URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Udenrigsudvalget 2021-22
URU Alm.del Bilag 109
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Original Lang. Arabic

Annual Press Report on:

“The situation of human and Palestinian rights”

2021 is marked as a terrifying year for the human rights crimes that

the occupation has committed.

And on the internal level ,it was the worst ever in terms of violating

rights and freedoms.

Based on its follow-up to the situation of the rights of the Palestinian

people, and its keenness to be the voice of victims of human rights

violations in the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora, the

International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) is holding

this press conference today with your presence, to clearly and publicly point

out the state of sharp and unprecedented deterioration on the overall

situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories during

2021, and to confirm that according to various indicators, 2021 was

the worst in terms of the grave violations that the Palestinians were

subjected to.

In addition to the targeting of human rights defenders who condemn

the violations committed by the occupation forces and demand

accountability for the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against

humanity before the International Criminal Court, where the Israeli

Minister of War labeled six Palestinian civil society organizations

as “terrorist organizations” in October 2021, which was followed by

taking actual steps to implement this decision.

The Israeli occupation authorities continued to commit war crimes and crimes

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

against humanity, represented in the killings, field executions, arbitrary detention,

Judaizing the city of Jerusalem, forcible displacement of Palestinians, especially in the

neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, colonial settlement expansion,

completing the construction of the separation wall and separation barriers, the policy

of the siege on the Gaza Strip, which continues for the sixteenth year in a row, and the

abuse of Palestinian detainees.

Moreover, the human rights crisis in the Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza

Strip, has exacerbated, which involves the weakness of human and peoples rights

guaranteed in international conventions, in particular, the deprivation of the

Palestinian people and the Palestinian citizen from their rights to return, self-

determination, freedom, security, an adequate standard of living and human dignity,

for political, social and economic reasons, whether at the internal Palestinian level or

the Israeli, especially in light of the continuation of various forms of escalating Israeli

violations against Palestinian civilians, as well as the continuation of Palestinian

violations, the most serious of which is the continuation of collective punishments

imposed on employees and citizens of the Gaza Strip, which led to an unprecedented

rise in poverty and unemployment rates.

The state of serious decline in rights

and liberties and the weakness of the

main official institutions have also

contributed to weakening the internal

front, and undermining the ability of

the Palestinian political system to

face external challenges facing our

national cause, foremost among

which are the violations and practices

of the Israeli occupation and its

policy based on imposing facts on the

ground, have limited the

effectiveness and role of the

Palestinian Authority with all its

components, and the ability of the

political system to invest in the broad

state of international solidarity that was

evident during the occupation's recent

attacks on Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip

in favor of the national cause in various international forums, which requires a serious

stand before this stage to overcome all its mistakes.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Section I

Violations of the Israeli occupation

ICSPR reminds all that the Palestinian people are still suffering under the Israeli

occupation, at a time when their suffering is increasing as a result of the

continued crimes, policies and restrictions of the Israeli occupation state within

the framework of a systematic policy that denies the rights of the Palestinian

people, which took several forms, including:

First: With regard to the occupation’s targeting of Palestinian civilians:

•

The occupation authorities are still adopting

declared policies based on the continued

targeting of civilians and Palestinian

demonstrators and their property, where the

Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which lasted

for eleven days and stopped on May 21, 2021,

revealed horrific scenes of the Israeli crimes

committed against civilians, as the occupation

forces deliberately, in a clear, systematic and

organized manner, targeted civilians and their

property, especially those located in densely populated neighborhoods, with

the aim of causing the greatest loss of civilian life, and causing massive

material damage to the residential surroundings of these facilities.

•

With regard to the violation of the right to life:

(361)

Palestinians were killed by the Israeli occupation in the

West Bank and Gaza Strip, including 248 martyrs as a

result of the war aggression launched by the occupation

forces on the Gaza Strip in May 2021, including 66

children, 39 women and 17 elderly people, in addition to

injuring 1950 others and the widespread and systematic

destruction of property, infrastructure, economic facilities

and various vital sectors.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

•

With regard to holding on to martyrs' bodies:

The occupation authorities

continued to pursue a policy of holding on to the bodies of Palestinian

martyrs, forbidding their families and their relatives from burying them in a

proper manner, contrary to all international values and norms, where the

Israeli occupation authorities are holding on to more than 89 martyrs in the

mortuary and 253 others in cemeteries.

•

During last year, crimes of military targeting

of property and agricultural lands were

repeated in the context of restricting access

to the eastern areas of the Gaza Strip, as

well as attacking fishermen and farmers.

On the other hand, the Israeli military

occupation forces continued to commit

extrajudicial killings, including daily field

executions in the West Bank and

occupied Jerusalem, which claimed the

lives of dozens of civilians, including

women, children and youth, all of whom

were executed in cold blood, without

posing a real danger to the occupation soldiers.

