A Damning Assessment of the Treatment of Palestinians by State of Israel and Palestinian Authority, should shame us all!

2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Israel, West Bank and Gaza.

U.S. Department of State. Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy and Labour.

The full report at:  https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/313615_WEST-BANK-AND-GAZA-2021-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2oWGYs04TwIU4woXVuKT0LQMniPH3YCaiFQnlkh8M4mnFUbDfbFj9qXK8

WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP 2021 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 

This report of 98 pages covers the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem territories that Israel occupied during the June 1967 war. In 2017 the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019. Language in this report is not meant to convey a position on any final status issues to be negotiated between the parties to the conflict, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem or the borders between Israel and any future Palestinian state.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The Palestinian Authority Basic Law provides for an elected president and legislative council. There have been no elections in the West Bank and Gaza for those positions since 2006, and President Mahmoud Abbas has remained in office despite the expiration of his four-year term in 2009. The Palestinian Legislative Council has not functioned since 2007, and in 2018 the Palestinian Authority dissolved the Constitutional Court. 

In 2019 and again in September 2020, President Abbas called for the Palestinian Authority to organize elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council within six months. President Abbas indefinitely postponed national elections on April 30, stating the reason was that Israel had not agreed to allow Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in voting. The Palestinian Authority head of government is Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. President Abbas is also chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and general commander of the Fatah movement. 

Six Palestinian Authority security forces agencies operated in parts of the West Bank. Several are under Palestinian Authority Ministry of Interior operational control and follow the prime minister’s guidance. 

The Palestinian Civil Police has primary responsibility for civil and community policing.

The National Security Force conducts gendarmerie-style security operations in circumstances that exceed the capabilities of the civil police. 

The Military Intelligence Agency handles intelligence and criminal matters involving Palestinian Authority security forces personnel, including accusations of abuse and corruption. 

The General Intelligence Service is responsible for external intelligence gathering and operations and internal criminal investigations and arrests. 

The Preventive Security Organization is responsible for internal intelligence gathering and investigations related to internal security cases, which was interpreted to include political dissent. The Palestinian Authority used the Preventative Security Organization at times to crack down on dissent it considered threatening to political stability. 

The Presidential Guard protects facilities and provides dignitary protection. Palestinian Authority civilian authorities maintained effective control of security forces. 

There were credible reports that members of the Palestinian Authority security forces committed abuses. 

In the Gaza Strip, the designated terrorist organization Hamas exercised authority. The security apparatus of Hamas in the Gaza Strip largely mirrored that in the West Bank. Internal security included civil police, guards, and protection security; an internal intelligence-gathering and investigative entity (similar to the Preventive Security Organization in the West Bank); and civil defence. National security included the national security forces, military justice, military police, medical services, and the prison authority. Hamas maintained a large military wing in Gaza, the Izz ad-din al-Qassam Brigades. In some instances Hamas utilized its military wing to crack down on internal dissent. Public sector employees sometimes believed there was pressure to show loyalty to Hamas and its military wing. 

There were credible reports that Hamas security forces committed numerous abuses. 

The government of Israel occupies the West Bank and has maintained a West Bank security presence through the Israel Defence Forces, the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), the Israel National Police, and the Border Guard. Israel maintained effective civilian control of its security forces throughout the West Bank. Palestinian residents and Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations accused Israeli security forces of abuses during the year. 

The Israeli military and civilian justice systems on occasion investigated and found members of Israeli security forces to have committed abuses. 

The Palestinian Authority exercised varying degrees of authority in restricted areas of the West Bank due to the Israel Defence Forces’ continuing presence, and none over Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem due to Israel’s extension of Israeli law and authority to East Jerusalem in 1967 and an Israeli prohibition on any Palestinian Authority activity anywhere in Jerusalem. 

Oslo Accords-era agreements divide the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. 

West Bank Palestinian population centres mostly fall into Areas A and B, with Palestinian agricultural lands and rural communities in Area C. The Palestinian Authority has formal responsibility for security in Area A, but Israeli security forces frequently conducted security operations there. The Palestinian Authority maintains  administrative control, and Israel maintains security control of Area B in the West Bank. Israel retains full security control of Area C and has designated most Area C land as either closed military zones or settlement zoning areas. 

The Palestinian Authority maintained security coordination with Israel during the year. 

Significant human rights issues included:

 

1) With respect to the Palestinian Authority: 

credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by Palestinian Authority officials; 

torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by Palestinian Authority officials; 

arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners and detainees; 

significant problems with the independence of the judiciary; 

arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; 

serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests and prosecutions against journalists, and censorship; 

serious restrictions on internet freedom; 

substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of nongovernmental organizations; 

serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation, since the Palestinian Authority has not held a national election since 2006; 

serious government corruption; 

lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence; 

crimes, violence, and threats of violence motivated by anti-Semitism; 

crimes involving violence and threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons; 

and reports of the worst forms of child labour. 

2) With respect to Hamas: 

credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by Hamas personnel; 

torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by Hamas personnel; 

unjust detention; political prisoners or detainees; 

serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; 

arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; 

serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests and prosecutions against journalists, censorship, and the existence of criminal libel and slander laws; 

serious restrictions on internet freedom; 

substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; 

serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation because there has been no national election since 2006; 

serious government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence; 

crimes, violence, and threats of violence motivated by anti-Semitism; 

unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers; 

crimes involving violence and threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons; and 

the worst forms of child labour. 

3) With respect to Israeli security forces in the West Bank: 

credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings due to unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by Israeli officials; 

torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by Israeli officials; 

arbitrary arrest or detention; 

arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; 

restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests and prosecutions against journalists, and censorship; 

restrictions on internet freedom; 

restrictions on Palestinians residing in Jerusalem, including arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, and home; 

substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of nongovernmental organizations; and 

restrictions on freedom of movement and residence. 

4) With respect to Palestinian civilians threatening Israeli citizens: 

credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings and credible reports of injuries to Israeli citizens. 

5) With respect to Israeli civilians threatening Palestinian citizens: 

credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings, and credible reports of injuries to Palestinians. 

There were criticisms that senior Palestinian Authority officials made comments glorifying violence in some cases and inappropriately influencing investigations and disciplinary actions related to abuses.

Israeli authorities operating in the West Bank took some steps to address impunity or reduce abuses, but human rights groups frequently asserted they did not adequately pursue investigations and disciplinary actions related to abuses against Palestinians, including actions to stop or punish violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. 

There were no legal or independent institutions capable of holding Hamas in Gaza accountable, and impunity was widespread. Several militant groups with access to heavy weaponry, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also operated with impunity in and from Gaza. 

Israeli authorities rarely acted against Israelis who threw stones in the West Bank, and there were no known reports during the year of the Israel Defence Forces shooting Israeli attackers.