Every day and every night, soldiers may enter Palestinian homes. Such invasions of private space have long been an integral part of security forces’ operations in the West Bank. Palestinians know that soldiers may enter their homes at will, invade their bedrooms, wake their children and rummage through their belongings. For most of us, the home is a safe space. This is not so for Palestinians. Control, humiliation, and oppression penetrate their homes. In the coming days, we will present cases that occurred throughout November and October 2020. Read the first of them, in the village of Kobar, Ramallah district.
On Monday morning, 17 December 2020, Border Police and Special Patrol Unit forces entered Qalandiya Refugee Camp. About 10 officers entered one of the camp’s homes, attacking a 15-year-old, locking his family members in rooms, violently searching the house, and leaving as they arrested two sons. During clashes that broke out in the camp, police snipers opened wanton fire, injuring five. In this case, as in hundreds of others, no one will be held accountable for the violence meted against the family or the shooting.
Yesterday, another massive demolition at Khirbet Humsah; today, troops began extensive training among homes and fields of Masafer Yatta residents
For three weeks, four soldiers abused the residents of Silwad, a town northwest of Ramallah, on a daily basis. They set up checkpoints, searched cars coming and going, swore at residents and assaulted them. The soldiers roamed the town firing stun grenades and tear gas canisters and damaging vehicles. In one case, they shot and wounded a teenager. Their commanders did not intervene to stop the abuse. Years of experience show no one will be held accountable for this conduct, which serves the occupation regime and allows it to continue.
Israel’s regime of occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end the occupation, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.