•

With regard to the violations against Palestinian journalists and freedom of

journalistic work: In 2021, there was a marked escalation in the occupation’s

attacks on press freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories,

using excessive force without regard to the principles of

discrimination and proportionality, violating all

international, human rights and humanitarian covenants

that guarantee freedom of journalistic work, where

(823) violations against journalists in the West Bank

and Gaza Strip were recorded, of which 101 violations

were in the Gaza Strip during the recent aggression.

As for the West Bank, 247 attacks in which the

occupation and its settlers used all violations against

journalists, including targeting them with live and rubber

bullets, sound bombs and poison gas, beating them severely

and releasing fierce dogs at them. In addition, more than (116)

male and female journalists have been arrested, summoned,

detained, housed, banished from Jerusalem or entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Second: The continuation of the Israeli siege crime on the Gaza Strip:

•

The Israeli military occupation authorities have

continued to impose collective sanctions and

restrictions on the Gaza Strip for the 16

year in

a row, by closing the crossings and preventing

the passage of goods and citizens, including

Palestinian patients, where nearly 8000 patients

were denied travel to receive the necessary

treatment in hospitals outside the Gaza Strip,

which led to the death of many citizens as a

result of impeding their access to hospitals to

receive treatment.

•

The Israeli siege has made nearly two-thirds of the Palestinian families in the

Gaza Strip suffer from food insecurity, and the poverty rate has risen to 75%,

34% of whom are below the poverty line, 24.7% of the members of poor

families are children, and the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip has

reached more than 52%, most of them are young people, especially university

graduates, at a rate of about 80% of them, and the percentage of food-

insecure reached more than 70%. In addition to this, there are multiple crises

related to the lack of potable water, crises of the health and education sector,

and other vital sectors, in addition to power outages for about 10

hours a day, which greatly affected various other vital

sectors.

•

In 2021, scenes of persecution, shootings,

and arrests of fishermen and farmers in

the Gaza Strip were repeated, including

the confiscation of their boats at sea.

•

In 2021, the Israeli military occupation

forces made several incursions into the

lands of the Gaza Strip, some of which

were accompanied by spraying of

chemical pesticides from the air towards

agricultural lands, causing severe

damage to the citizens’ crops.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Third: The escalation of arrests, raids, and attacks on detainees in the

occupation prisons:

In 2021, the raids of the villages and cities of the West Bank and occupied

Jerusalem have significantly escalated, and resulted in a campaign of arrests that

affected thousands of civilians, and dozens of civilians in the Gaza Strip, most of

whom were arrested at the crossings that the occupation turned into detention

points, where the number of arrests reached nearly (8000) Palestinians.

•

The number of Palestinian detainees in the prisons of the occupation during

2021 reached nearly (5000), including (37) female prisoners,

while the number of child detainees has reached about (160)

children, and the administrative detainees (500), all of them

are living under coercive policies and suffer from abuse,

repression, torture and neglect with the aim of undermining

their dignity, through deliberate physical torture and

medical neglect, which has claimed the lives of nearly 229

Palestinian detainees inside Israeli prisons since 1967. That

has escalated the pace of medical risks after the spread of

the Coronavirus (Covid 19) despite the repeated calls by

human rights organizations calling for the need to take all

relevant measures to combat the spread of the pandemic,

especially with the continuing state of overcrowding and

willful neglect in Israeli prisons.

•

The arrest of women:

The number of women who were arrested during 2021

reached (184), while the Israeli occupation authorities continue to detain 37

Palestinian female prisoners in inhuman and cruel conditions of detention, in

which they are deprived of their basic rights such as health care, water and

food, in addition to being subjected to torture and degrading treatment.

•

The arrest of children:

The Israeli occupation

authorities continued their arbitrary policies

and perpetrated grave violations against

children, including their continued arrest and

detention, where the number of children

arrested during 2021 reached about (1300),

while the occupation state continues to detain

about (160) children, in clear violation of the

provisions of the Convention on the Rights of

the Child and the Fourth Geneva Convention

regarding the protection of civilians in time of

war of 1949.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

•

The policy of medical negligence:

2021 was the year of abuse and

oppression of Palestinian detainees, where they suffer from the continuation

of the policy of medical negligence, and the escalation of medical risks after

the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid 19), especially with the continued

overcrowding in Israeli prisons. The number of sick detainees has reached

nearly (600), including (4) with cancer, and at least (14) detainees with

tumors of varying degrees.

•

Administrative Detention Policy:

In 2021, the occupation authorities issued

1,595 administrative detention orders, the majority of which were issued

against former detainees who spent years in the occupation prisons, while the

number of administrative detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons reached

more than (500) prisoners without charge, some of them have spent more

than 10 separate years in Israeli prisons, where nearly 60 detainees

went on strike to protest the continued crimes of

administrative detention against them.

•

The policy of holding on to the Bodies of

deceased detainees:

The Israeli occupation forces

are still continuing the policy of holding on to the

bodies of martyrs, including the detainees, as they

are still holding the bodies of (8) detainees who died

inside prisons, namely: Anis Doula, Aziz Ewaisat,

Fares Baroud, Nassar Taqatqa, Bassam al-Sayeh,

Saadi al-Gharabli, Kamal Abu Waer and Sami al-

Amour.

