March 25th, 2009

sad-logo Stop Administrative Detention Campaign

Administrative Detention is a procedure under which detainees are held without charge or trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army carries out administrative detention on the basis of Military Order 1226. This order empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six months if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely.

Letter from prison: Abdallah Abu Rahmah
February 22nd, 2010

21 February 2010

Dear Friends and Supporters,
It has been two months now since I was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken from my home. Today news has reached Ofer Military Prison that the apartheid wall on Bil’in’s land will finally be moved and construction has begun on the new route. This will return half of the land that was stolen from our village. For those of us inOfer, imprisoned for our protest against the wall, this victory makes the suffering of being here easier to bear. After actively resisting the theft of our land by the Israeli apartheid wall and settlements every week for five years now, we long to be standing along side our brothers and sisters to mark this victory and the fifth anniversary of our struggle. Read the rest of this entry »

Addameer joins NGOs in written statements submitted to the UN Human Rights Council
February 17th, 2010

NGOs are concerned that domestic investigations into violations committed during last winter’s conflict in Gaza have not met international standards and call for the Human Rights Council to hasten the process of accountability. Read the rest of this entry »

Addameer submits report on Israeli suppression of Palestinian human rights activism against the Wall for UN investigation
February 11th, 2010

Ramallah, 9 February 2010

Special Rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council should intervene with relevant Israeli authorities in all cases of Palestinian human rights defenders arrested in relation to their advocacy work on the Wall and its associated, unlawful regime; demand the immediate cessation of the use of impermissible force by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian protestors and pressure Israel to put an end to its policy of arbitrary detention.

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Joint NGO Submission on Israeli Suppression of Palestinian Human Rights Activism against the Wall
February 11th, 2010

4 February 2010
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NGOs write to Swiss depositary of Fourth Geneva Convention urging reconvening of High Contracting Parties to address Gaza violations
February 11th, 2010

Toward the Conference of High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949) on measures to enforce the Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory

Ramallah, 5 February 2010
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H.E. Ambassador Roland Steininger
Switzerland Embassy, Palestine
al-Wataniah Bldg., 5th floor
Jerusalem Street
Ramallah, Palestine

Dear Ambassador Steininger:

It is an honor for us representatives of civil society organizations in Palestine and other countries to address Your Excellency as representative of the depositary state of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949 (Fourth Geneva Convention). We address you also with a sense of grave concern over the long-standing violations of the above-mentioned convention in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories by submitting the accompanying concept paper with recommendations for an eventual convening of the High Contracting Parties that meets current exigencies. Read the rest of this entry »

HANA YAHYA SHALABI
February 8th, 2010

hana-yahya-shalabiDate of birth: 2 July 1982
Place of detention: Hasharon prison
Date of arrest: 14 September 2009
Place of residence: Burqin, Jenin

Postal address: Hasharon Prison, Even Yehuda, P.O. Box 7, 40330 Israel

Expected end of administrative detention order: 13 March 2010

ARREST AND INTERROGATION

Hana Yahya Shalabi was arrested from her family home on 14 September 2009. At approximately 1:30 a.m. that morning, Israeli soldiers in 12 military jeeps surrounded her house in Burqin village, near the West Bank town of Jenin. The soldiers ordered Hana’s entire family outside of the house and demanded Hana give them her identity card. They then proceeded to conduct a thorough search of the family’s home. Read the rest of this entry »

Open Letter: Palestinian, Israeli and International Human Rights NGOs Deplore Politically-Motivated Claims Aimed at Discrediting Human Rights Defenders
February 3rd, 2010

1 February 2010

The Board of Directors of Rights & Democracy, a not-for-profit organization created by Canada’s parliament in 1988 to encourage and support human rights around the world, recently voted, with substantial objection, to repudiate grants given to Al Haq and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, two well-known Palestinian human rights organizations located respectively in the West Bank and in Gaza. Read the rest of this entry »

Joint NGO letters to President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh: Calling for immediate commencement of internal investigations in compliance with UN GA Resolution A/RES/64/10
January 17th, 2010

His Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas

RE. Calling for immediate commencement of internal investigations in compliance with UN GA Resolution A/RES/64/10

Your Excellency,
On 25 September 2009, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict released its comprehensive, contextual, professional and impartial report. The Report detailed violations of human rights and of the laws and norms of war, which amounted to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, committed during last winter’s 23-day aerial and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Whereas the bulk of the Report addressed violations by Israel, the Occupying Power, it also considered violations by Palestinian armed groups and the Palestinian authorities in Gaza and the West Bank. Read the rest of this entry »