Addameer * Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Man * Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights*
Al Dameer Association for Human Rights * BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
DCI – Palestine Section * ENSAN Center * Jerusalem Legal Aid Center * Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling

Ramallah, 30 December 2009

Israel has for too long been allowed to violate the rights of human rights defenders and activists. As an occupying power and State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Israel is obliged to respect the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as guaranteed under the ICCPR. Palestinian human rights defenders must be guaranteed their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and their right to liberty and security of person. Read the rest of this entry »

Ramallah
22 December 2009

On Monday 21 December 2009, a court hearing at the Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Center (Russian Compound) in West Jerusalem extended Jamal Juma’’s interrogation period for four days. A leading Palestinian human rights defender, Jamal Juma’ aged 47, who is the coordinator of the Grassroots “Stop the Wall Campaign” and a founding member of several Palestinian civil society networks and non-governmental organizations such as the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, has never been charged with any offences before.

At the court hearing, Jamal’s legal counsel, attorney Fathi Shbeitah argued that the military court did not have any jurisdiction over Jamal Juma’, who as a resident of occupied East Jerusalem should appear before an Israeli civil court. In response, the interrogation police answered that they have received authority from both the Jerusalem public prosecutor’s office and the military prosecution to interrogate Jamal under the military orders. Although the military judge was not satisfied with the interrogation police’s justification, he still stated that the information provided was enough to apply military orders. Given that Jamal is prevented from access to his attorney owing to a ban on lawyers’ visits which was implemented by a court’s decision on 17 December, a day after Jamal’s arrest, Addameer and Stop the Wall are particularly alarmed by the military judge’s decision to interrogate him under the military court system. Practice shows that such decisions are always deliberately intended to extend the interrogation period to the maximum, allow the outmost flexibility for Israeli Security Agency (ISA) officers in their conduct of the interrogation and reduce legal safeguards to the absolute minimum. Read the rest of this entry »

MEDIA RELEASE
Ramallah, 21 December 2009
Palestinian political prisoners must be released, categories of “security detainees” must be cancelled and political offenses must be defined if peace between Israel and the Palestinians is to be achieved.

Reaching the ‘No-Peace’ Agreement: The Role of Palestinian Prisoner Releases in Permanent Status Negotiations (Download PDF ~0.5 MB), a briefing paper from Addameer, examines Israel’s failure to comply with the bilateral agreements regarding the release of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli detention for their involvement in activities related to the ongoing belligerent Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. It concludes that prisoner releases can be instrumental in achieving a lasting peace, but only if prisoners themselves are recognized as political partners in the process. Read the rest of this entry »

بيان صادر عن مؤسسات حقوق الانسان الفلسطينية بمناسبة الاعلان العالمي لحقوق الانسان
9/12/2009

مؤسسة الحق  *الضمير لرعاية الأسير وحقوق الإنسان * مؤسسة الضمير لحقوق الإنسان * المؤسسة العربية لحقوق الإنسان
المركز الفلسطيني لمصادر حقوق المواطنة واللاجئين (بديل) * الحركة العالمية للدفاع عن الأطفال – فرع فلسطي
مركز إنسان للديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان * مركز القدس للمساعدة القانونية وحقوق الإنسان * لجنة مناصرة فلسطين – جنوب أفريقيا
المركز الفلسطيني لحقوق الإنسان  *مركز رام الله لدراسات حقوق الإنسان * مركز المرأة للإرشاد القانوني والاجتماعي

يحتفل العالم في يوم 10 كانون الأول/ديسمبر من هذا العام بالذكرى الواحدة والستين لليوم العالمي لحقوق الإنسان في إطار الاحتفالات بتبنّي الإعلان العالمي من قبل الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة. ويركّز الاحتفال باليوم العالمي لحقوق الإنسان في هذه السنة على منع التمييز وتحريمه، وهو أحد الحقوق التي تكفلها المادة (1) من الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان، بالإضافة إلى جملة من مواده الأخرى:

يولد جميع الناس أحراراً ومتساوين في الكرامة والحقوق. وهم قد وُهِبوا العقل والوجدان، وعليهم أن يعاملوا بعضهم بعضاً بروح الإخاء.