•

The policy of torture of prisoners:

2021 did not

differ from the last ten years in the forms of abuse, such as arrest,

psychological and physical torture, and restrictions on detainees in prisons,

by confiscating their legal status as prisoners of war, and treating them as

violators and perpetrators of illegal and terrorist acts, and depriving them of

their basic and human rights stipulated in international conventions and

covenants.

•

Detainees sentenced to life imprisonment:

The number of prisoners

sentenced to life imprisonment reached (547), and the highest sentence was

the prisoner Abdullah Al-Barghouti, who was sentenced to (67) life

sentences.

•

Banishing citizens from Jerusalem:

During 2021, there were (591)

banishing cases, (357) from Al-Aqsa Mosque (110) from old Jerusalem, (31)

from the city of Jerusalem and (11) prevented from entering West Bank

cities.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Fourth: The crimes of land grabbing and colonial settlement expansion in

Jerusalem and the West Bank:

•

2021 was the worst in terms of settlement expansion, the high frequency of

forcible confiscation of land and property in the cities of the West Bank and

occupied Jerusalem, which according to civil and international human rights

organizations, the occupation has confiscated 45% of the total area of the

West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, in

a described and full-fledged war

crime in accordance with the

provisions established under the

rules of international

humanitarian law, foremost of

which is the Geneva

Convention of 1949.

•

The data indicate a high rate of forcible confiscation of land and property in

favor of the implementation of settlement projects and an increase in the

demolition of homes and private facilities, including the expansion of

settlement outposts. In 2021, the Israeli occupation authorities deposited 113

settlement plans in 62 Israeli settlements to build more than 17,000 settlement

units on an area of more than 13,000 dunums of occupied Palestinian land,

where the Israeli settlement plans specifically targeted the Israeli settlements

in the Jerusalem governorate (inside and outside the Jerusalem municipal

boundaries that were drawn illegally and unilaterally in 1967) on an area of

more than 6,300 dunums of Palestinian lands, which is the most affected

governorate among the Palestinian governorates in terms of lands that will be

seized for this purpose, followed by Ramallah governorate with 2,082

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

dunums of Palestinian lands that will be seized for the purposes of settlement

construction, then Bethlehem governorate with an area of 1,582 dunums of

Palestinian lands belonging to the villages of Nahalin, Al Walaja, Al Khader,

Artas, Beit Sakarya, Kisan, and the cities of Bethlehem and Beit Jala for the

purpose of implementing a number of settlement plans in Beitar Illit, Efrat,

Neve Daniel and Alon Shevut, located in what is known as the Gush Etzion

settlement bloc, in addition to other settlement plans in the settlements of

Gilo, Har Homa and Givat Hamatos, north of Bethlehem.

•

The Israeli occupation has exploited the classification of lands according to

the Oslo Accords (A, B, C) to tighten control over the Palestinians’ lands,

especially in the classified areas (C), which are completely under the Israeli

occupation’s control over security, planning and construction, where the

Israeli occupation directly exploits 76% of the total area classified C, of

which the colonial regional councils’ control about 63%. While the areas

confiscated for the purposes of military bases and military training sites

represent about 18% of the area of the West Bank, in addition to the

annexation and expansion wall, which isolated more than 10% of the area of

the West Bank, and more than 219 Palestinian communities were affected by

the construction of the wall, as the data indicate the presence of about 2,700

isolated facilities between the wall and the Green Line, about 5,300 facilities

affected by the wall’s construction, in addition to about 35,000 families, not

to mention the presence of about 67,000 Palestinians in isolated buildings

between the wall and the Green Line, which deprives Palestinians of access to

their lands.

Fifth: Attacks by Israeli settlers:

The number of settlers in the West Bank

has reached nearly 913,000, and the

attacks of Israeli settlers in the

occupied West Bank, guarded by the

Israeli occupation army, recorded

unprecedented numbers in 2021,

especially since these attacks targeted

all aspects of life and were not only

limited to land and property, but took

another curve by committing bloody

attacks against Palestinian civilians,

where 2021 recorded more than 900

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

attacks by settler groups, targeting lands, properties, livestock and agricultural

wealth, and even Palestinian civilians, causing heavy losses, and the attacks were

distributed among the different governorates, where the governorates of Nablus,

Jerusalem and Hebron witnessed the most attacks, respectively, with 233, 194 and

170 attacks, including attacks on civilians and storming archaeological, historical

and religious sites.

Sixth: The policy of forced displacement and demolition of Palestinian civilian

homes:

In 2021, the Israeli occupation

demolished and destroyed hundreds of

buildings and issued orders to demolish

and stop construction for hundreds of

others owned by the Palestinians,

where the occupation authorities put

obstacles and impediments to the

issuance of building permits to the

Palestinians, while the percentage of

demolished homes during 2021 reached

about 300 Palestinian homes in the

occupied West Bank, including East

Jerusalem, mostly concentrated in the

governorates of Jerusalem, Tubas and

Hebron, with 89, 73 and 39 homes/houses respectively. The number of facilities that

were also targeted, regardless of their type, reached more than 450 facilities, most

of which were concentrated in the governorates of Jerusalem, Hebron and Tubas.

