5 dec 2018
Israel's Magistrate Court of Jerusalem on Wednesday ordered the eviction of a Palestinian family from their property in Silwan town, south of Occupied Jerusalem.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported in a statement that the court decision gives the family (the heirs of the late Mariam Abu Zuweir) a time limit until March 2019 to evacuate the house.
The targeted property is a house where a Palestinian woman, Ilham Syam, and four of her children live, in addition to a 500-square-meter land.
Wadi Hilweh Center said that the Magistrate Court issued the eviction order before a session appointed by the Supreme Court on 8 January to decide the ownership of the land. Documents were submitted to the court stating that the land on which the house is built belongs to the late Jamil Syam and not to the late Abu Zuweir.
Abu Zuweir's heirs have been engaged in a conflict at Israeli courts for 22 years to prove their ownership of the property and to refute the claims of the Elad Settlement Association.
Nehad Syam, one of the heirs, explained that over the past years, Elad has worked hard to seize the property in a number of ways.
Syam said that after several court sessions, it was found out that Elad had bought 4 shares from the heirs in addition to two shares under "absentee property," leaving only two shares for the late Munira Abu Zuwier and her sister Fatima. A decision to evict the family in favor of the settlers was issued on Wednesday, he added.
He pointed out that the family will object to the eviction order at Israel's Jerusalem District Court.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 180 Palestinian families are facing the risk of forced eviction from their homes in Jerusalem due to cases brought against them by settlers or settler associations.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported in a statement that the court decision gives the family (the heirs of the late Mariam Abu Zuweir) a time limit until March 2019 to evacuate the house.
The targeted property is a house where a Palestinian woman, Ilham Syam, and four of her children live, in addition to a 500-square-meter land.
Wadi Hilweh Center said that the Magistrate Court issued the eviction order before a session appointed by the Supreme Court on 8 January to decide the ownership of the land. Documents were submitted to the court stating that the land on which the house is built belongs to the late Jamil Syam and not to the late Abu Zuweir.
Abu Zuweir's heirs have been engaged in a conflict at Israeli courts for 22 years to prove their ownership of the property and to refute the claims of the Elad Settlement Association.
Nehad Syam, one of the heirs, explained that over the past years, Elad has worked hard to seize the property in a number of ways.
Syam said that after several court sessions, it was found out that Elad had bought 4 shares from the heirs in addition to two shares under "absentee property," leaving only two shares for the late Munira Abu Zuwier and her sister Fatima. A decision to evict the family in favor of the settlers was issued on Wednesday, he added.
He pointed out that the family will object to the eviction order at Israel's Jerusalem District Court.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 180 Palestinian families are facing the risk of forced eviction from their homes in Jerusalem due to cases brought against them by settlers or settler associations.
4 dec 2018
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A Palestinian doctor whose three daughters and niece were killed in an Israeli airstrike, and who was giving a live report on Israeli television when he received the news of his family being killed, has been told by an Israeli court in Beersheva that he will receive no compensation.
The court ruled that the bombing of the family was justified. At the time, and for a number of years afterward, Dr. Ezzeddin Abu al-Aish was working in an Israeli hospital treating Israeli patients. He had long argued for coexistence and peace, and even after the killing of his family by an Israeli missile, he went on speaking tours with Israeli peace activists and argued for forgiveness. The Israeli military claimed, and the court accepted the claim, that there were ‘weapons stored in Abu al-Aish’s home’ – a claim which he said was absurd, and for which they offered no evidence. Despite the lack of evidence, the Israeli court in Beersheva ruled that the Israeli military was not responsible for the killing of the family with their missile. On November 25th, just a week before the court ruling, Dr. al-Aish had travelled to Israel from Canada, where he now lives, for a peace conference. He told the conference attendees that he was still optimistic for peace. He pointed out that kids who are fifteen years old now in Gaza have gone through three wars, and have no hope. During the court hearing, a spokesperson for the Israeli Army admitted that on February 4, 2009, a Golani infantry force that was under fire said they believed they saw ‘Hamas watchdogs’ near the Abu al-Aish family home. Because of that, they called in an airstrike, which flattened the house and all inhabitants within it. According to the report, the Israeli military was “saddened by the damage caused” to the family, but claimed that “the activities of the forces and the decision to bomb the building were reasonable.” In 2009, Dr. Abu al-Aish was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. After working in Israel for many years, always advocating for peace, he is now an assistant professor at the Dala Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Canada. When his daughters and niece were killed, Dr. Abu al-Aish happened to be |
giving a live report in Hebrew on Israeli Channel 10, as he had done every day throughout the 2009 Israeli invasion without compensation, because he wanted the Israeli audience to hear what it was like on the ground in Gaza when the Israeli military attacked.
