IOF Impose additional Collective Punishment Measures and Reduce Gaza’s Fuel Supply

29.11.07. 70% of the Fuel Stations Shutdown and the Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
PCHR strongly condemns the decision by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Wednesday (28 November) for a new reduction in the supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip, which already suffers from serious shortages in fuel. The Centre calls upon the international community, especially the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as UN organizations and international humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately to force IOF to stop this decision. This intervention is necessary to avert a humanitarian crisis threatening all aspects of civilian life including the functioning of healthcare facilities, drinking water wells, and sewage disposal. The fuel cuts threaten to impact the operation of several sectors including health services, environmental services, transportation, education, commerce, industrial production, and agriculture.

It is noted that this decision is preempted a pending decision by the Israeli High Court on a petition submitted by PCHR and several human rights organizations against the IOF decision on 25 October 2007 to reduce the fuel and electricity supplies to the Strip. The Israeli High Court held a session today to review the petition. However, the decision was delayed.

Sources in the Association of Owners of Petrol and Gas Companies and Fuel Stations” indicated that the Association rejected receipt of the fuel amounts delivered on Wednesday, 28 November 2007, due to the new reductions implemented by the Israeli supplier, Dor Alon Co. The Israeli company informed the Association of reducing the daily fuel supply to Gaza to 90,000 liters of kerosene, 25,000 liters of benzene, and 100 tons of natural gas. The Association’s board held a meeting yesterday, and replied to the Israeli supplier that it rejects receipt of such amounts, citing that the reduction will result in a humanitarian crisis on all aspects of civilian life.

As a result, nearly 70% of the Strips fuel stations (approximately 100 out of 145) shutdown on this afternoon after their stock of fuel ran out. The remaining stations are expected to close tomorrow evening.

Statistics indicate that the Strip’s fuel supply was reduced by more than 50% since the IOF decision was issued on 25 October 2007. Kerosene supplies dropped from 333,000 liters to 170,000 liters a day (49% decrease); benzene supplies dropped from 76,000 liters to 46,000 liters a day (40% decrease); whereas natural gas supplies increased by 27% from 228 tons to 290 tons.

It is noted that the daily fuel needs of the Gaza Strip are 350,000 liters of kerosene, 120,000 liters of benzene, and 350 tons of natural gas.

PCHR is extremely concerned by the deterioration of the economic and social situation resulting from the complete closure imposed by IOF on the OPT in general and the Gaza Strip in particular. The Centre is concerned that the food and health conditions of the civilian population will deteriorate further if the reduction of fuel supplies is enforced.

The Centre reminds the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention, including Israeli authorities, of their responsibilities, especially:

- Responsibility under Article 1 to ensure that the Convention is respected under all circumstances;

- Responsibility to ensure that first article of the First Optional Protocol to protect victims of international armed conflicts;

- Responsibility under Article 54 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions (1949) to ensure:

o Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.

o It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.

- Responsibility under Article 33 stating, “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”

- Responsibility under Article 55 stating, “To the fullest extent of the means available to it the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate. The Occupying Power may not requisition foodstuffs, articles or medical supplies available in the occupied territory, except for use by the occupation forces and administration personnel, and then only if the requirements of the civilian population have been taken into account.”

- Reminds the High Contracting Parties of the right of every individual to Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

High court asks Israel to explain Gaza sanctions

JERUSALEM, 8 November 2007 (IRIN) - Israel 's highest court on 7 November ordered the state to explain within one week how it planned to ensure that the latest sanctions imposed on Gaza, including fuel and power cuts, would not have a negative humanitarian impact. The court was hearing a petition lodged by 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, and the deputy-director of the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), demanding an end to the restrictions. Since implementing sanctions on 28 October, Israel has cut supplies of regular diesel by more than 40 percent and industrial gasoline, vital for Gaza's power plant, by about 9 percent, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) and Gaza petrol companies.
John Ging, Gaza chief of UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, told IRIN on 7 November that the dwindling fuel supplies would affect aid deliveries and health.