The Israeli authorities carried out most of the demolitions under the pretext of

unauthorized construction (in particular in the occupied city of Jerusalem and areas

subject to classification “C”) as well as under the pretext of security reasons, such

as demolishing homes belonging to Palestinians whose owners Israel claims to carry

out “anti-Israel operations.” As a result, (595) Palestinians were displaced,

including (320) children, which represents an increase of 50% compared to last

year, and the data indicate that since 2000, about 2,500 buildings have been

demolished in East Jerusalem.

•

The occupation continues to implement the policy of forced displacement of

Jerusalemites, where there are approximately 140,000 Jerusalemites, living

outside the so-called "Jerusalem municipality" borders, amid fears that their

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

residency in the city will be revoked, and there are (100) Palestinian families

at risk of forced displacement after the Israeli occupation authorities’ decision

to demolish dozens of houses in Batten-Alhawa neighborhood in Silwan, with

the aim of turning the area into a settlement outpost.

•

The data indicate an increase in the

frequency of self-demolitions of

homes since 2006, when the

occupation authorities forced

about 460 citizens to demolish

their homes with their own hands,

under false pretexts. Noting that

there are many cases of self-

demolition, the residents do not

inform the media, human rights

institutions and civil society

organizations about them under

threat from the occupation

authorities, and although the

Palestinians constitute only 30%

of the population in occupied

Jerusalem, they pay about 40% of

the value of the taxes collected by the occupation municipality, and in return,

the municipality spends only 8% on the services it provides to them, within

the framework of the policy of racial discrimination practiced by the

occupation against them.

•

The number of Palestinian facilities confiscated by the Israeli occupation

authorities since the beginning of 2021 has reached about (311), either

without warning, or by giving the owners a short-term deadline, using many

military orders that prevent people from being able to object in advance to the

decision.

•

The occupation authorities are still placing obstacles to tighten and restrict

urban expansion, where the occupation authorities are still preventing

Jerusalemites from building and refusing to grant them licenses to build or

expand their homes, while ordering the construction of thousands of

settlement units, the expansion of existing settlements, and the construction

of bypass roads around them and linking them together.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Seventh: With regard to the situation of Palestinian refugees:

•

The Palestinian refugees are still suffering a lot,

especially in the Gaza Strip and the refugee camps

in Lebanon and Syria, where until the moment,

general poverty rates still reach 73%, among

refugees, especially in Lebanon, and the

youth group is considered the most affected

group by poverty in the refugee community,

where about 74% of adolescents live below

the poverty line.

•

The unemployment rate among

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is 65%, while

the rate in Lebanon has reached 76% of the

refugee camp community. The

unemployment rate among Palestinians from

Syria is still alarming, as it reached 71.5%, and

about 80% of the labor force among

Palestinians in Lebanon works either as

freelancers or as wage earners, and that the main

source of income for Palestinians in Lebanon is

self-employment at 41%, followed by wage work at 37.8%, and UNRWA

assistance through the social safety net program at 33.5%.

•

In addition, about 78% of Palestinian families in Lebanon suffer from

humidity, 62% of homes suffer from water leakage, 52% suffer from poor

ventilation and 55.2% from very poor lighting.

Eighth: With regard to UNRWA:

•

The right-wing occupation government, with direct support from the United

States of America, escalated campaigns targeting UNRWA, as part of its

relentless efforts to liquidate and undermine the work of this organization,

which is the last witness to the 1948 Nakba and the tragedies that followed.

2021 witnessed the signing of the “Framework Agreement” between the

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees "UNRWA"

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

and the United States of America. This

agreement includes stopping UNRWA's

assistance to every refugee who

participates in any work that the

occupation and the United States

classified as "terrorism". As well as

monitoring the Palestinian curriculum

and deleting any content that does not

fit the point of view of the occupation,

including monitoring and scrutiny of

UNRWA employees and all

institutions. This was rejected

nationally because of the great dangers

it poses to the issue of Palestinian

refugees, their future, and the Palestinian national struggle as a whole.

•

Despite the approval of 164 member states of the United Nations in favor of a

decision to extend the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works

Agency for Palestine Refugees “UNRWA” until June 30, 2023; However, the

financial crisis remains unsolved. This made UNRWA unable to pay the

salaries of its employees, as well as taking measures to reduce the volume of

services provided to the refugee community. This coincided with the

emergency conditions that accompanied the spread of the Coronavirus, and

the high indicators of poverty and unemployment, which caused a

catastrophic and unprecedented crisis at the level of Palestinian refugees in

the areas under the influence of the UNRWA.