The Israeli audience heard him live via phone as he got the news of the bombing, and he managed to sob through the phone, “I want to know why my daughters were harmed. This should haunt (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert his entire life.” He added that his daughters were “armed only with love.”
Al-Aish’s daughters who were killed were: 22-year-old Bisan, 15-year-old Mayer and 14-year old Aya. His niece who was killed was 14-year-old Nour Abu al-Aish.
In a recent interview with the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star, Dr. Abu al-Aish’s lawyer said, “The Israeli legal system is not efficient when it deals with Palestinians. There are endless hindrances they put in front of them.”
In order to launch his lawsuit, Dr. Abu al-Aish was required to post a bond of 20,000 Israeli shekels ($7,000) for each of his daughters and his niece.
Meanwhile, according to The Daily Star, Abu al-Aish has set up a foundation in memory of his daughters and niece, called Daughters for Life. He had intended to use any financial compensation from Israel to further the foundation’s goals, which include building schools for young women in the Middle East, as well as a school for First Nations women in Canada.
“I will never give up,” he told the Star. “I will never forget my daughters. I am living for them.”
The Israeli audience heard him live via phone as he got the news of the bombing, and he managed to sob through the phone, “I want to know why my daughters were harmed. This should haunt (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert his entire life.” He added that his daughters were “armed only with love.”
Al-Aish’s daughters who were killed were: 22-year-old Bisan, 15-year-old Mayer and 14-year old Aya. His niece who was killed was 14-year-old Nour Abu al-Aish.
In a recent interview with the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star, Dr. Abu al-Aish’s lawyer said, “The Israeli legal system is not efficient when it deals with Palestinians. There are endless hindrances they put in front of them.”
In order to launch his lawsuit, Dr. Abu al-Aish was required to post a bond of 20,000 Israeli shekels ($7,000) for each of his daughters and his niece.
Meanwhile, according to The Daily Star, Abu al-Aish has set up a foundation in memory of his daughters and niece, called Daughters for Life. He had intended to use any financial compensation from Israel to further the foundation’s goals, which include building schools for young women in the Middle East, as well as a school for First Nations women in Canada.
“I will never give up,” he told the Star. “I will never forget my daughters. I am living for them.”
28 nov 2018
In a ruling that directly violates international law and conventions against the use of torture, the Israeli High Court ruled Monday that Israeli intelligence officers were justified in their use of torture against a Palestinian prisoner. The ruling sets a precedent for the future use of torture and the expansion of such techniques used against Palestinians held in Israeli custody.
The case, which involved Palestinian prisoner Fares Tbeish, was brought to the Israeli High Court after lower courts ruled that the torture was justified.
In 2012, the case alleges, Israeli officials from the Shin Bet intelligence agency forced Tbeish into stress positions, inculding arching and tying the body in the “banana” position. They also subjected him to severe physical and mental violence, including beatings.
The ruling was made by a three-justice panel of Yitzhak Amit, David Mintz and Yosef Elron. The three judges ruled that no policy changes needed to be made, and that the current policy and practice regarding torture is sufficient.
According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, “In interrogating Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories, the Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known by the Hebrew acronyms Shin Bet or Shabak) routinely used methods that constituted ill-treatment and even torture until the late 1990s”.
The group states, “In September 1999, following a series of petitions filed by human rights organizations and by Palestinians interrogated by the ISA, Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruled that Israeli law does not empower ISA interrogators to use physical means in interrogation. The justices ruled that the specific methods discussed in the petitions – including painful binding, shaking, placing a sack on a person’s head for prolonged periods of time and sleep deprivation – were unlawful.