More on Gaza

Temporary stay on Gaza power cuts

Gaza residents unable to get medical care, aid workers say

Gaza squeezed by steady decline in imports, closure threats

Aid groups, UN protest Israeli sanctions move on Gaza

World Bank says donors need long term plan for OPT

Missile from Gaza causes schools to close in Sderot

Weak Palestinian economy having direct humanitarian impact - UN official

Humanitarian aid to the Palestinians - walking the tightrope

Ban on truckloads of paper set to hit Gaza schools

Power shortages threaten sewage treatment

"Immediately, one focuses on fuel needed by municipalities for water wells and to keep sewage pumping stations going. And also for sanitation trucks to collect garbage, otherwise there will be public health problems," he said, noting that UNRWA received its fuel supplies from the local Gazan market.

Currently, there is no spare fuel to run the water system, and the sewage system has enough fuel only for one more week.

Fuel is also needed for trucks that distribute food aid to the poorest in Gaza where some 1.1 million people, out of 1.5 million residents, receive rations from the UN.

The new sanctions include the closing of the Sufa crossing point into Gaza, used to bring in about 65 percent of food supplies, leaving only the Kerem Shalom crossing open.

However, between 1 and 3 November, Kerem Shalom was also closed by Israel, according to OCHA.

"There must always be a humanitarian crossing open into Gaza ," insisted Ging.

In parts of Gaza there are shortages of cheese and meat products as well as rice, canned foods and oil. In other areas, some products are no longer available altogether.

A crack in the wall

Miko Peled, The Electronic Intifada, Oct 1, 2007

Palestinians demonstrate against an Israeli closure near the West Bank city of Qalqilia, August 2007. (Khaleel Reash/MaanImages)

"Getting inside the official Israeli mind is a worthwhile, if lurid, experience," the late Edward Said wrote in his article "Dignity, Solidarity and the Penal Colony." This is what it feels like when one is trying to understand the Middle East peace process that never seems to lead to anything. Observing this never ending saga, one can hardly help reaching the realization that peace is not a priority for Israel, and indeed Israeli governments have made no secret of the fact that a peace that precludes Israel's complete control over historic Palestine is of no interest to them. There is not a shred of evidence that can support Israeli claims of wanting to achieve peace based on the division of historic Israel/Palestine into two independent states. Israel has skillfully used the last 40 years to strengthen its hold on the areas occupied in 1967 and create a de facto apartheid state in all of Israel/Palestine. Consecutive Israeli governments bluntly use the so-called peace process to cover up expansion into the West Bank and execution of what has been called the slow genocide of the Palestinian people. The Israeli military is plagued by a severe lack of motivation among young recruits and increased numbers of young people avoiding the otherwise mandatory draft; according to recent stories in the Israeli press drug abuse [James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank for 10 years (1995-2005), for 11 months the Middle East envoy of the Quartet: "Israeli youth finish high school and spend two-three years in the army, and then go to Thailand and other places and smoke pot to get over it, then come back and start their lives when they're 24. I don't think that's an ideal way for the next generation of Israel to live their lives.". Haaretz, 21.07.07] is rampant everywhere in the army and particularly among Israel's combat "elite" units. While the drug problem is not new (drugs were rampant in the IDF even 20 years ago) its use among combat units involved in daily operations is reported to have dramatically increased. This is hardly surprising if we consider the fact that "combat" is another word for abuse, murder and displacement of unarmed civilians.

The decision by the Israeli Supreme Court to move the separation barrier and return land back to the people of Bil'in brought a sense that justice was carried out. Indeed this decision may constitute the first crack in the separation wall, and even to an extent a crack in the armor of the almighty Israeli "defense" forces. The leaders of the struggle held fast and did not compromise their objectives or their integrity and they have much of which they can proud. However, it is unlikely that the barrier will be moved or the land returned.

For the last 60 years Israel has been intent on "The obliteration of an entire people by slow systematic methods of suffocation, outright murder and the stifling of everyday life" to use the words Edward Said. No branch of the Israeli government will admit to the illegitimacy of the occupation of Palestine; they will never admit to crimes they committed like the theft of land or the murder of innocent civilians and consequently, the "Defense" Department will not be bound by a Supreme Court's decision that goes against its intent.