Ninth: With regard to the water crisis:

During the past year, the unjust Israeli control of approximately 85% of the

Palestinian natural resources, especially water continued, where about 97% of the

water in the Gaza Strip is unfit for human consumption according to the standards

of the World Health Organization; Also, according to the indicators, the majority of

Palestinians inside the occupied territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem)

do not have access to safe and potable water. The reason for this is due to the

practices of the occupation that controls water resources in an unjust and arbitrary

way, in addition to its constant endeavor to drain the water of the Palestinian

underground water, in addition to increasing the amount of water extracted by more

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

than the sustainable capacity of the basin, which amounts to only 50-60 million

cubic meters, which led to its pollution with Sea.

Not to mention that the Israeli occupation has deprived the Palestinians of using

their right to the waters of the Jordan River since 1967, which is estimated at 250

million cubic meters annually. In addition to imposing restrictions on water

desalination equipment and technologies, especially in the Gaza Strip, all this

exacerbates the crisis of water suitable for human use.

Tenth: The Electricity Crisis:

The crisis of power outages continued during 2021

in some areas of the West Bank, while the crisis

extended in the Gaza Strip and has continued

for 16 years, and during the last aggression in

May 2021, the hours of cuts reached about

16 continuous hours, as a result of the

military occupation’s targeting of

transformers and feeding lines, closing the

Kerem Shalom crossing and preventing the

entry of fuel to the only power plant in the

Strip, and the catastrophic repercussions of

this on the overall human rights situation,

and the chapters of the crisis continue to have

repercussions on service sectors and citizens

in the Gaza Strip.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Section II

Internal violations during 2021

2021has witnessed the worst chapters of violations committed by Palestinians,

which were accompanied by the continued deliberate deprivation of the Palestinian

citizen from exercising his right to choose his representatives, where the end of

2021 witnessed a further serious regression of rights and public freedoms, as the

executive authority assault on the judiciary by amending the Judicial Authority

Law, to undermine the judicial facility and demolish the constitutional principles

protecting the principle of separation of powers and respect for the rule of law,

which were emphasized in the Declaration of Independence and the Palestinian

Basic Law, which makes the three authorities after the disruption and dissolution of

the Legislative Council under the control and guardianship of the executive

authority, and the complete absence of the Palestine Liberation Organization with

all its components and institutions, which establishes a totalitarian, undemocratic

security system that concentrates all powers in the hands of the executive authority

without oversight or accountability, contrary to the principles of constitution and the

values of integrity, transparency and good governance.

Since the beginning of 2021, with

the issuance of the decree to hold

general legislative and presidential

elections, and the decree releasing

public liberties despite its lack of

legal value, hope did not take

long, until it was abolished, and

the security services were

unleashed, with political cover,

to practice arbitrary arrests on

political backgrounds and

exercise freedom of opinion and

expression, which witnessed the

arrest of many political activists,

opinion activists, and liberated

detainees, including candidates

for electoral lists. These

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

violations culminated in the killing of political activist and candidate on the

Freedom and Dignity List Nizar Banat, and the accompanying dangerous decline in

the state of rights and freedoms and the assault on them; by denying the right to

peaceful assembly, and suppressing freedom of opinion and expression,

undermining the freedom of the press and publishing, assaulting participants in it by

beating them in the streets, using excessive force, confiscating mobile phones and

publishing their contents in violation of the right to privacy, specifically for girls,

and violating the freedom of Presswork by attacking journalists and confiscating

their journalistic work equipment, in violation of the Basic Law and the regulating

legislation, in a grave denial of all rights contained in the basic human rights treaties

to which the State of Palestine acceded.

First: Postponing the General Elections:

The President of the Palestinian

Authority has issued a decree to postpone and cancel the Palestinian general

elections, one day before the start of the electoral campaign stage. This reflects the

authority’s desire to continue the exclusivity approach, which was enshrined

through the dissolution of the Legislative Council and the issuance of dozens of

unnecessary decree-laws, and dominating the judiciary, the continuation of the

Palestinian Authority’s policy of repression through its security services, which

showed its slide towards tyranny and authoritarianism as a result of exclusivity in

government, the hijacking of state institutions for the benefit of influential

individuals, the narrowing of the workspaces of civil society institutions, the

confiscation of freedom of opinion, expression, organization and assembly, in a

grave violation of the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law, a coup against the

texts of the Declaration of Independence, a violation of Palestinian law and

legislation, a denial of international agreements on human rights, and weakening the

internal situation in the face of internal and external challenges.

Second: The assassination of the political activist Nizar Banat:

2021 witnessed

the commission of a heinous crime, represented in the assassination of the activist

and political opponent “Nizar Banat” by members of the

security services in civilian clothes, and the procrastination

continued in the course of holding the killers accountable,

such as the refusal to form an independent national

committee to investigate, and later threatening the

witnesses and the repeated postponements of the court,

despite the human rights and patriotic voices calling for

justice and compensation for his family, in line with the

provisions of the relevant national laws.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Third: The practice of arbitrary arrests on the basis of opinion:

There was a

noticeable increase in violations of freedom of opinion and expression, especially in

the West Bank, where the number of arbitrary arrests on the basis of political

affiliation and freedom of opinion reached more than (200) cases in the West Bank,

while the attacks on journalists amounted to (210) violations, distributed between

(201) violations in the West Bank and (9) in the Gaza Strip. The previous data show

the existence of an official policy to undermine the freedom of the press,

publication and expression of opinion, whether by arresting or attacking journalists

and activists, in addition to implicating the judiciary in the West Bank in extending

the detention of dozens of citizens and human rights and anti-corruption activists,

despite the clear indications that the arrest was against the background of exercising

their guaranteed freedoms, especially freedom of opinion and expression, and

peaceful assembly. Noting that a number of detainees have reported being beaten

and ill-treated, and their right to fair trial guarantees was not respected.

