|
Under this arrangement, Palestinians were denied
many basic political rights and civil liberties, including
freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of
political association. Palestinian nationalism was criminalized
as a threat to Israeli security, which meant that even displaying
the Palestinian national colors was a punishable act. All aspects
of Palestinian life were regulated, and often severely restricted
by the Israeli military administration. For example, Israel
forbade the gathering wild thyme (za`tar), a basic element
of Palestinian cuisine.
Israeli policies and practices in the West Bank
and Gaza have included extensive use of collective punishments
such as curfews, house demolitions and closure of roads, schools
and community institutions. Hundreds of Palestinian political
activists have been deported to Jordan or Lebanon, tens of
thousands of acres of Palestinian land have been confiscated,
and thousands of trees have been uprooted. Since 1967, over
300,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned without trial, and
over half a million have been tried in the Israeli military
court system. Torture of Palestinian prisoners has been a common
practice since at least 1971, and dozens of people have died
in detention from abuse or neglect. Israeli officials have
claimed that harsh measures and high rates of imprisonment
are necessary to thwart terrorism. According to Israel, Palestinian
terrorism includes all forms of opposition to the occupation
(including non-violence).
Israel has built hundreds of settlements and
permitted hundreds of thousands of its own Jewish citizens
to move to the West Bank and Gaza, despite that this constitutes
a breach of international law. Israel has justified the violation
of the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international laws
governing military occupation of foreign territory on the grounds
that the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are not technically "occupied" because
they were never part of the sovereign territory of any state.
Therefore, according to this interpretation, Israel is not
a foreign "occupier" but a legal "administrator" of territory
whose status remains to be determined. The international community
has rejected the Israeli official position that the West Bank
and Gaza are not occupied, and has maintained that international
law should apply there. But little effort has been mounted
to enforce international law or hold Israel accountable for
the numerous violations it has engaged in since 1967. |