“However, they also held that ISA agents who exceed their authority and use ‘physical pressure’ may not necessarily bear criminal responsibility for their actions, if they are later found to have used these methods in a “ticking bomb” case, based on the ‘necessity defense’. Following this ruling, reports of torture and ill-treatment in ISA interrogations did drop.
However, ISA agents continued to use interrogation methods that constitute abuse and even torture, relying on the court’s recognition of the “ticking bomb” exception. These methods were not limited to exceptional cases and quickly became standard interrogation policy.”
In December 2017, according to the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, a court ruling made it easier for the intelligence agencies to justify torture – but such techniques still violate international law.
According to Al Jazeera, “more than 1,000 complaints from Palestinians have been submitted to a government watchdog body over the past 18 years, but this is the first time one has led to a criminal investigation.
“Many Palestinians are jailed based on confessions either they or other Palestinians make during Shin Bet questioning. Israeli military courts almost never examine how such confessions were obtained or whether they are reliable, say lawyers, contributing to a 99.7 percent conviction rate.
“Last month, in freeing a Palestinian man who was jailed based on a false confession, an Israeli court accused the Shin Bet of using techniques that were “liable to induce innocent people to admit to acts that they did not commit’”.
According to the Electronic Intifada, “The impunity extends to circumstances where there is strong evidence that torture led to the death of a detainee, such as Arafat Jaradat, a 33-year-old father of two who died after an Israeli interrogation in Megiddo prison in 2013.”
Israeli legal scholar Itamar Mann told the Middle East Monitor that this ruling is “probably the most permissive as of yet in terms of accepting physical abuse as a legitimate method of interrogation in national security cases”.
According to Mann, the court’s judgement means that “anyone who is
(1) part of a designated terrorist organization (such as Hamas); and
(2) is involved in armed activity, may be subject to ‘special methods’ [i.e. torture] if
(3) no other way to obtain crucial information is available”.
The case, which involved Palestinian prisoner Fares Tbeish, was brought to the Israeli High Court after lower courts ruled that the torture was justified.
In 2012, the case alleges, Israeli officials from the Shin Bet intelligence agency forced Tbeish into stress positions, inculding arching and tying the body in the “banana” position. They also subjected him to severe physical and mental violence, including beatings.
The ruling was made by a three-justice panel of Yitzhak Amit, David Mintz and Yosef Elron. The three judges ruled that no policy changes needed to be made, and that the current policy and practice regarding torture is sufficient.
According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, “In interrogating Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories, the Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known by the Hebrew acronyms Shin Bet or Shabak) routinely used methods that constituted ill-treatment and even torture until the late 1990s”.
The group states, “In September 1999, following a series of petitions filed by human rights organizations and by Palestinians interrogated by the ISA, Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruled that Israeli law does not empower ISA interrogators to use physical means in interrogation. The justices ruled that the specific methods discussed in the petitions – including painful binding, shaking, placing a sack on a person’s head for prolonged periods of time and sleep deprivation – were unlawful.
“However, they also held that ISA agents who exceed their authority and use ‘physical pressure’ may not necessarily bear criminal responsibility for their actions, if they are later found to have used these methods in a “ticking bomb” case, based on the ‘necessity defense’. Following this ruling, reports of torture and ill-treatment in ISA interrogations did drop.
However, ISA agents continued to use interrogation methods that constitute abuse and even torture, relying on the court’s recognition of the “ticking bomb” exception. These methods were not limited to exceptional cases and quickly became standard interrogation policy.”
In December 2017, according to the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, a court ruling made it easier for the intelligence agencies to justify torture – but such techniques still violate international law.
According to Al Jazeera, “more than 1,000 complaints from Palestinians have been submitted to a government watchdog body over the past 18 years, but this is the first time one has led to a criminal investigation.
“Many Palestinians are jailed based on confessions either they or other Palestinians make during Shin Bet questioning. Israeli military courts almost never examine how such confessions were obtained or whether they are reliable, say lawyers, contributing to a 99.7 percent conviction rate.