Fourth: Violation of the Right to Peaceful

Assembly:

The security services

committed a series of violations of

the right to peaceful assembly,

which constitute a clear violation

of the text and spirit of the Basic

Law and the Law of Public

Meetings, whether by prohibiting

peaceful assemblies, or attacks on

participants in peaceful

assemblies, the most serious of

which was in the West Bank on

protesters over the killing of

political activist Nizar Banat,

whose assassination led to the

outbreak of a wave of protests in

more than one city in the West

Bank, calling for accountability

for the perpetrators and raising

slogans calling for the reform of

the political system and the

holding of general elections in which the forces and elements of the Palestinian

Authority used repressive means and violently beat the protesters with the help of

individuals in civilian clothes, in addition to attacking journalists, lawyers and

human rights defenders despite their wearing evidence of their profession.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Fifth: Continuing the crime of collective punishment on the Gaza Strip:

The

collective punishment imposed by the presidency and the Palestinian government

against the employees and citizens of the Gaza Strip continued, which negatively

affected all aspects of life and vital sectors, as well as the employees and their

families, where the files of forced and financial retirement, the 2005 security

employees, and the adoption of the martyrs of the Israeli aggression after the

aggression of 2008-2009 are still pending, and the issues of cutting salaries and the

allocations of some families of the martyrs, the wounded and the liberated detainees

in the Strip.

Sixth: The state of emergency continued,

as President Mahmoud Abbas insisted

on extending the state of emergency without any legal justification, the latest of

which was the announcement of the extension of the state of emergency in the

country for thirty days, on December 28, 2021.

Seventh: Disclaiming humanitarian obligations and violation of the rights of

vulnerable groups:

The Palestinian government in Ramallah continues the policy

of disclaiming its obligations towards poor families in the West Bank and the Gaza

Strip, by not disbursing financial allocations to families benefiting from the

remittance program.

Eighth: The policy of using the judiciary as a means to circumvent the

jurisdiction of the courts continued,

in the context of restricting the freedoms of

citizens, including political and human rights activists. This was due to a series of

presidential decrees that intervened in the judicial formation in terms of controlling

it, and the manifestations of denial of justice continued during 2021 by refraining

from respecting the legal value of court rulings, especially in rulings related to the

public service.

Ninth: Security chaos:

In 2021, the pace of violence and security chaos escalated,

especially in the cities of the West Bank, which endangers civil and community

peace and the prestige of the law. The violence escalated against the background of

family and personal quarrels, which resulted in the killing and wounding of a

number of citizens, where the murders amounted to (44) crimes, followed by

quarrels that damaged some private properties in different areas in the West Bank

and Gaza Strip, especially since some of these quarrels involved the use of firearms,

as the percentage of quarrels and domestic violence increased by 11.5% since the

beginning of 2021.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Tenth: Violations of the Right to Form Associations:

2021 witnessed the

amendment of the Law of Charitable Societies and Civil Organizations No. (1) of

2000 and its amendments on 03/02/2021, which is a flagrant violation of the

Palestinian Basic Law (the Constitution), especially Article (43) and international

agreements to which the State of Palestine acceded without reservations, especially

the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and international standards

related to the fundamental right to freedom of association. In addition, the policy of

freezing the accounts of civil and charitable organizations and associations

operating in the Gaza Strip continued, depriving thousands of Palestinians from

exercising their rights to form and join civil charitable associations.

Eleventh: With regard to execution cases:

(19)

death sentences were issued, including (15)

judgments from the Court of First Instance, (7)

judgments issued by military courts against

civilians, and four judgments from the courts of

appeal and cassation. This is in contrast to the

obligations attached to the accession of the State

of Palestine to the Second Optional Protocol to

the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights of 1989, regarding the abolition of the

death penalty.

Twelfth: Imposing taxes and levying:

The Ministry of National Economy

continued to implement decisions that demonstrate the existence of a focused

approach to maximizing levying and taxes despite the deteriorating economic

conditions, on citizens who complain about the increase in the volume of taxes and

fees prescribed for transactions, goods and services, and part of them without

reference to any of the texts Legal as Article 88 of the Basic Law states: “Public

taxes and duties shall be imposed, amended and repealed only by law. No one may

be totally or partially exempted, except in circumstances prescribed by law.

