistance Committees, say the deliberate attacks on civilians with locally made and highly inaccurate rockets, known as Qassams, are reprisals for Israeli actions – but reprisals against civilians are always illegal. A reported reduction by the IDF in the “safety zone” between artillery targets and civilian areas in Gaza, as well as a sharp escalation of shelling in April 2006 following the Hamas political takeover of the Palestinian Authority, led to a jump in civilian casualties. HRW Index No.: E1901 July 1, 2007 Also available in
Download PDF, 4300 KB, 145 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Ghost Prisoner Two Years in Secret CIA Detention This 50-page report contains a detailed description of a secret CIA prison from a Palestinian former detainee who was released from custody. The report provides the most comprehensive account to date of life in a secret CIA prison, as well as information regarding 38 possible detainees. The report explains that these prisoners’ treatment by the CIA constitutes enforced disappearance, a practice that is absolutely prohibited under international law. HRW Index No.: G1901 February 27, 2007 Also available in
Download PDF, 224 KB, 50 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book The “Hoax” That Wasn’t The July 23 Qana Ambulance Attack During the Israel-Hezbollah war, Israel was accused by Human Rights Watch and numerous local and international media outlets of attacking two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances in Qana on July 23, 2006. Following these accusations, some websites claimed that the attack on the ambulances “never happened” and was a Hezbollah-orchestrated “hoax,” a charge picked up by conservative commentators such as Oliver North. These claims attracted renewed attention when the Australian foreign minister stated that “it is beyond serious dispute that this episode has all the makings of a hoax.” December 19, 2006 Also available in
A Question of Security Violence against Palestinian Women and Girls This 101-page report, based on field research conducted in the West Bank and Gaza in November 2005 and early 2006, documents dozens of cases of violence ranging from spousal and child abuse to rape, incest and murders committed under the guise of family “honor.” There is increasing recognition of the problem, and some PA officials have indicated their support for a more vigorous government response, but the PA has taken little action to prevent these abuses. As a result, violence against women and girls is often unreported, and even when it is, it usually goes unpunished. HRW Index No.: E1708 November 7, 2006 Also available in
Download PDF, 637 KB, 103 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Fatal Strikes Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon This report documents serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Lebanon between July 12 and July 27, 2006, as well as the July 30 attack in Qana. During this period, the IDF killed an estimated 400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, and that number climbed to over 500 by the time this report went to print. The Israeli government claims it is taking all possible measures to minimize civilian harm, but the cases documented here reveal a systematic failure by the IDF to distinguish between combatants and civilians. HRW Index No.: E1803 August 3, 2006 Also available in
Download PDF, 415 KB, 51 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Promoting Impunity The Israeli Military’s Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing This 126-page report documents how Israel has failed in its legal obligation to investigate civilian deaths and injuries that result from the use of lethal force in policing and law enforcement contexts, such as controlling demonstrations or enforcing curfews, and in combat situations when there is prima facie evidence or credible allegations that soldiers deliberately harmed civilians or failed to take all feasible precautions to protect them from harm. HRW Index No.: E1707 June 22, 2005 Download PDF, 630 KB, 125 pgs Purchase online Razing Rafah Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip This 135-page report focuses on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where more than 10 percent of the population has lost their homes. As well as research and interviews conducted in Gaza, Israel and Egypt, the report uses satellite imagery, maps, graphs and photographs to document a pattern of illegal demolitions by the IDF. Such a pattern, the report says, is consistent with the political goal of having a wide and empty border area to facilitate long-term control over the Gaza Strip, rather than absolute military necessity. October 18, 2004 Download PDF, 779 KB, 120 pgs Purchase online Israel's "separation barrier" in the occupied West Bank: Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law consequences A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper , February 2004 The purpose of this briefing paper is to outline Human Rights Watch's main concerns regarding the barrier as the International Court of Justice, at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, considers the barrier's legal consequences. February 20, 2004 Printer friendly version Israel/Palestinian Authority: Child Soldier Use 2003 A Briefing for the 4th UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict After signing the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OP-CRC -CAC) in November 2002, the government later ended the "early admission" of conscripts and the deployment of under-18s in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), although it continued to accept 17-year-old volunteers. January 16, 2004 The "Roadmap": Repeating Oslo's Human Rights Mistakes This briefing paper analyzes the new peace plan in the light of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements – all of which fatally ignored basic human rights and international humanitarian law protections. Instead, the plans let abuses proliferate to the point where they undermined the entire negotiating process. May 8, 2003 Printer friendly version Briefing to the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights on Israel/Occupied Territories Human Rights Watch urges the Commission on Human Rights to address the grave human rights and humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza with a resolution that condemns human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by all parties. The resolution should also call on the international community to meet its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure the protection of civilians in circumstances of armed conflict and belligerent occupation. February 14, 2003 Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks against Israeli Civilians The people responsible for planning and carrying out suicide bombings that deliberately target civilians are guilty of crimes against humanity and should be brought to justice, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today. The 170-page report is the first full-fledged examination of individual criminal responsibility for suicide bombings against civilians in Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The report, Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks against Israeli Civilians, also provides the most thorough study to date of the suicide bombing operations of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the groups that have claimed responsibility for