“Last month, in freeing a Palestinian man who was jailed based on a false confession, an Israeli court accused the Shin Bet of using techniques that were “liable to induce innocent people to admit to acts that they did not commit’”.
According to the Electronic Intifada, “The impunity extends to circumstances where there is strong evidence that torture led to the death of a detainee, such as Arafat Jaradat, a 33-year-old father of two who died after an Israeli interrogation in Megiddo prison in 2013.”
Israeli legal scholar Itamar Mann told the Middle East Monitor that this ruling is “probably the most permissive as of yet in terms of accepting physical abuse as a legitimate method of interrogation in national security cases”.
According to Mann, the court’s judgement means that “anyone who is
(1) part of a designated terrorist organization (such as Hamas); and
(2) is involved in armed activity, may be subject to ‘special methods’ [i.e. torture] if
(3) no other way to obtain crucial information is available”.
Israel's Supreme Court has issued a decision providing for transferring the ownership of over 500 dunums of Palestinian-owned land near Gush Etzion settlement, south of Bethlehem, to the Jewish National Fund, Israel Hayom newspaper said on Tuesday.
The paper reported that the Supreme Court earlier this week rejected an appeal filed by the Palestinians against a court decision stipulating that the Jewish National Fund is the owner of these lands.
The court decision gives Israeli settlers the authority to build hundreds of settlement units on the seized lands which cover an area of 522 dunums (a dunum equals 1,000 square meters).
The Jewish National Fund is a Zionist organization founded in 1901 to raise funds from the Jews to seize Palestinian lands and establish Jewish settlements there. The Jewish National Fund's work continued during the British Mandate and even following the 1948 and 1967 wars.
There are 127 settlements and 116 random outposts in the West Bank inhabited by about 450,000 Israelis, while Jerusalem alone has 15 settlements where 220,000 Israelis live.
The paper reported that the Supreme Court earlier this week rejected an appeal filed by the Palestinians against a court decision stipulating that the Jewish National Fund is the owner of these lands.
The court decision gives Israeli settlers the authority to build hundreds of settlement units on the seized lands which cover an area of 522 dunums (a dunum equals 1,000 square meters).
The Jewish National Fund is a Zionist organization founded in 1901 to raise funds from the Jews to seize Palestinian lands and establish Jewish settlements there. The Jewish National Fund's work continued during the British Mandate and even following the 1948 and 1967 wars.
There are 127 settlements and 116 random outposts in the West Bank inhabited by about 450,000 Israelis, while Jerusalem alone has 15 settlements where 220,000 Israelis live.
27 nov 2018
The Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Monday approved a bill cancelling shortened sentence for Palestinian prisoners for its first reading in the Knesset plenum.
According to the bill submitted by MKs Miki Zohar (Likud), Anat Berko (Likud) and Oded Forer (Yisrael Beitenu), those sentenced to prison for anti-occupation attacks or attempted attacks, which, according to the bill, constitute acts of terror, will not be eligible for parole.
“The law is meant to prevent or reduce terror,” claimed MK Zohar, the chairman of the knesset committee that advanced the bill. “A criminal act carried out for criminal purposes is usually carried out individually by one person against another, while criminal acts by terrorists are carried out against all the citizens of Israel and the State of Israel. Therefore, we are trying to create a balance of deterrence, because terrorists know there is a good chance their sentence will be reduced by a third."
"We believe it is the will of the people not to forgive or pardon terrorists who harm the security of the state,” he added. “I want to sever their hopes of having a third of their sentence deducted.”
According to the bill submitted by MKs Miki Zohar (Likud), Anat Berko (Likud) and Oded Forer (Yisrael Beitenu), those sentenced to prison for anti-occupation attacks or attempted attacks, which, according to the bill, constitute acts of terror, will not be eligible for parole.
“The law is meant to prevent or reduce terror,” claimed MK Zohar, the chairman of the knesset committee that advanced the bill. “A criminal act carried out for criminal purposes is usually carried out individually by one person against another, while criminal acts by terrorists are carried out against all the citizens of Israel and the State of Israel. Therefore, we are trying to create a balance of deterrence, because terrorists know there is a good chance their sentence will be reduced by a third."