Thirteenth: With regard to the right of access to information:

The withholding

of information related to the financial revenues and expenditures of the official

authorities in the Gaza Strip continued, and this was accompanied by the continued

inability of the executive authorities to secure the requirements for a decent living,

in addition to the failure to develop a national policy to alleviate poverty and

unemployment and develop services provided to citizens, despite the government

agencies providing some facilities and exemptions on some fees and taxes.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Fourteenth: Status of Women and Gender-Based Violence:

In 2021 the

phenomenon of gender-based violence continued to escalate against women, in

addition to the fact that women’s conditions continued without significant

development in terms of their political, economic and social participation, while 22

women were killed during 2021 in the West Bank and Gaza, according to statistics

issued by the Women’s Center for Legal and Social Guidance, about 12 women

were killed inside the occupied territories, due to the lack of legal legislation as a

tool to combat violence against women, which is one of Palestine's obligations after

its ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW) 1979.

Fifteenth: Conditions and Rights of Youth:

2021 was the worst year par excellence,

especially in light of the continuation of

the siege and aggression, the disruption

of reconciliation, including the

continuation of the repercussions of the

Corona pandemic, the postponement of

elections and the absence of official

policies to protect their rights, which

led to the growth of indicators of

poverty and unemployment and a

decline in indicators of political and

social participation, which reinforced

the manifestations of despair, frustration,

negativity and lack of hope in the future

for a large segment of young people and

prompted some of them to emigrate

through death boats, the price of which was

the loss of many lives.

Sixteenth: Status and Rights of Persons with Disabilities:

According to the data

of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, persons with disabilities in Palestine

constitute 2.1% of the total population, distributed at 48% in the West Bank and

52% in the Gaza Strip. The suffering of this segment continues due to the crimes of

the occupation, as the Israeli occupation forces killed during 2021 (4) persons with

disabilities, of whom (3) were killed during the military aggression on the Gaza

Strip in May 2021, while another citizen with disabilities was killed at Qalandia

checkpoint, also (10) houses of persons with disabilities were exposed to the total

and partial destruction.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Seventeenth: Conditions of Children:

The number of children under 18 until 2021

in the State of Palestine reached about 2.31 million, among them are 1.18 million

males, and 1.13 million females. Thus, the percentage of children in Palestine

constitutes about 44.2% of the total population (42.0% in the West Bank and 47.5%

in the Gaza Strip). During the previous year, the occupation forces committed war

crimes against children that led to the death of 77 children in the occupied

Palestinian territories, 16 of them in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the

rest in the Gaza Strip, while the occupation authorities continue to detain about 160

children deprived of their childhood in its prisons, in addition to their exposure to

violations during detention, in violation of the rules of international law and the

Convention on the Rights of the Child. Palestinian children are still paying a price

whose effects are difficult to enumerate due to the

continuing crimes of the occupation and the attacks

of settlers. Medical studies and research indicate

that 45% of Palestinian children in the Gaza

Strip suffer from malnutrition and anemia, as

a result of the poverty of their unemployed

families due to the siege and their inability to

provide balanced food. In addition to the fact

that one-third of the victims of the

occupation’s deprivation of the right of

patients to travel abroad for treatment are

children, and the percentage of children who

suffer severe psychological trauma rose due to

the crimes of the occupation and the repeated

scenes of death resulting from Israeli military

operations, and the manifestations of violence

directed against children continued, the high rates

of child labor, beggary, the absence of official

attention to respond to the needs of the child and the protection of their rights, and

the absence of a national policy to protect the rights of the child, including

harmonizing Palestinian legislation with the Convention on the Rights of the Child

and issuing an executive regulation for the law.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Conclusion:

ICSPR extends its warmest blessings to the peoples of the world and to all countries

that have supported the Palestinian people’s right to self-

determination and the establishment

of their independent state with

Jerusalem as its capital, and calls to

consider the year 2022 as the year

of achieving national unity,

rebuilding the Palestinian political

system according to a new social

contract, based on democratic and

participatory foundations, and

holding presidential, legislative,

National Council, and local

elections in a way that enhances

opportunities for reconsideration

of the separation of powers and

the independence of the judiciary

and ensures the protection of

human rights. ICSPR and on

behalf of all those displaced from

their homes in refugee camps,

imprisoned in the prisons of the

Israeli occupation, the sighs of the

wounded, and those who dream of self-determination and the building of an

independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and in the name of all

those who seek a morning that does not shine with injustice demands the following:

•

ICSPR

calls on the United Nations and the international community to carry

out its responsibility in enforcing its resolutions that guarantee the right of the

Palestinian people to self-determination, including resolutions that affirm the

illegality of occupation, settlements, and sieges, and the illegality of any

amendments to the special status of the city of Jerusalem, and work hard to

activate the procedures stipulated in Chapter VI and VII of the Charter of the

United Nations, to ensure the cessation of colonial control over the

Palestinian people and the violation of their basic and inalienable rights.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

•

ICSPR

calls on the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, to

provide international protection for the Palestinian people, to put an end to

the immunity of the occupation state, and to hold perpetrators of war crimes

and crimes against humanity accountable before the International Criminal

Court.

