RSS Feeds

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Settlements Home page  back Print  Send To friend Dignity denied: Life in the settlement area of Hebron city osted on 20 February 2020 as part of The Monthly Humanitarian Bulletin | January - February 2020 https://www.ochaopt.org/content/dignity-denied-life-settlement-area-hebron- city Deterioration of situation in the year after the withdrawal of international observers In September 2018, following an attack by Israeli settlers, Suhad and Ahmad concluded that their family could no longer stay in Tel Rumeida, located in the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron city (H2). Suhad and their three children left for another part of the city, while Ahmad has continued living in the same home, from where he runs his business. “Buying a new apartment was a huge economic effort, but I had to think of the welfare of my children.”. Some 33,000 Palestinians and 700 Israeli settlers live in the H2 of Hebron city. In 2015, following a wave of Palestinian (mainly stabbing) attacks, the Israeli authorities declared an area encompassing four settlement compounds as a ‘closed military zone’, where access to Palestinians not registered as residents has been restricted.[2] Vehicular, and in some cases pedestrian, access to areas surrounding the closed zone has also been restricted. It is estimated that about 7,000 Palestinians, 20 per cent of the H2 population, reside in these access-restricted areas. The living conditions of Palestinians in H2, particularly (but not only) in the ‘closed military zone’, deteriorated during 2019, following an increase in settler attacks and harassment, as well as in friction and clashes with Israeli forces, affecting primarily school-children. A number of measures have been undertaken by the Israeli authorities to ease access and improve living conditions in H2 during the year. However, Palestinian movement remains extremely constrained and unpredictable. This largely coincided with the departure of the 65 international monitors of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) on 31 January 2019, following Israel’s unilateral termination of its mandate after 22 years. TIPH was the only organization documenting incidents and providing a protective presence that was authorized to access any part of the city on foot and by vehicle, and it had direct channels to address urgent incidents and concerns with the relevant authorities. The departure of TIPH has placed increasing pressure on the other organizations providing a protective presence in H2, which forced them to withdraw or to scale back. In response, humanitarian and human rights partners have put together an action plan aimed at mitigating the continuing deterioration in the situation. Its implementation is contingent on the mobilization of the necessary resources, estimated at some US$ 7 million. Increased violence and harassment by settlers In 2019, OCHA recorded 47 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the H2 area of Hebron, resulting in 52 injuries, including 16 children, as well as damage to Palestinian homes, schools, vehicles, trees, crops and other property.[3] The number of incidents recorded in 2019 doubled compared to 2018 and tripled compared to 2017 (see chart). Although many of these attacks were perpetrated by Israeli settlers carrying weapons, all of the attacks recorded in 2019 resulted from other forms of physical assault, including beatings, throwing of stones and bottles, and pepper-spraying, among others. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also documented several cases where threats and intimidation were of extreme severity, including direct and repeated death- threats. During 2019, OCHA did not record any Palestinian attack against Israeli settlers in H2 that resulted in either injury or property damage. Incidents of settler violence against Palestinians Links to the latest articles in this section Two tiny Palestinian villages, supported by activists, hold on against brutal murderous settlers President Biden, open the US Consulate in East Jerusalem! A `Routine` Vote Could Be Trouble for Settlers – and Government