At the same time it is important to note that this behemoth of a system called the Israeli "Defense" Forces is showing signs of crumbling. The Israeli military of today is not unlike the Red Army during the final years of the Soviet Union, where all that was left was the appearance of a superpower. The Israeli military is plagued by a severe lack of motivation among young recruits and increased numbers of young people avoiding the otherwise mandatory draft; according to recent stories in the Israeli press drug abuse [James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank for 10 years (1995-2005), for 11 months the Middle East envoy of the Quartet: "Israeli youth finish high school and spend two-three years in the army, and then go to Thailand and other places and smoke pot to get over it, then come back and start their lives when they're 24. I don't think that's an ideal way for the next generation of Israel to live their lives.". Haaretz, 21.07.07] is rampant everywhere in the army and particularly among Israel's combat "elite" units. While the drug problem is not new (drugs were rampant in the IDF even 20 years ago) its use among combat units involved in daily operations is reported to have dramatically increased. This is hardly surprising if we consider the fact that "combat" is another word for abuse, murder and displacement of unarmed civilians.

To compound this, the IDF was severely defeated last summer during its assault on Lebanon. It was a military as well as a moral defeat, and Israel's commanders were totally humiliated by Hizballah. In Gaza the military has also proven to be inept. Even with massive use of force the IDF cannot stop the rockets launched from Gaza into Israel. Only recently several dozen new army recruits were injured by a rocket that fell in a large army base near Zikkim, just north of Gaza. And finally, with all of their intelligence the IDF is incapable of finding the soldier Gilad Shalit who is being held captive in Gaza. In light of all this, can there be any wonder that Israeli officers find diversion in drugs?

Edward Said refers to the Israeli military as "brigades of willing executioners," and frankly, one cannot blame him. In a recent story in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot a young tank commander describes a "battle" against three suspected "gunmen" near the wall that imprisons Gaza: "the first one was caught in the chains of my tank (and crushed to death), the second we nailed and the others escaped." The young lieutenant is congratulated by his commanding officer for courage and resourcefulness but warned that a tank should shoot from 1.5 km and not at close range. "This was practically hand-to-hand combat," says the commander.

One has to wonder, if these "gunmen" were only suspects why they were executed. If indeed they were armed, how was it that the tank managed to get so close? But the larger question answered in this particular report is this: Why are Israeli tanks still in Gaza? According this report, Israel claims 300 meters inside Gaza as a security zone (on the Gaza side of the wall) and will not permit anyone to come near.

As we engage in this lurid experience of trying to understand Israel we cannot escape the conclusion that Israel has no intention to end the occupation. There is no plan to release Palestinians from their bondage or allow the emergence of a democracy that includes Palestinian freedom. The joint, nonviolent struggle must therefore continue until full equal rights for both people are achieved in all of Israel/Palestine. It will be an uphill battle. Just they did in Bil'in, the savage beast that is the Israeli military will react to nonviolence with as much violence as it possibly can.

Miko Peled is an Israeli peace activist and writer living in the US. He is co-founder of the Elbanna Peled Foundation in memory of Smadar Elhanan and Abir Aramin. Peled is the son of the late Israeli General Matti Peled.

Resistenza nonviolenta, due manifestazioni contro il Muro dell'Apartheid.

Ramallah/Gerusalemme - Infopal. 29/09/07. A dispetto della recente sentenza dell'Alta Corte di Giustizia israeliana, che ha sentenziato l'illegalità della costruzione del Muro a Bil'in e ne ha chiesto la rimozione, i lavori stanno continuando.

Durante la manifestazione settimanale nonviolenta, che da oltre due anni si svolge nella cittadina Bil'in, nei pressi di Ramallah, 9 civili sono stati feriti dall'esercito israeliano.

Come consueto, cittadini di Bil'in, stranieri e pacifisti israeliani hanno marciato, dopo la preghiera del venerdì, verso il Muro che il governo di Israele sta facendo erigere per sottrarre altre terre palestinesi.