•

ICSPR

calls on the Office of the Prosecutor of

the International Criminal Court to expedite the

conduct of the ongoing investigations to ensure

the effectiveness of the Court in prosecuting

the perpetrators of the crimes described in the

Rome Statute committed against the Palestinian

people.

•

ICSPR

calls on the League of Arab States and

the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to

transform the decisions of the Arab and Islamic

summits into practical measures to support the

steadfastness of the Palestinians under

occupation, and to support Palestinian and

Palestinian rights, including stopping Arab normalization with the Israeli

occupation.

•

ICSPR

calls on the Palestinian leadership to internationalize the conflict with

the occupation state, maximize the popular, diplomatic and legal clash with

the occupation state, adopt the boycott movement and impose sanctions, and

activate the paths of holding the occupation leaders accountable as war

criminals and seek international protection.

•

ICSPR

calls for activating campaigns of solidarity with our Palestinian

people and boycotting and isolating the Israeli occupation politically,

economically, culturally and academically, including keenness to invest the

energies of the Palestinian communities in expanding networks of solidarity

and boycott and defending the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom,

return and self-determination.

•

ICSPR

demands the transfer of the political function

of the authority to the PLO in a way that ensures the

activation of the role of Palestinian diplomacy at

the regional, Islamic and international levels in

exposing and following up on the crimes and

violations of the occupation, and mobilizing Arab

and international positions to protect Palestinian

rights and end the Israeli occupation.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

•

ICSPR holds the head of the executive authority and the government

nationally and legally responsible for the serious violations and the

continuation of sanctions against the Gaza Strip and the rest of the attacks

against citizens/committed by the security services.

•

ICSPR calls for activating the principle of accountability and opening serious

criminal investigations into all violations of the rights of citizens protected

and guaranteed in the Basic Law, to achieve justice and ensure that the killers

of activist Nizar Banat are held accountable to ensure that remedies are

achieved for the victims.

•

ICSPR

calls on the institutions of the presidency and the Palestinian

government to issue an immediate decree to hold the presidential and

legislative general elections, and to set their dates no later than the end of this

year, and to develop appropriate solutions to ensure that they are held in the

city of Jerusalem and the participation of Jerusalemites, and that their conduct

is not subject to the approval of the occupation, which restores hope for the

young generation, enhances the right to political participation, paves the way

for restoring unity and ending division, and establishes a comprehensive

national dialogue in a way that rebuilds the Palestine Liberation Organization

and the effectiveness of its institutions, and strengthens the internal front in

the face of the dangers facing the national cause.

•

ICSPR

calls on the President and the

government to stop the collective

sanctions on the Gaza Strip, and the

policy of discrimination on a

geographical basis against the

employees of the citizens of the Gaza

Strip, and to address the realistic

effects that it generates in line with

national and international law. It also

calls on government agencies in Gaza

to actively intervene and work to

improve the living and economic

conditions of the residents of the

Gaza Strip through the

implementation of real plans that

respond to strengthening the

steadfastness of the citizens.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

•

ICSPR

calls for the need to work to accelerate the reconstruction process and

improve the living environment of the residents of the Gaza Strip by opening

the crossings.

•

ICSPR

calls on the competent authorities in the Gaza Strip and the West

Bank to develop an integrated government policy in order to ensure the

effectiveness of guarantees of public and personal freedoms in accordance

with the principles of international human rights law and to stop any

campaigns of political or arbitrary arrests, including the policy of political

summons, and to exercise control over the performance of places of

detention, investigate violations, hold perpetrators accountable, and work to

enhance citizens’ confidence in national complaints tools by giving them a

preventive and oversight role in order to ensure that their work is consistent

with international standards.

•

ICSPR

calls on political forces and

civil society organizations

to play their national and

societal role in this

dangerous stage that our

society is going

through, take the

required courageous

stances, activate their

societal presence, take

initiatives to protect

and promote rights and

freedoms, stand in the

face of their violation,

and assume their

responsibilities.

•

ICSPR

urges the

forces and components

of our people to build a

national strategy to

address the threats to

the Palestinian cause

and rights, reform and

activate the institutions of the Palestinian political system, and find a solution

to the repercussions of internal violations by developing a national system or

program for transitional justice, drawing inspiration from the positives of

Arab and international experiences.

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 109: Rapport fra International Commission to Support Palestinians' Rights (ICSPR) om menneskerettighedssituationen for palæstinensere

Finally,

ICSPR stresses the need to move forward during

2022 by all parties in order to ensure agreeing on a national

program and strategy based on the internationalization of the conflict with the Israeli

occupation, maximizing the diplomatic, popular and legal political engagement

against the Israeli occupation, and activating the process of accountability of the

occupation leaders and isolating the Israeli occupation, strengthening the boycott

movement, rebuilding and activating the institutions of the Palestinian political system

by restoring Palestinian reconciliation and holding presidential and legislative

elections. And until the completion of the above, it calls to neutralize services and the

rights of public servants from political rivalries, strengthening people’s steadfastness,

and enhancing transparency, accountability and national and community participation,

to ensure addressing the policies and crimes of the Israeli occupation.

ICSPR