"We believe it is the will of the people not to forgive or pardon terrorists who harm the security of the state,” he added. “I want to sever their hopes of having a third of their sentence deducted.”
22 nov 2018
Israel’s Supreme Court refused on Thursday a petition filed by scores of Palestinian families against an Israeli decision to evict them from their homes in Silwan town, in occupied Jerusalem.
The court claimed that the families’ houses were built on a land owned by Jewish settlers before 1948, when the State of Israel was first established.
The families lodged the petition with the Supreme Court after Ateret Cohanim settlement organization has submitted an appeal to the court demanding the eviction of more than 70 Jerusalemite families.
The court claimed that the families’ houses were built on a land owned by Jewish settlers before 1948, when the State of Israel was first established.
The families lodged the petition with the Supreme Court after Ateret Cohanim settlement organization has submitted an appeal to the court demanding the eviction of more than 70 Jerusalemite families.
20 nov 2018
The Israeli Knesset has approved on Monday evening the second and third readings of legislation that will allow the further expansion of a Jewish-only settlement in occupied Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, located south of al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to Haaretz newspaper, the law allows new settlement units to be erected inside an area recently designated as a "national park".
Both readings were approved late Monday by a vote of 63 to 41, the paper said.
The initiative is being spearheaded by pro-settler group Elad, which is known for promoting the confiscation of Palestinian property in occupied Jerusalem to make way for the construction of Jewish settlements.
International law continues to view occupied Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction as illegal.
According to Haaretz newspaper, the law allows new settlement units to be erected inside an area recently designated as a "national park".
Both readings were approved late Monday by a vote of 63 to 41, the paper said.
The initiative is being spearheaded by pro-settler group Elad, which is known for promoting the confiscation of Palestinian property in occupied Jerusalem to make way for the construction of Jewish settlements.
International law continues to view occupied Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction as illegal.
18 nov 2018
The Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday denied a Jerusalemite family’s appeal against their eviction and refused to hear a case on the ownership of the building, Haaretz Hebrew newspaper reported.
The ruling will force 40 family members, including 30 children, to leave their homes in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood within months.
The ruling will also make it very difficult for dozens of other Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah to avoid eviction.
According to the paper, the family has been in Sheikh Jarrah since 1956, though they were originally refugees from Jaffa. Their two former houses in Jaffa still exist, and they keep pictures of them in their living room.
According to the Absentees’ Property Law, a building that belonged to people before 1948 is considered abandoned and therefore state property, though this usually is not applied to property owned by Jews.
The Sabags have been fighting an eviction order since 2008. Their lawyers filed suit in district court saying that the land was not properly registered in the Land Registry and asked the court to rule on the ownership. The lawyers say they checked the Ottoman registry documents, including those in the imperial archives in Istanbul, and found problems with the documentation.
The district court declined to hear the case, saying the statute of limitations had expired because the land was registered long ago. The Sabags appealed to the Supreme Court, but last week, after a short hearing, the three justices hearing the appeal denied the request and upheld the lower court’s ruling.
The ruling will force 40 family members, including 30 children, to leave their homes in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood within months.
The ruling will also make it very difficult for dozens of other Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah to avoid eviction.
According to the paper, the family has been in Sheikh Jarrah since 1956, though they were originally refugees from Jaffa. Their two former houses in Jaffa still exist, and they keep pictures of them in their living room.
According to the Absentees’ Property Law, a building that belonged to people before 1948 is considered abandoned and therefore state property, though this usually is not applied to property owned by Jews.
The Sabags have been fighting an eviction order since 2008. Their lawyers filed suit in district court saying that the land was not properly registered in the Land Registry and asked the court to rule on the ownership. The lawyers say they checked the Ottoman registry documents, including those in the imperial archives in Istanbul, and found problems with the documentation.
The district court declined to hear the case, saying the statute of limitations had expired because the land was registered long ago. The Sabags appealed to the Supreme Court, but last week, after a short hearing, the three justices hearing the appeal denied the request and upheld the lower court’s ruling.