I militari hanno attaccato la folla con bastoni, bombe a gas e al suono, ferendo nove persone.

Sempre nella giornata di ieri, un centinaio di cittadini palestinesi, di stranieri e israeliani hanno manifestato in modo pacifico contro la costruzione illegale del Muro di Separazione sulle terre di al-Walaja, nei pressi di Gerusalemme.

I soldati israeliani hanno circondato i manifestanti, ma li hanno lasciati marciare.

I pacifisti sono rimasti per un'ora e mezza davanti al Muro, tenendo discorsi e sventolando bandiere palestinesi.

At-Tuwani Update 07-07-11 to 07-07-24

Chistian Peacemaker Teams. Every day the team accompanied Palestinian shepherds in fields near Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The team accompanied shepherds from At-Tuwani and Mufakara in Khoruba valley near the Hill 833 settler outpost. They also accompanied shepherds from the village of Tuba. The team monitored several temporary Israeli military checkpoints on the Palestinian road leading from At-Tuwani north to Yatta. On team during this period were members of Operation Dove (the Doves) and CPTers Diane Janzen, Sarah Scruggs, Matthew Chandler, and Peggy Gish.

Wednesday 11 July

CPTers Chandler and Janzen monitored a temporary checkpoint on Road 317 in the late afternoon. The soldiers briefly stopped a Palestinian from At-Tuwani who later told Janzen the soldiers had yelled at him to run towards them, but he just kept walking. When he got to the jeep, the soldiers asked him why he didn't run and he told them he had already walked 2km. When the soldiers saw the CPTers coming down the hill one said, "Here come the sons of bitches."

Friday 13 July

Chandler and Gish walked to Tuba in the morning. About 10am, a settler security guard and the Israeli army arrived in the area and told the Tuba shepherds they were on Ma'on land. The soldiers said the shepherds were allowed to be on the farmed land lower in the valley, but not up on the hillside. After several minutes of arguing, some of the Palestinians started to leave the area and the soldiers left with the settler security guard.

Saturday 14 July

In Tuba, the settler security guard and the army came again and told the Palestinians they were on Ma'on land. When Chandler and Gish arrived, Palestinians were telling the soldiers the whole valley was theirs and the Israeli military's civil administration, called the District Coordinating Office (DCO), confirmed it two weeks before. The soldiers threatened to arrest one of the teenage boys. A Palestinian asked Chandler to call the DCO. The DCO finally promised to send someone after a call from an Israeli peace activist.

Two more army jeeps, a police jeep, and two border police jeeps arrived and an hour later, the DCO. All of the Israeli forces congregated to speak to the DCO captain. Afterwards, the police returned the IDs to the two Palestinian men and said the valley in question was in fact open to the Palestinians for grazing, but not for farming. One Palestinian told him that was false and said he wanted to speak to the DCO directly.

The DCO captain came and explained the entire valley did indeed belong to the people of Tuba, and they could use it freely. However, he insisted the Palestinians coordinate with the DCO whenever they want to work the land. One Palestinians told him there was no point to coordinating because the DCO never comes when they do.

Sunday 15 July

Janzen and Scruggs visited a family in the village of Magheer el Abeed. The father of the family told the CPTers that at 10am, a truck drove toward him, his sons, and their sheep. A settler emerged from the truck and pointed a gun at them. The Palestinians then descended into the valley and the settler drove away.

Monday 16 July

Janzen and Scruggs went to observe a temporary checkpoint on Road 317, where the police had stopped a car coming from Yatta and were blocking the passage of other vehicles. One of the police officers asked for Scruggs' ID. After she gave him her passport, he told her if she didn't stop taking photos and leave in two minutes she would be arrested. Scruggs moved to the other side of Road 317 and Janzen arrived. About 10 minutes later, the Israeli police moved their vehicle to allow other vehicles to pass. After another 15 minutes, police returned the IDs to the Palestinians and drove away.

Wednesday 18 July

While accompanying shepherds in Khoruba valley, Janzen and Scruggs observed a Palestinian woman walking with her children in the valley toward At-Tuwani. A settler came down from the wooden house in Hill 833 and sat above the road the family was going to walk on. The Palestinians moved to the opposite side of the valley and continued on their way.

