On the Agenda

This is the story of one factory – the Sharaf Gas-Pipe and Metalwork Factory. It is the story of its owner, Yusef Rabah Sharaf, who still remembers the days when orders used to flow in. It is also the story of two of his employees, ‘Ata Abu ‘Areban and Khalil Abu ‘Amarneh, who no longer remember what a monthly wage looks like. The Sharaf Factory is one of many Palestinian businesses to have collapsed due to Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007. As part of this policy, Israel has turned Gaza into the world's largest open-air prison. This has led to the economy collapsing, hundreds of factories closing, soaring unemployment rates and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians now dependent on humanitarian aid. Some 65% of Gazans are young people under the age of 25 whose lives are unbearable, yet their future carries no hope for change.

Since early May, B’Tselem has documented 4 cases in which soldiers ambushed Palestinian laborers trying to enter Israel through gaps in the Separation Barrier south of Tulkarm and shot them in the legs, and another case in which soldiers severely beat a 15-year-old in similar circumstances. In a chilling procedure, four of the wounded were given first aid and photographed at a nearby checkpoint before being taken to hospital. As this unjustifiable injury of non-dangerous persons is a military policy, no one will be held accountable.

Since 2012, the Israeli military has treated the Palestinian residential complex northwest of Nablus as training grounds to use at will. Soldiers enter at any given time, fire live ammunition and stun grenades among homes and sleep in them, completely disregarding the fact that they are on hard-earned private property. The military treats the residents as pawns in a war game who can be detained, assaulted by dogs, their homes searched and their children woken in the middle of the night, as part of a “training routine”.

On 13 May 2020, during a military incursion into al-Fawar Refugee Camp, a sniper shot and killed Zeid Qeysiyah (17), who was standing on a rooftop without endangering anyone, far from the clashes between camp residents and soldiers. While the IDF spokesperson stated that the MPIU has launched an investigation, years of experience show that the goal is not to uncover the truth but to serve the MAG Corps’ whitewashing mechanism. This policy allows the lethal, unlawful, immoral shooting of Palestinians to continue unchecked.

In recent weeks, Israeli soldiers have deliberately fired at water tanks in Kafr Qadum during weekly protests held against the closure of the village’s eastern exit. Since April, soldiers have punctured at least 24 tanks on rooftops. This is sheer abuse and constitutes collective punishment for protesting. This conduct is especially grave given the high level of hygiene needed to fight the coronavirus. The shooting continues unbated, indicating support by commanders in the field and conveying disregard for residents’ lives and property.

We stand in solidarity with our colleague from Amnesty International, Laith Abu Zeyad, and demand that Israel lift the movement restrictions barring him from leaving the Occupied Territories. His petition will be heard on 31 May 2020. Targeting Abu Zeyad is yet another example of Israel’s increased persecution and punishment of human rights organizations in recent years. This includes preventing international activists and human rights workers from entering the country and forming a ministry that creates blacklists and engages in censorship.

The report "This is Jerusalem: Violence and Dispossession in al-‘Esawiyah" describes life in the Palestinian neighborhood of al-‘Esawiyah 53 years after East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel. Over the past year, al-‘Esawiyah has become a flashpoint due to a police operation designed primarily to harass residents. In the report, B'Tselem analyzes Israel’s policy of dispossession, deliberate neglect, lack of planning and police violence in the neighborhood, which is an extreme example of its actions throughout East Jerusalem.

After the corona pandemic began, Israel announced that Palestinians from the West Bank who wished to continue working in Israel would not be allowed to return home for fear of infection. However, the authorities did not issue any directives for accommodating them within Israel and some had to sleep at the construction sites themselves , in disgraceful conditions. Today, International Workers’ Day, B’Tselem is sharing the stories of three laborers.

Since the start of the corona crisis, Israeli settlers have ramped up attacks against Palestinians throughout the West Bank, with full state backing. The attacks have increased despite the movement restrictions, lockdowns and social distancing measures introduced to battle the pandemic. During the first three weeks of this month (through 22 April), B’Tselem documented 23 settler attacks against Palestinians. In all of March, 23 incidents were documented, 11 of them after the severe restrictions on movement and social gatherings were imposed (mid-March).

The world has ground to a halt, but the violent routine of occupation in the West Bank continues. From 1 March to 3 April 2020, Israeli forces raided 100 homes and arrested 217 Palestinians, 16 of them minors. Many of the arrests took place after 12 March, when Israel and the Palestinian Authority tightened restrictions on movement in the West Bank. Below are descriptions of violent raids in which soldiers forced their way into 12 homes, woke families up, trapped some in a room and damaged their belongings.