A/HRC/7/76
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Seventh session
Agenda item 7
Human rights violations emanating from Israeli military attacks and incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-6/1 on human rights violations emanating from Israeli military attacks and incursions, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to the Council, at its seventh session, on the progress made in the implementation of that resolution.
2. In its resolution S-6/1, the Council expressed grave concern at the repeated Israeli military attacks carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, which resulted in loss of life and injuries among Palestinian civilians, including women and children; called for urgent international action to put an immediate end to the grave violations committed by the occupying Power, Israel, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the series of incessant and repeated Israeli military attacks and incursions therein and the siege of the occupied Gaza Strip; demanded that the occupying Power, Israel, lift immediately the siege it had imposed on the occupied Gaza Strip, restore continued supply of fuel, food and medicine and reopen the border crossings; called for the immediate protection of the Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in compliance with human rights law and international humanitarian law; and urged all parties concerned to respect the rules of human rights law and international humanitarian law and to refrain from violence against the civilian population.
3. In the present report, the High Commissioner assesses the implementation of the resolution for a one-month period, from the day that it was adopted on 24 January 2008. In accordance with resolution S-6/1, the High Commissioner provides the general context of the situation and focuses on the situation in and around Gaza, particularly in the context of its closure and of violence against the civilian population, during the period from 24 January to 24 February 2008. She also addresses the related issue of freedom of movement in the West Bank and provides recommendations to the Council.
II. CONTEXT
4. On 25 January 2006, elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council were held in the West Bank and Gaza. The Hamas movement won the elections over the Fatah movement, which had dominated the Palestinian institutions until then. Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas became Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. Shortly thereafter, the international community, supported by the Quartet, redirected international aid from the Palestinian Authority to the United Nations and humanitarian agencies. Israel imposed economic sanctions, including by withholding tax revenues it collected on imports, and introducing additional restrictions on the movement of goods to, from and within the Palestinian territory. Israel declared that sanctions would be lifted only when the new Palestinian Government renounced violence, recognized Israel and accepted previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
5. In March 2006, Fatah refused to join the new Palestinian Authority Government; later in 2006, supporters of the two groups clashed in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. However, on 8 February 2007, Hamas and Fatah signed the Mecca Agreement, sponsored by the Government of Saudi Arabia. After a short period of calm, armed clashes escalated between security forces and armed groups loyal to Hamas and Fatah throughout the period of March to May 2007, despite the Agreement. Some 350 people were reportedly killed and more than 2,000 injured in the first half of 2007 as a direct result of Palestinian internal armed clashes.(1)
6. By 14 June 2007, Hamas forces and armed groups attacked and seized Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority security installations and government buildings in the Gaza Strip. After a three-day siege, the security and military intelligence headquarters of the Palestinian Authority were taken over by Hamas. On 14 June, President Mahmud Abbas dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Haniyeh, declared a state of emergency, established an emergency government based in the West Bank and appointed Finance Minister Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister. Hamas refused to recognize the emergency government and set up a Hamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip, whose legitimacy has never been recognized by the international community.
7. Following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank-based cabinet formed by President Abbas gained widespread international support. The European Union and the United States of America normalized ties and resumed direct aid to the West Bank. Israel agreed to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues it had seized, while tightening the economic and trade blockade of the Gaza Strip.
8. The European Union suspended the few aid projects it still maintained in the Gaza Strip, while Israel prevented the European Union border assistance mission at the Rafah crossing from operating, citing security reasons, resulting in the Rafah crossing being mostly closed ever since. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia declared that the West Bank-based cabinet was the sole legitimate Palestinian Government.
9. While the Hamas Government in the Gaza Strip faced international diplomatic and economic isolation, efforts by the international community, in particular the Quartet, to support and strengthen the West Bank cabinet led, on 27 November, to the organization of the Annapolis Conference. At the Conference, President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to resume negotiations by the end of 2007. In addition, the two sides agreed to work continuously to reach a two-State solution by the end of 2008, a commitment that was repeated on the occasion of United States President George Bush's visit to Jerusalem on 9 January 2008. The visit was preceded by an agreement between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian President to create negotiation teams to address the five core issues of the conflict: settlements, Jerusalem, refugees, security and borders.
10. In the section below, the High Commissioner examines violations committed by three actors: the State of Israel as the occupying Power; the Palestinian Authority; and the de facto authorities of the Gaza Strip under the effective control of Hamas.
Note:
(1) "Occupied Palestinian Territories Torn Apart by Factional Strife". Amnesty International, October 2007. AI Index: MDE 21/020/2007.