Thursday 19 July

In the afternoon, Gish, Chandler, Janzen and Scruggs joined residents of At-Tuwani in a meeting with consulate staff from Australia, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal at the school in At-Tuwani.

At 4:45pm, a plain truck entered At-Tuwani from Hill 833 and drove to a Palestinian home nearby. When Janzen and Chandler arrived, they saw two armed men in the truck: the driver was in civilian clothes, and the passenger in an army uniform. The driver had a still camera and was taking pictures of everyone, but left almost immediately after Janzen and Chandler arrived..

After the truck left, the Palestinians told Chandler and Janzen the men said they were with the DCO, but didn't act like it. They told everyone at the house they had to go inside, and when they did not, the armed men cocked their guns and threatened to start shooting. In the midst of this, they took pictures of the newer construction at the house, saying it was forbidden and would be demolished.

After the incident, one of the Palestinians called the DCO, who said they would come to At-Tuwani. Chandler and Janzen waited at the house until sunset. The DCO never came.

Friday, 20 July

Chandler and Gish responded to a call from a Palestinian regarding settlers from Susya settlement planting on Palestinian land near Qawawis. The CPTers filmed and took pictures of three settlers working in the field and then returned to At-Tuwani.

The same Palestinian man from Susiya called later saying the police and Palestinian landowners had come to the area. When Chandler and a Dove arrived, the police were speaking with the settlers who had been working the land. Up to 20 settlers from the Susya settlement gradually arrived and talked with each other on the side of the road. An army jeep and later two more and two border police jeeps arrived. . .

An hour later, when the DCO officer arrived, he went first to speak with the police and army present. Several settlers argued with them. In the meantime, settlers approached the Palestinians, Chandler and the Dove. The border police intervened to try to keep the two groups separate. Finally, the DCO spoke with one of the Palestinian landowners and told him they had to investigate the matter further to decided who owned the plot of land. Then they declared the area a closed military zone.

Saturday, 21 July

A group of seventy-five Palestinian children from the Hebron area led by a Palestinian peace activist arrived in At-Tuwani for a solidarity visit. When they walked back to their busses parked on Road 317, an army jeep was there. The soldiers said the driver of one of the busses was suspicious because he had Israeli plates stored in the bus, and Palestinians plates on the bus. The soldiers insisted the group must wait for the police to arrive and showed no regard for the children who were forced to wait in the heat without water

The police arrived after about 45 minutes. The children protested while waiting, chanting and crowding around the army and police, saying, "We want to go," and, "We want water." The police and army responded by shouting at the children to go away. After about 1.5 hours in total, the police gave the driver of one bus a citation for parking illegally on the road. The group then left for a tour of Qawawis.

Sunday, 22 July

Chandler and Gish returned to the same plot of land near Qawawis as the previous Friday to join four other internationals in documenting Israeli settlers working on the Palestinian-owned land. Soldiers tried to stop them from going out into the field where the settlers were working, but they went anyway. After the settlers left, they went out and filmed around the work site, where the tractor sat. When they got back to the road, about fifteen teenage settlers came, took their pictures and taunted them. Another military vehicle and a police also came to the scene. When the Palestinian landowners arrived, the CPTers and internationals stood around them and their car to protect them from the settler youth. The landowners spoke to the police, who told them they would have to go to the Kiryat Arba police station the following morning to file their complaint.

Monday, 23 July

The owners of the land that settlers from Susya had been working the previous evening went to the Kiryat Arba police station as directed, but the police did not allow them in to file their complaint.

A Palestinian came by in the evening and told the team he had just returned from the Israeli High Court case regarding the wall along Road 317. The court ruled the Israeli army must disassemble the wall within two weeks and everyday after that time, if it hasn't been removed, they must pay the Palestinians in villages south of the wall a large sum of money.

Tuesday, 24 July

A Palestinian reported to the team in the late afternoon that the army had started to disassemble the wall along Route 317.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cpthebron/message/963