Background
On 9 July 2004 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where it declared the Wall to be illegal and held that Israel must cease construction of the Wall, dismantle the sections that were built in the West Bank, revoke the orders issued relating to its construction and compensate the Palestinians who suffered losses as a result of the Wall.[1]
Despite the ICJ ruling, construction of the Wall has continued relentlessly. To date, more than 400 kilometers of the Wall have been erected. When complete, the Wall will stretch for approximately 770 kilometers, annexing 9.5 percent of the West Bank onto the western – or “Israeli” – side of the barrier, and trapping approximately 237,000 Palestinians between the Wall and the 1967 border (also known as the “Green Line”).
Human rights activists against the Wall have adopted three main strategies in their opposition efforts: challenging the Wall’s path before the courts, including petitions to the High Court of Israel; popular resistance, wherein local residents in Palestinian villages across the West Bank have formed committees and engage in weekly, and sometimes even daily, demonstrations; and, international advocacy efforts. Israeli authorities have responded to each of these strategies with a broadly, and often arbitrarily, implemented policy of arrest and detention. Leading Palestinian human rights activists, prominent figures, such as mayors and teachers, and members of the Popular Committees, who are instrumental in coordinating weekly protests and advocacy efforts including legal cases, are often personally targeted and arrested in an attempt to sideline them from organizing the protests, or to discredit them and their efforts. Local cameramen and photographers, as well as members of the press, are also targeted.
Since 2002, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have arrested hundreds of Palestinian activists in relation to Wall-related protests and activities in 16 West Bank villages. Research conducted by Addameer and Stop the Wall throughout the region indicates that many more activists are likely to have been arrested in other villages along the Wall’s path through the OPT. Popular resistance by Palestinians to the Wall is also met with other measures, which are aimed at sowing divisions within communities and breaking villages’ support for sustained human rights-based opposition activities. These measures include collective punishment, in the form of curfews, sieges, and destruction of property, threats, beatings, the use of lethal and “non-lethal” ammunition, including 40mm high velocity tear gas canisters, denial of permits, tear-gassing and intentional injury and killings. Since January 2009, two protestors have been killed in relation to demonstrations, countless dozens of protestors and bystanders have been injured, often severely, and at least 147 have been arrested
Arrests of Human Rights Activists
There was a lull in the arrest of human rights activists involved in the campaign against the Wall between 2007 and May 2009. However, on 1 May during a Labor Day demonstration in the village of Al-Ma’sara, located in the Bethlehem district, the Israeli army renewed its attacks on human rights defenders by arresting seven people at a weekly demonstration. Those arrested included five Palestinians (Azmi Ash-Shyukhi, Mustafa Fawaghreh, Mohammad Zawahre, 37, Mohammad Birjiyah, 31, and his brother, Hassan Birjiyah), three of whom were members of the Al Ma’sara Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, one British activist, Tom Stocker, and one Israeli solidarity activist, Hagai Mattar. Both Stocker and Mattar, who were arrested after trying to prevent the IOF from arresting the five Palestinians, were released after a couple hours, the payment of 1,500 NIS (about $400 USD) bail each, and with the condition that they not enter the West Bank for two weeks. All five Palestinian activists were charged before the military courts with multiple offenses including entering a closed military area, taking part in demonstrations and encouraging others to do so, and attacking Israeli soldiers.
Arrests escalated at the end of June 2009 when the Israeli army arrested many youths in the village of Bil’in and coerced them to “confess” against members of the Popular Committee, whom they subsequently arrested. The start of the renewed arrest campaign in June 2009 occurred at the same time as a high profile court case, Bil’in v Green Park, was getting underway in Canada. The case was heard before the Supreme Court of Quebec between 22-25 June 2009, after residents of Bil’in commenced legal proceedings against Green Park International and Green Mount International, two Canadian companies involved in the construction, marketing and selling of residential units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Modi’in Illit. Arrests of human rights activists then increased as the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict published its long-awaited report in September 2009, where it noted that the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders is relevant in relation to Palestinian demonstrators who protest at weekly demonstrations against the Wall. In addition, the Mission’s report, commonly known as the “Goldstone Report”, recognized that article 5 of the Declaration, “which affirms the right of everyone “to meet or assemble peacefully” for the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms” is particularly relevant. September 2009 also marked the BDS movement’s two major victories when two international campaigns led by Stop the Wall finally achieved their goals. On 3 September, the Norwegian Pension Fund has announced its decision to divest $6 million from the Israeli firm Elbit Systems, one of the largest Israeli security and defense firms, specializing in military electronics, surveillance systems, UAVs and homeland security systems. On 13 September 2009, the Brazilian Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Relations and National Defense gave a clear recommendation to the Brazilian parliament that the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Mercosur and the State of Israel should be made conditional on Israel’s acceptance of the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. Ten days later, the first member of the Stop the Wall head office, Mohammad Othman, was arrested. In a most recent attempt to suppress the “Stop the Wall” movement, at the end of December 2009, the Area Commander of the IOF warned members of the Al Ma’sara Popular Committee Against the Wall that demonstrations against the Wall would be harshly repressed if they continued in 2010, and that those involved in organizing or attending demonstrations would be arrested and “blacklisted”.
Arrests of Children and Youths
Children and youths as young as twelve are often the first ones to be arrested in mass arrest campaigns, either during demonstrations, immediately after them or during night raids. Evidence suggests that the purpose of their arrest and detention is threefold. First, targeting the youngest and most vulnerable members of a community is intended to exert pressure on their family and the entire community to put an end to all advocacy efforts and social mobilization. Second, Israeli Security Agency officers often arrest children for recruitment purposes. Testimonies collected by Addameer reveal that children from Wall-affected communities are routinely asked to become informants for Israeli security authorities and provide information on both prominent Palestinian figures involved in advocacy efforts and other children participating in demonstrations. Lastly, arrest is also used as a strategy to deter children from participating in demonstrations and from throwing stones at the Wall or other targets. During the process of arrest and detention, children are typically subjected to harsh interrogation techniques and ill-treatment, and are routinely coerced into signing confessions and revealing the names of other protestors.
Despite the lack of evidence or independent witnesses, and the vague or empty basis of the charges levied against human rights defenders, the vast majority of activists will be found guilty of committing a “security offense” and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. In the Israeli military courts, the defendant’s inalienable right to due process is never upheld. Soldiers’ testimonies and, occasionally, photos of individuals at a demonstration, are very often sufficient for an individual to be found guilty of an offense under the military orders that govern the West Bank. Moreover, if the detainee has been coerced into signing a confession, they will invariably be sentenced and serve time in a military jail. Forms of indiscriminate and arbitrary punishment continue long after Wall activists are released. They and their families’ requests for entry permits to Israel are consistently denied, they face targeted persecution and intimidation, detention and questioning at checkpoints, defamation, and, in some cases, re-arrest.
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[1] Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004, I.C.J. Reports 2004. The Advisory Opinion was endorsed by a subsequent United Nations General Assembly Resolution. UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/ES-10/15 of 20 July 2004.