ولكن بعد مرور 61 عاماً على تبنّي الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان، لا تزال إسرائيل تنفذ سياسات وممارسات لا يخفى توجّهها التمييزي ضد المواطنين الفلسطينيين، كما تواصل انتهاك حقوق الإنسان الأساسية وتزيد من وتيرتها. Read the rest of this entry »

Press Release by Palestinian human rights organisations on the occasion of the International  Human Rights Day 2009
9 December 2009

Al-Haq * DCI - Palestine Section * Al-Dameer * Arab Association for Human Rights
Badil * Addameer * ENSAN Center * Jerusalem Legal Aid Center
Palestine Solidarity Committee – South Africa * Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies * Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling

On 10 December, the world observes the 61st International Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly. This year, International Human Rights Day will focus on non-discrimination, a right enshrined in, inter alia, Article 1 of the UDHR:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience
and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood

However, 61 years after the adoption of the UDHR, Israel continues to pursue clearly discriminatory policies and practices and the violation of Palestinians’ human rights have persisted, and escalated. Read the rest of this entry »

[Ramallah, 24 November 2009] On 23 November 2009, after 61 days of detention for the purpose of interrogation by Israeli Security Agency officers, human rights defender Mohammad Othman received his first administrative detention order. The administrative detention order is set for a three month period, during which time Mohammad will be held without charge or trial. The judicial review of the order is scheduled to take place on 25 November at the Military Court of Administrative Detainees in Ofer Military Base, near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The administrative detention order against Mohammad comes just one day after a hearing on 22 November 2009 at the Military Court of Appeals ended Mohammad’s interrogation period. In the Appeals Court hearing, the judge decided to release Mohammad because no measurable progress had been made during the two months he had been held in interrogation, no external evidence had been brought to the attention of the court and the military prosecution had been unable to formulate substantiated allegations or charges against him. The Appeals Court judge thus accepted Addameer’s appeal against the seventh extension of Mohammad’s detention, which had taken place five days earlier. At the same time, the judge ordered Mohammad’s release on 10,000 NIS bail (about $2,500 USD) and with the conditions that he not travel outside the occupied Palestinian territory, and that he regularly reports to the Israeli police. However, the military judge also gave the military prosecutor 24 hours to issue an administrative detention order against Mohammad, and remanded Mohammad to detention during this period. At 6:30 p.m. on 23 November 2009, Addameer confirmed with the Israeli Security Agency that an administrative detention order had been issued against Mohammad, and that he would not be released. Read the rest of this entry »

[Ramalah, 9 de Noviembre de 2009] El domingo 8 de noviembre de 2009, la audiencia en el tribunal militar de Ofer prolongó el periodo de detención de Mohammad Othman por otros diez días. Han pasado 46 desde que  Mohammad Othman, conocido defensor de los derechos humanos y activista con la organización palestina “Grassroots Stop the Wall Campaign”, fuera detenido en el paso fronterizo de Allenby entre Jordania y Cisjordania, y retenido para ser sometido a interrogatorio. El día de su detención, el pasado 22 de septiembre de 2009, Mohammad regresaba a su residencia en Ramallah tras un viaje de incidencia a Noruega  donde participo en varios eventos y reuniones.  Read the rest of this entry »

Addameer Contends that New Juvenile Court Fails to Bring Israeli Military Court System into Compliance with International Legal Standards
Ramallah, 3 November 2009

On Sunday, 1 November 2009, Israeli military court officials marked the inauguration of first-instance military courts for Palestinian children in a ceremony at Ofer Prison in the West Bank. Established on 29 July 2009 with the issuance of Military Order 1644, which was signed by Major General Gadi Shamni, the head of the Israeli army’s Central Command, the courts will be “presided over by a single juvenile-court judge or by a panel led by a juvenile-court judge”. Read the rest of this entry »

Adalah – Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel * Addameer  * Al Dameer Association for Human Rights * Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Man * Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights * Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights * Defence for Children International-Palestine Section * Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy * Jerusalem Legal Aid Center * Palestinian Centre for Human Rights * Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies * Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
22 OCTOBER 2009

On 4 November 2009, the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (Goldstone Report) is scheduled to be tabled before the Plenary of the UN General Assembly in New York.  Following the Report’s endorsement at the Human Rights Council on 21 October 2009, it now falls to the General Assembly to ensure that the Report is endorsed and its recommendations acted upon. The General Assembly must promote and support the primacy of international law in the necessity of ensuring justice and accountability for the war crimes and possible crimes against humanity that characterized Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008-Janurary 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

Adalah  * Addameer * Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights – Gaza * Al-Haq * Arab Association for Human Rights * Al-Mezan * Badil * Defence for Children International – Palestine * ENSAN center * Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies * Women Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling * Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre

On 1 October 2009, the UN Human Rights Council decided to defer consideration of the report issued by the UN Fact Finding Mission investigating last winter’s Israeli aggression into Gaza until March 2010. This decision represented a failure of the international framework for the protection of human rights, and a blow to the victims of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The Palestinian Authority failed to stand up for its own people, and the Human Rights Council failed to fulfill its own responsibilities and mandate. Read the rest of this entry »