almost all recent suicide bombings. Since January 2001, 52 Palestinian suicide bombings have killed some 250 civilians and injured 2,000 more. Well-established principles of international law require that those in authority be held accountable when people under their control commit war crimes or crimes against humanity. Leaders who order such crimes, fail to take reasonable preventive action, or fail to punish the perpetrators are also responsible for such crimes. HRW Index No.: 2807 November 1, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Jenin: IDF Military Operations On April 3, 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a major military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, home to some fourteen thousand Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of them civilians. The Israelis' expressed aim was to capture or kill Palestinian militants responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than seventy Israeli and other civilians since March 2002. The IDF military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp was carried out on an unprecedented scale compared to other military operations mounted by the IDF since the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict began in September 2000. The presence of armed Palestinian militants inside Jenin refugee camp, and the preparations made by those armed Palestinian militants in anticipation of the IDF incursion, does not detract from the IDF's obligation under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians. Israel also has a legal duty to ensure that its attacks on legitimate military targets did not cause disproportionate harm to civilians. Unfortunately, these obligations were not met. Human Rights Watch's research demonstrates that, during their incursion into the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes. HRW Index No.: E1403 May 2, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online In A Dark Hour: The Use Of Civilians During IDF Arrest Operations This report documents the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) practice of coercing civilians to assist military personnel and operations, a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). The report is the result of investigations carried out regarding four IDF raids in late 2001 and early 2002 into the Palestinian towns of Beit Rima, Salfit, Artas, and Tulkarem. The violations documented in these cases exemplify current IDF practices in other incursions, whether in villages, refugee camps, or towns. One journalist reported being forced to strip and march at gunpoint to search offices in Ramallah during the largest and most recent IDF operation, "Operation Defensive Shield." Other civilians had similar testimony. Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have reported incidents in which the IDF coerced civilians to assist military operations in Nablus, Tulkarem, East Jerusalem, and elsewhere. While the location and scale of the raids have varied, the dynamics have been the same. In the four cases researched in detail by Human Rights Watch, eyewitnesses described a night of panic and terror, including death threats, house demolitions, and wide-scale arrests. In each of these cases, the IDF routinely coerced civilians to perform life-endangering acts that assisted IDF military operations. Eyewitnesses and victims described to Human Rights Watch how friends, neighbors, and relatives of "wanted" Palestinians were taken at gunpoint to knock on doors, open strange packages, and search houses in which the IDF suspected armed Palestinians were present. Some families found their houses taken over and used as military positions by the IDF during an operation while they themselves were ordered to remain inside. In one case documented by Human Rights Watch, a civilian was held as a hostage in order to pressure his brother to surrender. HRW Index No.: E1402 April 18, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Second Class: Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools Second Class: Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools, is based on Human Rights Watch investigations at twenty-six Arab and Jewish schools and on nationwide statistics compiled by the Israeli government. Nearly one-quarter of Israel's 1.6 million schoolchildren are Palestinian Arab citizens and are educated in schools run by the Israeli government, but operated separately from those of the Jewish majority. The report found striking differences in virtually every aspect of the education system. The Education Ministry does not allocate as much money per head for Palestinian Arab children as it does for Jewish children. Their classes are 20 percent larger on average. They get far fewer enrichment and remedial programs-even though they need them more-in part because the Ministry uses a different scale to assess need for Jewish children. Their school buildings are in worse condition, and many communities lack kindergartens for three and four-year-olds. Palestinian Arab schoolchildren do not have the same access to counseling and vocational programs. One of the largest gaps is in special education, where disabled Palestinian Arab children get less funding and fewer services, have limited access to special schools, and lack appropriate curricula. ISBN: 1-56432-266-1, 187pp, 20.00, HRW Index No.: (2661) December 1, 2001 Also available in
Purchase online Justice Undermined: Balancing Security and Human Rights in the Palestinian Justice System People detained by the Palestinian Authority are frequently subjected to torture and denied access to fair trials, Human Rights Watch said in this new report. The 50-page report documents how the Palestinian Authority executive branch - including President Yasser Arafat, his ministers, police, and various security forces - has seriously undermined the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. The report estimates that as of September 2001, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was holding about 450 people in detention without charge or trial. Most were suspected of being informants for Israeli security forces; others were alleged to have sold Palestinian land to Israelis. The PA has done virtually nothing to identify the perpetrators of about thirty vigilante-style executions, the report says. The report, charges the PA with failing to bring to justice militants who have attacked Israeli civilians. The report also says that Israeli responses to the current "intifada," including severe restrictions on freedom of movement and the destruction of Palestinian law-enforcement infrastructure, have aggravated the deterioration of the Palestinian justice system. 50pp, 7.00 HRW Index No.: (E1304) November 30, 2001 Download PDF Purchase online |
 Lebanon/Israel: Cluster Munitions Video © IRIN 2007
Israel - Lebanon Conflict 
   Photos from Jenin
Related Material Films screened in the HRW International Film Festival 2002: 500 Dunam on the Moon 2002: Gaza Strip 2002: Rana's Wedding 2002: Aftershock 2002: Kaddim Wind 2002: Women in Black 2002: 72 Virgins 2002: Ford Transit 2002: My Terrorist 2002: Welcome to Hadassah Hospital 2002: A Boy Called Mohammad 2002: August 2002: Debris 2001: Quintessence of Oblivion 2001: Bethlehem Diary 2001: Citizen Bishara 2001: Ramleh 2000: Naim & Wadee'a 2000: The Jahalin 2000: Nazareth 2000 1999: Harmed Forces 1999: Borders 1999: Promises | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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